1997-1998 Cuban National League

The 1997-1998 season was the thirty-seventh season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 37th Serie Nacional was won by Pinar del Río, the team's second straight title. The team beat Santiago de Cuba in the finals of the playoffs, four games to one.

The league underwent many changes after the national team lost in the gold medal match of the previous summer's Intercontinental Cup against Japan. For instance, the champion Pinar del Río changed managers from former national team manager Jorge Fuentes to the new skipper of the national team Alfonso Urquiola – despite Fuentes having led the team to a championship.

For the first time in over three decades the Serie Nacional is the only competition in the National League. As the only league competition, the season length was increased to 90 games. There was also the reemergence of the league's two zonas; the Zona Occidental, consisting of Grupo A and Grupo B, and Zona Oriental, consisting of Grupo C and Grupo D. However, these grupos are simply nominal and have no effect of the schedule or playoff match-ups. The playoffs were also expanded to include the top four teams from each zona. In the best-of-five quarterfinals, the first and fourth place teams face off in one series while the second team plays against the third place team in the other series. The best-of-seven semifinals are between the quarterfinal winners, with the best-of-seven finals following the semifinal round. Another format change involved the introduction of a mid-season All-Star Game held in early March.

Santiago de Cuba was the top team in the Serie Nacional and the number one seed in the Zona Oriental, with the other seeds being Camagüey and Ciego de Ávila, both tied atop Grupo C, and Guantánamo. The seeds in the Zona Occidental were Pinar del Río, La Habana, Metropolitanos, and Industriales. Both perennial cellar-dwellers, Guantánamo and Ciego de Ávila, were promptly swept in three games by Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey respectivly. Both higher seeds in the Zona Occidental – Pinar del Río and La Habana – won their series. Both semifinals went the full seven games, with both zona's number one teams making the finals, where Pinar del Río defeated Santiago de Cuba, 4 to 1.

Pitcher José Ibar of La Habana has perhaps the finest season in league history. The righthander wins a record 20 games while pitching in 196.1 innings pitched and striking out 189 opposing batters – both aluminum bat era records. He also leads the league with a 1.51 earned run average by giving up only 33 earned runs. Ibar, with only 2 losses, ties with Pinar del Río's 10 – 1 pitcher Ismael Cortina for the league's best winning percentage at .909.

Villa Clara's Óscar Machado sets a new runs batted in record with 87 RBI; he also strikes out 73 times, the highest total in nearly 25 years and the league record during the aluminum bat era. Carlos Alberto Yánes of Isla de la Juventud gives up an all-time record 204 base hits, while starting an era record 25 games. Industriales' Maique Quintero walks 69 batters, another era record.

The Metropolitanos' newcomer outfielder Yasser Gómez makes a smashing début rapping out a rookie record 112 hits causing him to be named the Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año). Gómez's total would be surpassed four years later by Kendry Morales.

Standings

Bold indicates Zona champion; Italics indicates Serie Nacional champion

Zona Occidental

Grupo A							Grupo B
Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB		Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Pinar del Río	90	56	34	0.622	-.-		La Habana	90	54	36	0.600	-.-
Metropolitanos	90	52	38	0.578	4.0		Industriales	90	47	43	0.522	7.0
Isla de la Juventud	90	46	44	0.511	10.0		Cienfuegos	90	27	63	0.300	27.0
Matanzas	90	39	51	0.433	17.0		Sancti Spíritus	90	27	63	0.300	27.0

Zona Oriental

Grupo C							Grupo D
Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB		Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Camagüey	90	57	33	0.633	-.-		Santiago de Cuba	89	61	28	0.685	-.-
Ciego de Ávila	90	57	33	0.633	-.-		Guantánamo	90	52	38	0.578	9.5
Villa Clara	90	47	43	0.522	10.0		Holguín	89	34	55	0.382	27.0
Las Tunas	90	32	58	0.356	25.0		Granma	90	31	59	0.344	30.5

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

OCC1

Pinar del Río

3

OCC4

Industriales

1

OCC1

Pinar del Río

4

Occidental

OCC2

La Habana

3

OCC2

La Habana

3

OCC3

Metropolitanos

2

OCC1

Pinar del Río

4

OTE1

Santiago de Cuba

1

OTE1

Santiago de Cuba

3

OTE4

Guantánamo

0

OTE1

Santiago de Cuba

4

Oriental

OTE2

Camagüey

3

OTE2

Camagüey

3

OTE3

Ciego de Ávila

0

All-Star Game

The thirteenth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held at Ciego de Ávila in Ciego de Ávila, Ciego de Ávila (Serie Nacional)|Ciego de Ávila on March 8, 1998. In the game, Oriente defeated Occidentales by a score of 5 to 2. Oriente had 6 hits to Occidentales's 5, while the errors were 3 to 2 in favor of Oriente. The winning pitcher was Oscar Gil and the losing pitcher was Adrian Hernández.

Leaders

Bold indicates either wooden bat record or aluminum bat record (1976-1977 to 1998-1999), Italics indicate Serie Nacional record

Batting

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Batting Average	Roberquis Videaux	Guantánamo	.393	110 hits in 280 at-bats
Runs Scored	Óscar Machado	Villa Clara	65
Base Hits	Reemberto Rosell	Cienfuegos	132
Doubles	Loidel Chapellí	Camagüey	32
Triples	Danel Castro	Las Tunas	11
Home Runs	Óscar Machado	Villa Clara	24
Runs Batted In	Óscar Machado	Villa Clara	87
Base-on-Balls	Javier Méndez Juan Manrique	Industriales Matanzas	72
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Luis E. Rodríguez	Holguín	15
Hit-by-Pitch	Reutilio Hurtado	Santiago de Cuba	18
Strikeouts	Óscar Machado	Villa Clara	73
Sacrifice Hit	Wilber de Armas	Metropolitanos	18
Sacrifice Fly	Michel Perdomo	Villa Clara	9
Stolen Bases	Enrique Díaz	Metropolitanos	38

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	José Ibar	La Habana	20
Win-Loss Percentage	José Ibar Ismael Cortina	La Habana Pinar del Río	0.909	20 - 2, Leader with most wins 10 - 1
Earned Run Average	José Ibar	La Habana	1.51	33 ER in 196.1 IP
Innings Pitched	José Ibar	La Habana	196.1
Games Pitched	Raúl Reyes	Camagüey	35
Games Started	Carlos A. Yánes	Isla de la Juventud	25
Games Relieved	Raúl Reyes	Camagüey	35
Complete Games	Giorge Díaz	Guantánamo	16
Shutouts	Giorge Díaz	Guantánamo	6
Hits Allowed	Carlos A. Yánes	Isla de la Juventud	204
Strikeouts	José Ibar	La Habana	189
Base-on-Balls	Maique Quintero	Industriales	69
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Joel Monzón	Matanzas	9
Hit Batters	Eliecer Montes de Oca	Villa Clara	22

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Oscar Machado a outfielder with Villa Clara. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was José Ibar of La Habana. Yasser Richard Gómez of Industriales was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1998 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XXXVII serie 1998 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (November 18, 2005). "Guía Digital 2005-06". Guía Oficial de Béisbol 2005 (Digital). Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• Peter C. Bjarkman. A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864–2006. : McFarland, 2007. ISBN 0786428295