1998-1999 Cuban National League

The 1998-1999 season was the thirty-eighth season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

In a surprise win, Santiago de Cuba takes the 38th Serie Nacional title over heavily favoured Industriales. The team, managed by future national team manager Higinio Vélez, finished fourth in the Zona Oriental – two games over .500. It was the team's first title in a decade.

Santiago de Cuba won a close 3 – 2 quarterfinal series against number one seed Granma, a team that won ten games more than the eventual champions in the regular season. The avispas then defeated Guantánamo 4 – 2 in the semifinals earn the right to represent the Zona Oriental against Industriales. Meanwhile the azules were the top team in the Serie Nacional with a 58 – 32 record. The team then swept La Habana in the quarterfinals and won their semifinal series, 4 – 3, against Isla de la Juventud in one of the greatest series in Cuban history. Industriales then looked as if it would steamroll over Santiago de Cuba by winning the first three games of the best-of-seven series. Santiago de Cuba then won the next four games to take the title. Game six and seven were won with complete games by Ormari Romero and Norge Luis Vera at Havana's Estadio Latinoamericano. The semifinal and final series featured wooden bats donated by Major League Baseball after the Baltimore Orioles played an exhibition series against the Cuban national team. The series also interrupted postseason play.

Isla de la Juventud's Michel Enríquez hit an all-time record 152 base hits, and set two aluminum bat era records for runs scored with 81 and 35 doubles. Other era records set include 12 triples by Yasser Gómez, now with Industriales, and 89 base-on-balls by Matanzas's Juan Manrique. The league's leader in batting average was Yobal Dueñas of Pinar del Río who had 141 hits in 337 at-bats for a .418 average. Omar Linares misses most of the regular season due to leg injuries, but recovered enough to play in the exhibition series versus the Orioles.

José Ibar of La Habana follows up his 20 win season with 18 wins. Ibar is once again the league's top workhorse with 193.0 innings pitched and leads the league with 158 strikeouts. Granma's Ciro S. Licea – the losing pitcher in the national team's lone defeat a year earlier – is the league leader in earned run average at 1.85 with 38 earned runs in 185 innings pitched. Licea also leads the league with 16 complete games and 7 shutouts – both aluminum bat era records. Amaury Sanit of Industriales appeared in 39 games, 38 of which were in relief – both leading the league and era records. Teenager Maels Rodríguez of Sancti Spíritus makes an inauspicious début of the league leader board with 69 base-on-balls.

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	53	37	0.589	-.-		Industriales	90	58	32	0.644	-.-
Isla de la Juventud	90	52	38	0.578	1.0		La Habana	90	51	39	0.567	7.0
Matanzas	90	40	50	0.444	13.0		Cienfuegos	90	42	48	0.467	16.0
Metropolitanos	90	34	56	0.378	19.0		Sancti Spíritus	90	33	57	0.367	25.0

Zona Oriental

Grupo C							Grupo D
Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB		Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Villa Clara	90	51	39	0.567	-.-		Granma	90	56	34	0.622	-.-
Ciego de Ávila	90	41	49	0.456	10.0		Guantánamo	90	50	40	0.556	6.0
Camagüey	90	40	50	0.444	11.0		Santiago de Cuba	90	46	44	0.511	10.0
Las Tunas	90	30	60	0.333	21.0		Holguín	90	43	47	0.478	13.0

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

OCC1

Industriales

3

OCC4

La Habana

0

OCC1

Industriales

4

Occidental

OCC3

Isla de la Juventud

3

OCC2

Pinar del Río

2

OCC3

Isla de la Juventud

3

OCC1

Industriales

3

OTE4

Santiago de Cuba

4

OTE1

Granma

2

OTE4

Santiago de Cuba

3

OTE4

Santiago de Cuba

4

Oriental

OTE3

Guantánamo

2

OTE2

Villa Clara

1

OTE3

Guantánamo

3

All-Star Game

The fourteenth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held at Güines in La Habana on February 18, 1999. In the game, Oriente defeated Occidentales by a score of 1 to 0. Oriente had 5 hits to Occidentales's 4, while the errors were 1 to 0 in favor of Oriente. The winning pitcher was Wualberto Quesada and the losing pitcher was Carlos Yanes. Danel Castro had the game's only home run.

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	Yobal Dueñas	Pinar del Río	.418	141 hits in 337 at-bats
Runs Scored	Michel Enríquez	Isla de la Juventud	81
Base Hits	Michel Enríquez	Isla de la Juventud	152
Doubles	Michel Enríquez	Isla de la Juventud	35
Triples	Yasser R. Gómez	Industriales	12
Home Runs	Daniel Lazo	Pinar del Río	18
Runs Batted In	Óscar Macías	La Habana	81
Base-on-Balls	Juan Manrique	Matanzas	89
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Yobal Dueñas	Pinar del Río	17
Hit-by-Pitch	Reutilio Hurtado	Santiago de Cuba	22
Strikeouts	Roberto Pena	Granma	72
Sacrifice Hit	Juan M. Gordo	Las Tunas	17
Sacrifice Fly	Óscar Macías	La Habana	8
Stolen Bases	Eduardo Paret	Villa Clara	46

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	José Ibar	La Habana	18
Win-Loss Percentage	Jorge L. Machado	Industriales	0.929	13 - 1
Earned Run Average	Ciro S. Licea	Granma	1.85	38 ER in 185 IP
Innings Pitched	José Ibar	La Habana	193.0
Games Pitched	Amaury Sanit	Industriales	39
Games Started	Raúl Valdés Julio C. Villalón	La Habana Holguín	24
Games Relieved	Amaury Sanit	Industriales	38
Complete Games	Ciro S. Licea	Granma	16
Shutouts	Ciro S. Licea	Granma	7
Hits Allowed	Raúl Valdés	La Habana	193
Strikeouts	José Ibar	La Habana	158
Base-on-Balls	Maels Rodríguez	Sancti Spíritus	69
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Miguel Pérez	Holguín	14
Hit Batters	Pedro L. Lazo	Pinar del Río	21

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Michel Enríquez a third baseman with Isla de la Juventud. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was José Ibar of La Habana. There was no recipient of the Rookie of the Year Award (Novatos del Año).

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1999 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XXXVIII serie 1999 (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