1999-2000 Cuban National League

The 1999-2000 season was the thirty-ninth season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 39th Serie Nacional was won by Santiago de Cuba, their second straight title under manager by Higinio Vélez. The team was the best team in the regular season with a 62 – 28 record, the third most in history. In the playoffs, the avispas win eleven straight games, sweeping Camagüey, Granma and finally Pinar del Río for the championship. One of the quarterfinals features the two Havana-based rivals facing off against each other, the first time that this had occurred in the playoffs. The winner of the matchup for the veneration capitalinos was Industriales which defeated Metropolitanos in the best-of-fvie series, 3 games to 2. This is also the first season with wooden bats since the fifteenth Serie Nacional, making this the “year of the pitcher” as offense league-wide is depressed.

Ciego de Ávila's Yorelvis Charles led the serie with a .353 batting average by getting 108 hits in 306 at-bats. Home run leader Ivan Correa of Industriales blasts a mere 10 round trippers, the lowest total since 1977. Both were the lowest totals for a league leader since the mid-1970s. Metropolitanos' Enrique Díaz led the league with 59 runs scored as well as with 35 stolen bases. Amaury Sánchez of Las Tunas records a record 22 sacrifice hits.

Norge Luis Vera of Santiago de Cuba is the league's top pitcher with 17 wins and a 0.97 earned run average – 17 earned runs in 157 innings pitched – beating out four other starters who had sub-1.00 ERAs late in the season. Vera also records a record 8 shutouts.

However, much of nation's attention focuses on the 19-year-old phenom, Maels Rodríguez, pitching for the 39 – 51 Sancti Spíritus team. During the season, he is first pitcher to be officially clocked at above 100 mph during the Serie Nacional. A few weeks later on December 22, Rodríguez throws the first perfect game, a 1 – 0 decision, against Las Tunas at Estadio José Antonio Huelga in front of 4,500 fans. He also ties fellow Sancti Spíritus ace Yovani Aragón for the strikeout title at 177 each – however Rodríguez accomplished the feat in fewer innings.

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	59	31	0.656	-.-		Industriales	90	57	33	0.633	-.-
Metropolitanos	90	46	44	0.511	13.0		Sancti Spíritus	90	39	51	0.433	18.0
Isla de la Juventud	90	42	48	0.467	17.0		La Habana	90	35	55	0.389	22.0
Matanzas	90	39	51	0.433	20.0		Cienfuegos	90	34	56	0.378	23.0

Zona Oriental

Grupo C							Grupo D
Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB		Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Villa Clara	90	53	37	0.589	-.-		Santiago de Cuba	90	62	28	0.689	-.-
Camagüey	90	52	38	0.578	1.0		Granma	90	53	37	0.589	9.0
Ciego de Ávila	90	46	44	0.511	7.0		Holguín	90	40	50	0.444	22.0
Las Tunas	90	32	58	0.356	21.0		Guantánamo	90	31	59	0.344	31.0

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

OCC1

Pinar del Río

3

OCC4

Isla de la Juventud

1

OCC1

Pinar del Río

4

Occidental

OCC2

Industriales

3

OCC2

Industriales

3

OCC3

Metropolitanos

2

OCC1

Pinar del Río

0

OTE1

Santiago de Cuba

4

OTE1

Santiago de Cuba

3

OTE4

Camagüey

0

OTE1

Santiago de Cuba

4

Oriental

OTE3

Granma

0

OTE2

Villa Clara

0

OTE3

Granma

3

All-Star Game

The fifteenth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held in Sancti Spíritus, Sancti Spíritus on February 27, 2000. In the game, Oriente defeated Occidentales by a score of 4 to 1. Oriente had 10 hits to Occidentales's 9, while both teams had 1 error. The winning pitcher was Norge Luis Vera and the losing pitcher was Maels Rodríguez.

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	Yorelvis Charles	Ciego de Ávila	.353	108 hits in 306 at-bats
Runs Scored	Enrique Díaz	Metropolitanos	59
Base Hits	Orlis L. Díaz	Isla de la Juventud	117
Doubles	Ariel Borrero	Villa Clara	27
Triples	Nguyen Boulet	Matanzas	9
Home Runs	Iván Correa	Industriales	10
Runs Batted In	Antonio Scull	Industriales	65
Base-on-Balls	Omar Linares	Pinar del Río	69
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Omar Linares	Pinar del Río	16
Hit-by-Pitch	Joan C. Pedroso	Las Tunas	14
Strikeouts	Lisnel Cirilo	Ciego de Ávila	69
Sacrifice Hit	Amaury Sánchez	Las Tunas	22
Sacrifice Fly	Joan C. Pedroso	Las Tunas	6
Stolen Bases	Enrique Díaz	Metropolitanos	35

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Norge L. Vera	Santiago de Cuba	17
Win-Loss Percentage	Aleydis García	Isla de la Juventud	0.900	9 - 1
Earned Run Average	Norge L. Vera	Santiago de Cuba	0.97	17 ER in 157 IP
Innings Pitched	Ciro S. Licea	Granma	194.2
Games Pitched	Roidel Enríquez	Villa Clara	39
Games Started	Ciro S. Licea Carlos A. Yánes	Granma Isla de la Juventud	25
Games Relieved	Raidel Cordero Roidel Enríquez	Las Tunas Villa Clara	37
Complete Games	Gervasio Miguel Yovani Aragón	Isla de la Juventud Sancti Spíritus	14
Shutouts	Norge L. Vera	Santiago de Cuba	8
Hits Allowed	Jonder Martínez	La Habana	180
Strikeouts	Yovani Aragón Maels Rodríguez	Sancti Spíritus Sancti Spíritus	177
Base-on-Balls	Yosvany Fonseca	Matanzas	63
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Raúl Reyes	Camagüey	12
Hit Batters	José M. Báez	Las Tunas	17

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Norge Luis Vera a pitcher with Santiago de Cuba. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Norge Luis Vera of Santiago de Cuba. Yoandry Urgellés of Metropolitanos was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 2000 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XXXIX serie 2000 (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