2000-2001 Cuban National League

The 2000-2001 season was the fortieth season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

In the fortieth Serie Nacional, Santiago de Cuba, managed by Higinio Vélez, became the third team in serie history to win three consecutive titles. For the second straight year they met Pinar del Río in the finals. The avispas won the series 4 games to 1. Santiago de Cuba won the fifth game due to the excellent relief pitching of Osmel Cintra, with the deciding runs were scored by a grand slam home run by legend Antonio Pacheco in the eighth inning.

The second season with wooden bats in a generation sees offense return to the Serie Nacional. Alexander Ramos of Isla de la Juventud has 147 base hits, the highest total with a wooden bat, but five less than the mark put up by fellow toronjero Michel Enríquez two years earlier. Osmani Urrutia of Las Tunas wins his first of five consecutive batting titles with a .431 with 125 hits in 290 at-bats. Two batters, Óscar Macías of La Habana and Roberquis Videaux of Guantánamo, hit 23 home runs to lead the league.

Camagüey rookie Leslie Anderson hits a rookie-record 28 doubles to tie La Habana's Pedro Arozarena for the league lead. Isla de la Juventud's Orlis L. Díaz has 87 runs batted in ties Óscar Machado's record from three years earlier. Eduardo Paret of Villa Clara scores 99 times, setting a record that will be broken two years later by Enrique Díaz.

On the pitching side, it is an bad year for Santiago Mederos as two of his records fall. First, Maels Rodríguez of Sancti Spíritus strikes out 263 opposing batters obiliterating Mederos's record of 208 strikeouts from the XVI Serie Nacional. Then on December 20, Faustino Corrales of Pinar del Río strikes out 22 Holguín batters in a nine-inning game, breaking Mederos's thirty-one year old record of 20. Only Rogelio García's sixteen inning 24 K performance in 1977 is better than Corrales's strikeout total.

Rodríguez is also tied for the league lead in wins with 15, tied with Villa Clara's veteran right hander Eliecer Montes de Oca. He also leads the league in ERA at 1.77, 35 earned runs in a league leading 178.1 innings pitched. La Habana's Lemay de la Rosa has the league's best record at 14 – 1. Cienfuegos reliever Duniel Ibarra, sets new marks for most games pitched at 45 and relief games at 44, but his record will be short lived as both are broken a year later by Orestes González.

On May 13, Santiago de Cuba's Antonio Pacheco hit his 356th double off Faustino Corrales at Estadio Capitán San Luis to set a new record. Industriales veteran 40-year old righthander Lázaro de la Torre wins his 200th career vitory on April 8 against Cienfuegos at Estadio Latinoamericano. The Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año) has a familiar name as Cienfuegos' outfielder Pedro José Rodríguez, Jr., son of team's legendary third baseman.

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	-.-		La Habana	90	50	40	0.556	-.-
Isla de la Juventud	90	53	37	0.589	6.0		Industriales	90	50	40	0.556	-.-
Metropolitanos	90	40	50	0.444	19.0		Sancti Spíritus	90	38	52	0.422	12.0
Matanzas	90	36	54	0.400	23.0		Cienfuegos	90	28	62	0.311	22.0

Zona Oriental

Grupo C							Grupo D
Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB		Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Villa Clara	90	59	31	0.656	-.-		Santiago de Cuba	90	55	35	0.611	-.-
Camagüey	90	53	37	0.589	6.0		Granma	90	55	35	0.611	-.-
Ciego de Ávila	90	35	55	0.389	24.0		Guantánamo	90	43	47	0.478	12.0
Las Tunas	90	25	65	0.278	34.0		Holguín	90	41	49	0.456	14.0

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

OCC1

Pinar del Río

3

OCC4

Industriales

2

OCC1

Pinar del Río

4

Occidental

OCC3

La Habana

0

OCC2

Isla de la Juventud

1

OCC3

La Habana

3

OCC1

Pinar del Río

1

OTE2

Santiago de Cuba

4

OTE1

Villa Clara

1

OTE4

Camagüey

3

OTE4

Camagüey

2

Oriental

OTE2

Santiago de Cuba

4

OTE2

Santiago de Cuba

3

OTE3

Granma

1

All-Star Game

The sixteenth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held at Pinar del Río in Pinar del Río, Pinar del Río (Serie Nacional)|Pinar del Río on February 11, 2001. In the game, Occidentales defeated Oriente by a score of 5 to 2. Oriente had 8 hits to Occidentales's 7, while both teams had 1 error. The winning pitcher was Raúl Valdés and the losing pitcher was Eliecer Montes de Oca.

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	Osmani Urrutia	Las Tunas	.431	125 hits in 290 at-bats
Runs Scored	Eduardo Paret	Villa Clara	99
Base Hits	Alexander Ramos	Isla de la Juventud	147
Doubles	Leslie Anderson Pedro Arozarena	Camagüey La Habana	28
Triples	Ariel Borrero	Villa Clara	10
Home Runs	Roberquis Videaux Óscar Macías	Guantánamo La Habana	23	Leader in less at-bats (246) 295 at-bats
Runs Batted In	Orlis L. Díaz	Isla de la Juventud	87
Base-on-Balls	Frederich Cepeda	Sancti Spíritus	86
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Omar Linares	Pinar del Río	17
Hit-by-Pitch	Óscar Macías	La Habana	19
Strikeouts	Amaury Casañas	Matanzas	89
Sacrifice Hit	Norlis Concepción	Las Tunas	13
Sacrifice Fly	Orlando González	Camagüey	8
Stolen Bases	Enrique Díaz	Metropolitanos	44

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Maels Rodríguez Eliecer Montes de Oca	Sancti Spíritus Villa Clara	15
Win-Loss Percentage	Lemay de la Rosa	La Habana	0.933	14 - 1
Earned Run Average	Maels Rodríguez	Sancti Spíritus	1.77	35 ER in 178.1 IP
Innings Pitched	Maels Rodríguez	Sancti Spíritus	178.1
Games Pitched	Duniel Ibarra	Cienfuegos	45
Games Started	Raúl Valdés Orelvis Ávila Luis M. Rodríguez José Contreras Maels Rodríguez	La Habana Holguín Holguín Pinar del Río Sancti Spíritus	23
Games Relieved	Duniel Ibarra	Cienfuegos	44
Complete Games	Norge L. Vera	Santiago de Cuba	12
Shutouts	Luis Campillo Luis M. Rodríguez Yusmani de la Barca	Camagüey Holguín Villa Clara	4
Hits Allowed	Ciro S. Licea	Granma	174
Strikeouts	Maels Rodríguez	Sancti Spíritus	263
Base-on-Balls	Maels Rodríguez	Sancti Spíritus	76
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Félix Borbón	Holguín	12
Hit Batters	Linoel Doris	Guantánamo	22

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Maels Rodríguez a pitcher with Sancti Spíritus. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Maels Rodríguez of Sancti Spíritus. Pedro José Rodríguez Jr. of Cienfuegos was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 2001 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XL serie 2001 (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