2002-2003 Cuban National League

From BR Bullpen

The 2002-2003 season was the forty-second season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional[edit]

The 42nd Serie Nacional was won by Industriales, who were managed by Rey Vicente Anglada.

The leones posted 66 – 23 record in the regular season, the most wins in a serie, and then lost two a single game in their quarterfinal matchup against La Habana. In the semifinals versus Pinar del Río, who had defeated Cienfuegos 3 – 2, Industriales won another series 4 – 1. In the finals, they swept Villa Clara for their ninth title and first in seven years. Villa Clara had been the class of the Zona Oriental as it was the only team to finish over .500 - Granma was 45 – 45, while both Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba went 44 – 46.

Las Tunas' Osmani Urrutia wins his third straight batting title by posting a .421, 123 hits in 292 at-bats. Urrutia's teammate Joan Carlos Pedroso hits 28 home runs, breaking Lázaro Junco's ten year old record. Industriales' Enrique Díaz scores a record 100 runs, breaking Eduardo Paret's record of 99 from two years earlier. Díaz also leads the league with 28 stolen bases, his tenth title. Javier Méndez of the champions drives in 92 runs, three more than Daniel Lazo had last year. Matanzas's Juan Manrique breaks another year-old record (his own) by getting walked 105 times. Last year's rookie star Kendry Morales is the top batter for the champion Industriales club. Morales's .391 average is second best in the league.

Industriales righthander Yadel Martí sports the league's best win-loss record at 10 – 2 , while Adiel Palma of Cienfuegos has the most victories at 14 and strikeouts at 172. Pinar del Río's Alaín Soler records the lowest earned run average in the league at 2.01, 28 earned runs in 125.1 innings pitched; it is the first in fifteen years that an ERA league leader sports one over 2.00.

Industirales' outfielder Javier Méndez ends his 22-year career by moving into the top placing on the career leader board for doubles with 381 and eighth in base hits with 2,101. In his final season, Méndez hits for a .332 average with 19 home runs, drives in 92 runs and slugs .599. Enríque Díaz break's Víctor Mesa's longstanding steals mark of 588 during the season.

Standings[edit]

Bold indicates Zona champion; Italics indicates Serie Nacional champion

Zona Occidental[edit]

Grupo A Grupo B
Team G W L WPCT GB Team G W L WPCT GB
Pinar del Río 90 56 34 0.622 -.- Industriales 89 66 23 0.742 -.-
Isla de la Juventud 89 41 48 0.461 14.5 Cienfuegos 90 52 38 0.578 14.5
Matanzas 90 41 49 0.456 15.0 La Habana 90 51 39 0.567 15.5
Metropolitanos 90 41 49 0.456 15.0 Sancti Spíritus 90 49 41 0.544 17.5

Zona Oriental[edit]

Grupo C Grupo D
Team G W L WPCT GB Team G W L WPCT GB
Villa Clara 90 56 34 0.622 -.- Granma 90 45 45 0.500 -.-
Camagüey 90 44 46 0.489 12.0 Santiago de Cuba 90 44 46 0.489 1.0
Ciego de Ávila 90 37 53 0.411 19.0 Holguín 90 43 47 0.478 2.0
Las Tunas 90 25 65 0.278 31.0 Guantánamo 90 28 62 0.311 17.0

Playoffs[edit]

  Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                           
  OCC1  Industriales 3  
OCC4  La Habana 1  
  OCC1  Industriales 4  
Occidental
  OCC2  Pinar del Río 1  
OCC2  Pinar del Río 3
  OCC3  Cienfuegos 2  
    OCC1  Industriales 4
  OTE1  Villa Clara 0
  OTE1  Villa Clara 3  
OTE4  Santiago de Cuba 2  
  OTE1  Villa Clara 4
Oriental
  OTE2  Granma 2  
OTE2  Granma 3
  OTE3  Camagüey 1  

All-Star Game[edit]

The eighteenth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held at Cienfuegos in Cienfuegos, Cienfuegos (Serie Nacional)|Cienfuegos on February 23, 2003. In the game, Oriente defeated Occidentales by a score of 8 to 6. Oriente had 14 hits to Occidentales's 10, while the errors were 0 to 2 in favor of Occidentales. The winning pitcher was Yolexis Ulacia and the losing pitcher was Orestes González.

Leaders[edit]

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

Batting[edit]

Stat Leader Team Number Notes
Batting Average Osmani Urrutia Las Tunas .421 123 hits in 292 at-bats
Runs Scored Enrique Díaz Industriales 100
Base Hits Alexei Ramírez Pinar del Río 131
Doubles Luis E. Piloto La Habana 28
Triples Marino Luis
Andrés Quiala
Camagüey
Las Tunas
8
Home Runs Joan C. Pedroso Las Tunas 28
Runs Batted In Javier Méndez Industriales 92
Base-on-Balls Juan Manrique Matanzas 105
Intentional Base-on-Balls Frederich Cepeda Sancti Spíritus 15
Hit-by-Pitch Pedro J. Rodríguez Jr. Cienfuegos 28
Strikeouts Roberto Álvarez Matanzas 95
Sacrifice Hit Royniel Varona Holguín 17
Sacrifice Fly Carlos A. Tabares
Yunieski Betancourt
Industriales
Villa Clara
8
Stolen Bases Enrique Díaz Industriales 28

Pitching[edit]

Stat Leader Team Number Notes
Wins Adiel Palma Cienfuegos 14
Win-Loss Percentage Yadel Martí Industriales 0.833 10 - 2
Earned Run Average Alaín Soler Pinar del Río 2.01 28 ER in 125.1 IP
Innings Pitched Yosvani Aragón Sancti Spíritus 164.0
Games Pitched Jorge A. Martínez Matanzas 41
Games Started Carlos A. Yánes Isla de la Juventud 22
Games Relieved Jorge A. Martínez Matanzas 41
Complete Games Ciro S. Licea
Luis M. Rodríguez
Yosvani Aragón
Granma
Holguín
Sancti Spíritus
10
Shutouts Ciro S. Licea Granma 4
Hits Allowed Carlos A. Yánes Isla de la Juventud 172
Strikeouts Adiel Palma Cienfuegos 179
Base-on-Balls Maels Rodríguez Sancti Spíritus 87
Intentional Base-on-Balls José M. Báez Las Tunas 11
Hit Batters Misael López Granma 21

Award Winners[edit]

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Javier Méndez a outfielder with Industriales. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Adiel Palma of Cienfuegos. Yordanis Samón of Granma was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Súper Liga[edit]

The second Súper Liga was won by Centrales who defeated Occidentales in the best-of-three championship series. Centrales (Súper Liga)|Centrales was managed by Lourdes Gourriel Sr..

Standings[edit]

Team G W L WPCT GB
Centrales 20 13 7 0.650 -.-
Occidentales 21 11 10 0.524 2.5
Orientales 21 11 10 0.524 2.5
Habaneros 20 6 14 0.300 7.0

Playoffs[edit]

The Súper Liga Championship Playoff featured the first and second place teams in a best-of-three series. The second place Centrales defeated the first place Occidentales, 2 games to 1.

Leaders[edit]

Batting[edit]

Pitching[edit]

Sources[edit]

Cuban National League Seasons
1962 1962-1963 1963-1964 1964-1965 1965-1966 1966-1967 1967-1968 1968-1969
1969-1970 1970-1971 1971-1972 1972-1973 1973-1974 1974-1975 1975-1976 1976-1977 1977-1978 1978-1979
1979-1980 1980-1981 1981-1982 1982-1983 1983-1984 1984-1985 1985-1986 1986-1987 1987-1988 1988-1989
1989-1990 1990-1991 1991-1992 1992-1993 1993-1994 1994-1995 1995-1996 1996-1997 1997-1998 1998-1999
1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009
2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019
2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023