2001-2002 Cuban National League

The 2001-2002 season was the forty-first season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 41st Serie Nacional was won by Holguín, who were managed by Héctor Hernández. The team won in the playoff finals against Sancti Spíritus, four games to three. The Serie Nacional was followed by a 27-game super-provincial series in the summer called the Súper Liga, featuring four teams.

The Zona Occidental was dominated by Pinar del Río, who were led by returning former national team manager Jorge Fuentes and had the league's best record at 64 – 26. The zona's surprise was Sancti Spíritus, which went from seven games under .500 in last year's serie, to winning the Grupo B by a single game over Industriales. Rounding out the playoff teams was second seed Isla de la Juventud. The Sancti Spíritus-Isla de la Juventud went the full five games, with the surprise team emerging victorious, while Pinar del Río rolled over Industriales. Sancti Spíritus then defeated Pinar del Río 4 games to 2 to advance to the finals.

In the Zona Oriental, the top three teams (Holguín, Villa Clara, Santiago de Cuba) were all within a game of each other and .600, while four-ranked Camagüey finished a game under .500. Holguín edged three-time defending champion Santiago de Cuba by one game to win Grupo C and gained the first seed. They then beat Camagüey in their semifinals matchup and Villa Clara (who had defeated Santiago de Cuba) to reach the finals.

Sancti Spíritus was led by a trio of young pitchers – Yovani Aragón, 27 years old; Ifreidi Coss, 18 years old; and Maels Rodríguez, 22 years old. Rodríguez was the ace sporting a 14 – 3 win-loss record, 2.13 ERA and a league leading 219 strikeouts and 85 base-on-balls. Ifreidi Coss was 10 – 3 in the regular season with 1.94 earned run average and 87/26 K/BB ratio in his rookie season. Aragón went 12 – 8, had a 3.46 ERA while striking out 129 and walking 46. The team's top batters were Frederich Cepeda whose .378 batting average was fourth in the league and who hit 10 home runs; Eriel Sánchez, who also hit 10 round-trippers; and Yulieski Gourriel who hit 26 doubles. Other batters included Yunier Mendoza, as well as Lourdes Gourriel's brother Luis Enrique and son Yuniesky.

Unlike Sancti Spíritus, Holguín had little star power or spectacular players. The team's top two pitchers were Orelvis Avila who went 14 – 7 with a 2.87 ERA, 74 strikeouts, and 58 walks, while Luis Miguel Rodriguez was 13 – 6 with 119 opposing batters struck out, 30 walks, and a 2.94 earned run average. Waldo Denis was by far the team's best hitter with a .366 average and a team-leading 9 home runs, designated hitter Luis Rodríguez Williams sported a .341 average with 23 doubles, while Juan Rondón hit .332, third on the team.

The final series between Sancti Spíritus and Holguín went the full seven games. In the first game at Estadio Calixto García Íñiguez Sancti Spíritus's Ifreidi Coss threw a 6 – 0 shutout of the home team. The second game was a slugfest as Holguín scored four runs in the first knocking out Sancti Spíritus starter Ramón Licor and reliever Noelvis Hernández. In the third, the visitors responded with five runs, forcing Oscar Gil and Félix Borbón to leave the game. Holguín responded with six runs over the next four innings while Juan E. Pérez and Orelvis Avila shutdown Sancti Spíritus. In the top of the ninth – down 10 to 5 – Sancti Spíritus scored five runs on four hits, a walk and an error. The game went into extra innings, and in the bottom of the twelfth, Oscar del Rosario got a single, was moved to second base by Gabriel Rojas sacrifice and scored on a Yoanis Quintana hit to center field.

The series then moved to Estadio José Antonio Huelga for the middle set of games. Holguín went up 2 to 1 with a 4 – 3 win despite a complete game by Sancti Spíritus's Yovani Aragón and then won the fourth game 5 – 2 to move one game away for the team's first title. Ifreidi Coss threw another shutout in game five, 5 – 0 with Holguín's Orelvis Avila getting pulled before recording a single out, and Juan E. Pérez coming in on relief and finishing the game. Game six, back in Holguín, was won by Sancti Spíritus 4 – 2. The game was 4 – 0 until the bottom of the ninth when Juan Pacheco hit a two-run home run off Yovani Aragón. Maels Rodríguez then came in and struck out the side.

Game seven saw the 18-year old Ifreidi Coss taking the mound for Sancti Spíritus against the 26-year old Orelvis Avila for Holguín. Coss pitched three innings but was pulled for Maels Rodríguez after giving up an Ernesto Martínez home run to lead off the fourth. Holguín added another run in the fifth on a Juan Rondón double and Waldo Denis single. Avila took a shutout into the ninth, and was one out from completing the game when he gave up a hit to Ixis Valle. Pinch-hitter Reinier Yero then hit a double moving Valle to third. Liván Monteagudo then hit a texas leaguer plating Valle and moving the tying run 90-feet from home. Oscar Gil was then brought in, he first walked Yonelky Villaspando to load the bases and bring up Frederich Cepeda – who had a postseason-leading batting average of .394. Gil struck out Cepeda to give Holguín their first title.

Osmani Urrutia of Las Tunas won his second consecutive batting title with a .408 average, 98 hits in 240 at-bats. Matanzas's Michel Abreu hit 23 home runs, top in the league; he also scored a league leading 78 runs. Teammate Juan Manrique was walked 90 times, breaking his own record of 89 from three years prior. Pinar del Río's Pedro L. Lazo is the league's leader in wins with 15 while teammate José Contreras is the ERA champ with a 1.76 Earned Run Average – 28 earned runs in 143.1 innings pitched. Fellow pinareño Orestes González breaks Duniel Ibarra's record for games pitched and relief appearances by relieving in 50 games.

Industriales' switch-hitting utility player Kendry Morales has the league's best season for a rookie. He sets rookie records for home runs with 21; runs scored, 60; runs batted in, 82; base hits, 114; extra base hits, 56; and slugging percentage, .577.

The Serie Nacional season also sees the retirement of many of the league's greats from the 1980s and 1990s. Among these are longtime Industriales shortstop Germán Mesa and pitcher Lázaro de la Torre, longtime camagüeyano Luis Ulacia, career home run leader Orestes Kindelán, all-time base hits leader Antonio Pacheco, and batting average leader Omar Linares. Linares will go on to play for the Chunichi Dragons for three seasons before retiring.

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	64	26	0.711	-.-		Sancti Spíritus	90	53	37	0.589	-.-
Isla de la Juventud	90	51	39	0.567	13.0		Industriales	90	49	41	0.544	4.0
Matanzas	90	48	42	0.533	16.0		La Habana	90	45	45	0.500	8.0
Metropolitanos	90	31	59	0.344	33.0		Cienfuegos	90	33	57	0.367	20.0

Zona Oriental

Grupo C							Grupo D
Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB		Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Villa Clara	90	54	36	0.600	-.-		Holguín	90	55	35	0.611	-.-
Camagüey	90	44	46	0.489	10.0		Santiago de Cuba	90	54	36	0.600	1.0
Ciego de Ávila	90	42	48	0.467	12.0		Granma	90	38	52	0.422	17.0
Las Tunas	90	23	67	0.256	31.0		Guantánamo	90	36	54	0.400	19.0

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

OCC1

Pinar del Río

3

OCC4

Industriales

1

OCC1

Pinar del Río

2

Occidental

OCC2

Sancti Spíritus

4

OCC2

Sancti Spíritus

3

OCC3

Isla de la Juventud

2

OCC2

Sancti Spíritus

3

OTE1

Holguín

4

OTE1

Holguín

3

OTE4

Camagüey

1

OTE1

Holguín

4

Oriental

OTE3

Villa Clara

2

OTE2

Santiago de Cuba

0

OTE3

Villa Clara

3

All-Star Game

The seventeenth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held in Holguín, Holguín on March 17, 2002. In the game, Occidentales defeated Oriente by a score of 8 to 1. Occidentales had 14 hits to Oriente's 7, while the errors were 0 to 1 in favor of Oriente. The winning pitcher was Carlos Yanes and the losing pitcher was Vladimir 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	Osmani Urrutia	Las Tunas	.408	98 hits in 240 at-bats
Runs Scored	Michel Abreu	Matanzas	78
Base Hits	Luis F. Rivera	Isla de la Juventud	136
Doubles	Michel Enríquez	Isla de la Juventud	29
Triples	Danny Miranda Manuel Benavides Yunieski Betancourt	Ciego de Ávila Santiago de Cuba Villa Clara	8
Home Runs	Michel Abreu	Matanzas	23
Runs Batted In	Daniel Lazo	Pinar del Río	89
Base-on-Balls	Juan Manrique	Matanzas	90
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Ariel Borrero	Villa Clara	14
Hit-by-Pitch	Luis E. Piloto	Isla de la Juventud	20
Strikeouts	Pedro J. Rodríguez Román	Cienfuegos	91
Sacrifice Hit	Carlos A. Tabares	Industriales	18
Sacrifice Fly	Ariel Benavides Vaisel Acosta Yunieski Betancourt	Guantánamo Matanzas Villa Clara	7	?Name
Stolen Bases	Eduardo Paret	Villa Clara	34

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Pedro L. Lazo	Pinar del Río	15
Win-Loss Percentage	Vladimir Hernández	Villa Clara	0.846	11 - 2
Earned Run Average	José Contreras	Pinar del Río	1.76	28 ER in 143.1 IP
Innings Pitched	Ciro S. Licea	Granma	167.1
Games Pitched	Orestes González	Pinar del Río	50
Games Started	Raúl Valdés	La Habana	25
Games Relieved	Orestes González	Pinar del Río	50
Complete Games	Norge L. Vera	Santiago de Cuba	11
Shutouts	Carlos A. Yánes Yosvany Fonseca	Isla de la Juventud Matanzas	4
Hits Allowed	Jonder Martínez	La Habana	195
Strikeouts	Maels Rodríguez	Sancti Spíritus	219
Base-on-Balls	Maels Rodríguez	Sancti Spíritus	85
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Alexander Digurnay	Guantánamo	10
Hit Batters	Norge L. Vera	Santiago de Cuba	19

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Michel Abreu, a first baseman with Matanzas. Kendry Morales of Industriales was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Súper Liga

The first Súper Liga was won by Habaneros who defeated Centrales in the best-of-three championship series. Habaneros was managed by the Armando Johnson.

Standings

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Habaneros	27	16	11	0.593	-.-
Centrales	27	16	11	0.593	-.-
Occidentales	27	12	15	0.444	4.0
Orientales	27	10	17	0.370	6.0

Playoffs

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

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .391 - Andy Zamora, Centrales
• Base Hits: 35 - Frederich Cepeda, Centrales; Juan Carlos Linares, Occidentales
• Runs Scored: 24 - Frederich Cepeda, Centrales
• Doubles: 11 - Frederich Cepeda, Centrales
• Triples: 3 - Yasser Gómez, Habaneros
• Home Runs: 7 - Frederich Cepeda, Centrales
• Runs Batted In: 19 - Bábaro Cañizares, Habaneros; Ariel Borrero, Centrales; Frederich Cepeda, Centrales

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 1.000 (4 - 0) - Orestes González, Occidentales
• Games Pitched: 12 - Orestes González, Occidentales
• Wins: 4 - Vicyohandri Odelín, Habaneros; Yadel Martí, Habaneros; Orestes González, Occidentales
• Innings Pitched: 43.1 - Ciro Silvino Licea, Orientales
• Strikeouts: 41 - Maels Rodríguez, Centrales
• Earned Run Average: 1.13 - Orestes González, Occidentales

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 2002 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XLI serie 2002 (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