2002-2003 Cuban National League

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

Serie Nacional

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

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	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

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

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

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

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	.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

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

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

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

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

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

Batting

• Batting Average: .435 - Frederich Cepeda, Centrales
• Base Hits: 32 - Luis Rivera, Occidentales; Michel Enríquez, Occidentales
• Runs Scored: 21 - Frederich Cepeda, Centrales
• Doubles: 6 - Yulieski Gourriel, Centrales; Yunieski Betancourt, Centrales
• Triples: 2 - Yulieski Gourriel, Centrales; Frederich Cepeda, Centrales
• Home Runs: 7 - Frederich Cepeda, Centrales
• Runs Batted In: 20 - Frederich Cepeda, Centrales

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 1.000 (4 - 0) - Yovani Aragón, Centrales
• Games Pitched: 10 - Alexander Quintero, Centrales
• Wins: 4 - Yovani Aragón, Centrales
• Innings Pitched: 30.1 - Jonder Martínez, Habaneros
• Strikeouts: 21 - Norberto González, Centrales
• Earned Run Average: 1.21 - Luis Rodríguez, Orientales

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 2003 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (May 24, 2006). "42 Serie Nacional de Béisbol (Spanish)". {{{title}}}. Redacción Deportiva del Periódico Granma. 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