2003-2004 Cuban National League

The 2003-2004 season was the forty-third season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 43rd Serie Nacional was won by Industriales, managed by Rey Vicente Anglada. It was their second straight title and tenth in franchise history. The azules once again swept Villa Clara in the finals.

In Zona Occidental, Pinar del Río was the top team at 57 – 33, tied with Villa Clara for the top record in the serie. In Grupo B, Sancti Spíritus finished two and a half games ahead of Industriales; Isla de la Juventud rounded out the playoff qualifiers. In the quarterfinals, Pinar del Río swept Isla de la Juventud while the Industriales-Sancti Spíritus went the full five games with Industriales winning. Industriales then won in the semifinals against Pinar del Río 4 game to 2.

Zona Oriental's top team was eventual serie runner-up Villa Clara, with Grupo C's second place team, Ciego de Ávila, trailing the naranjas by one and a half games. Santiago de Cuba and Granma of Grupo D were the other two playoff teams. The quarterfinals saw two sweeps as Villa Clara defeated Granma and Santiago de Cuba beat Ciego de Ávila. Villa Clara then defeated Santiago de Cuba in a seven-game semifinal to advance to the finals.

Industriales then rolled through the finals four straight games, outscoring Villa Clara 27 runs to 11 . The fourth contest at Estadio Latinoamericano ended in a dramatic fashion. In the bottom of the ninth, down 4 – 2, Industriales faced stellar reliever Eliecer Montes de Oca. Rudy Reyes leadoff with a double and then Yasser Ottamendi pinch hit for Eliú Torres. Otamendi bunted for a base hit and moved Reyes to third. Second baseman Enrique Díaz then came up with runners on first and third and no outs. He doubled home both runs to win the game for Industriales.

Las Tunas outfielder Osmani Urrutia posted a record-breaking season that won him the league's MVP. For his fourth straight batting title, Urrutia hit an all-time record .469 – 121 hits in 258 at-bats. He also tied for the league lead with 67 runs batted in – with Camagüey's Loidel Chapellí and Pinar del Río's Yosvani Peraza. He also came within three home runs of leader Reinier Yero's (Sancti Spíritus) 19. Urrutia's teammate Yordanis Scull scored a leading 74 runs and hit 131 base hits – most in league play.

The league's top pitcher was Villa Clara starter Luis Borroto. He was the ERA leader at 1.49 with 21 earned runs in 126.2 and struck out a league best 135 hitters. Ifreidi Coss of Sancti Spíritus went 10 – 2 and Isla de la Juventud's Carlos A. Yánes pitched in 167.0 innings while completing 12 games.

On February 21, Pinar del Río infielder Alexander Ramos played in his 1000th consecutive game – the first Cuban player to do so.

This season saw several newsworthy defections. Future major league infielder and former Villa Clara shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt defected July, 2003 to Mexico. In late October former national team members Maels Rodríguez and Yobal Dueñas defected to El Salvador via a speed boat. Two months later former World University Baseball Championship team member Alaín Soler left the island and was followed by Industriales's Amaury Sanit Sabouren and Matanzas's Michel Abreu Martínez in February.

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	57	33	0.633	-.-		Sancti Spíritus	89	54	35	0.607	-.-
Isla de la Juventud	89	46	43	0.517	10.5		Industriales	90	52	38	0.578	2.5
Metropolitanos	90	43	47	0.478	14.0		La Habana	89	38	51	0.427	16.0
Matanzas	90	27	63	0.300	30.0		Cienfuegos	89	27	62	0.303	27.0

Zona Oriental

Grupo C							Grupo D
Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB		Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Villa Clara	90	57	33	0.633	-.-		Santiago de Cuba	90	53	37	0.589	-.-
Ciego de Ávila	89	55	34	0.618	1.5		Granma	90	49	41	0.544	4.0
Las Tunas	90	44	46	0.489	13.0		Holguín	90	42	48	0.467	11.0
Camagüey	90	38	52	0.422	19.0		Guantánamo	89	35	54	0.393	17.5

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

OCC1

Pinar del Río

3

OCC4

Isla de la Juventud

0

OCC1

Pinar del Río

2

Occidental

OCC3

Industriales

4

OCC2

Sancti Spíritus

2

OCC3

Industriales

3

OCC3

Industriales

4

OTE1

Villa Clara

0

OTE1

Villa Clara

3

OTE4

Granma

0

OTE1

Villa Clara

4

Oriental

OTE3

Santiago de Cuba

3

OTE2

Ciego de Ávila

0

OTE3

Santiago de Cuba

3

All-Star Game

The nineteenth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held at Santa Clara, Villa Clara on January 24, 2004. In the game, Oriente defeated Occidentales by a score of 4 to 3. Oriente had 10 hits to Occidentales's 7, while the errors were 0 to 1 in favor of Occidentales. The winning pitcher was Yolexis Ulacia and the losing pitcher was Carlos Yanes. Reinier Yero and Danel Castro each hit a home run.

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	.469	121 hits in 258 at-bats
Runs Scored	Yordanis Scull	Las Tunas	74
Base Hits	Yordanis Scull	Las Tunas	131
Doubles	Andy Zamora	Villa Clara	33
Triples	Marino Luis	Camagüey	9
Home Runs	Reinier Yero	Sancti Spíritus	19
Runs Batted In	Osmani Urrutia Loidel Chapellí Yosvani Peraza	Las Tunas Camagüey Pinar del Río	67	Leader in less at-bats (258) 330 at-bats 345 at-bats
Base-on-Balls	Juan Manrique	Matanzas	64
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Michel Enríquez	Isla de la Juventud	12
Hit-by-Pitch	Reutilio Hurtado	Santiago de Cuba	25
Strikeouts	Reinier Yero	Sancti Spíritus	97
Sacrifice Hit	Roberto Borrero Donal Duarte Omar Arrozarena	Guantánamo Pinar del Río Sancti Spíritus	11
Sacrifice Fly	Rey Isaac	Santiago de Cuba	10
Stolen Bases	Enrique Díaz Yusquiel García	Industriales Camagüey	20	Leader

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Carlos A. Yánes	Isla de la Juventud	13
Win-Loss Percentage	Ifreidi Coss	Sancti Spíritus	0.833	10 - 2
Earned Run Average	Luis Borroto	Villa Clara	1.49	21 ER in 126.2 IP
Innings Pitched	Carlos A. Yánes	Isla de la Juventud	167.0
Games Pitched	Yolexis Ulacia	Villa Clara	45
Games Started	Alexander Rodríguez	Guantánamo	22
Games Relieved	Yolexis Ulacia	Villa Clara	45
Complete Games	Carlos A. Yánes	Isla de la Juventud	12
Shutouts	Ciro S. Licea	Granma	4
Hits Allowed	Carlos A. Yánes	Isla de la Juventud	177
Strikeouts	Luis Borroto	Villa Clara	135
Base-on-Balls	Ubisney Bermúdez	Las Tunas	58
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Alexander Digurnay Félix Rivera	Guantánamo Santiago de Cuba	10
Hit Batters	Alexander Rodríguez	Guantánamo	26

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Osmani Urrutia a outfielder with Las Tunas. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was [[]] of [[]]. Frank Montieth of the Industriales was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Súper Liga

The third Súper Liga was won by Orientales who defeated Industriales in the best-of-three championship series. Orientales (Súper Liga)|Orientales was managed by the Higinio Vélez.

Standings

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Industriales	15	10	5	0.667	-.-
Orientales	15	7	8	0.467	3.0
Occidentales	15	7	8	0.467	3.0
Centrales	15	6	9	0.400	4.0

Playoffs

The Súper Liga Championship Playoff featured the first and second place teams in a best-of-three series. The first place Orientales defeated the second place Industriales, 2 games to 0.

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .417 - Rudy Reyes, Industriales
• Base Hits: 25 - Alexei Ramírez, Occidentales
• Runs Scored: 14 - Yasser Gómez, Industriales; Yoandi Garlobo, Occidentales
• Doubles: 7 - Antonio Scull, Industriales
• Triples: 2 - Rudy Reyes, Industriales; Enríque Díaz, Industriales
• Home Runs: 5 - Eduardo Paret, Centrales
• Runs Batted In: 15 - Amaury Casanas, Occidentales

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 1.000 (2 - 0) - Deinys Suárez Arag, Industriales; Vicyohandri Odelín, Orientales
• Games Pitched: 9 - Orestes González, Occidentales
• Wins: 2 - nine tied
• Innings Pitched: 24.0 - Yulieski González, Occidentales
• Strikeouts: 15 - Yovani Aragón, Centrales
• Earned Run Average: 1.25 - Luis Borroto, Centrales

Sources

• (May 24, 2006). "43 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