2004-2005 Cuban National League

The 2004-2005 season was the forty-fourth season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

The 44th Serie Nacional was won by Santiago de Cuba, who were managed by Antonio Pacheco – the recently retired career base hits leader. The avispas won the final series, 4 – 2 over La Habana.

Three-time reigning champion Industriales, had the best regular season record at 59 – 30, but were eliminated in the quarterfinals, 3 – 1, by Sancti Spíritus, who finished five and a half games behind the leones in Grupo B. In the other Zona Occidental quarterfinal, third-place La Habana defeated Pinar del Río, 3 – 1. La Habana defeated Sancti Spíritus in the semifinals, 4 games to 2.

The top team in the Zona Oriental was Santiago de Cuba by one game over Ciego de Ávila. The other playoff teams were Granma and Villa Clara. For the second straight year, the zona's quarterfinals were both sweeps as Santiago de Cuba defeated Granma, while number three Villa Clara defeated Ciego de Ávila. Santiago de Cuba then swept another series, winning the semifinals series versus Villa Clara, 4 – 0.

The first five games of the finals saw four shutouts and two blowouts, but were followed by a one-run game won in the last of the ninth inning to give Santiago de Cuba the title. La Habana won the first game at Estadio Guillermón Moncada, 6 – 0, on the pitching of Jonder Martínez and José Ángel García. Santiago de Cuba came back in the second game, 15 to 4, and shutout the vaqueros in game three at Estadio Nelson Fernández, 10 – 0, on a combined two-hit effort by Norge Luis Vera and Alberto Bicet. The series' third shutout (7 to 0) occurred on account of the brilliant pitching of La Habana's Yulieski González and José García, holding La Habana to three hits. Danny Betancourt pitched an 8 – 0 complete game shutout in game five. The series returned to Santiago de Cuba's Estadio Guillermón Moncada for game six.

La Habana's Yadier Pedroso opposed Santiago de Cuba's Ormari Romero in the game – both pitchers would go the distance. The avispas scored first in the bottom of the fifth. Reutilio Hurtado hit a single followed by Edilse Silva sacrifice moving Hurtado to second. Héctor Olivera Jr. then grounded out, bringing left fielder Manuel Benavides up with a runner on second base with two outs. Benavides then hit a double to left scoring the run. The inning ended on an Alexander Jorge ground out. La Habana came back in the top of the sixth with a leadoff home run to left. The score remained knotted at one-all through the top of the ninth. In the bottom of the ninth, Santiago de Cuba's second baseman Héctor Olivera Jr., hit a leadoff texas leaguer to right. Manuel Benavides then failed to advance the runner on the sacrifice bunt. Alexander Jorge was then intentionally walked to bring up Alexei Bell. Bell hit a sacrifice fly to right, advancing Olivera to third. Rolando Meriño received the innings second free pass, loading the bases. First baseman Pedro Poll then hit a ball to right scoring Olivera and giving Santiago de Cuba their seventh title.

Las Tunas outfielder Osmani Urrutia won his fifth straight batting title, but failed to hit over .400 for the first time since his run began. He hit .385 by getting 112 hits in 291 at-bats. Urrutia’s teammate Joan Carlos Pedroso hits 27 home runs, one short of his record from two years earlier. Trailing Pedroso were Sancti Spíritus teammates Eriel Sánchez at 25 and Yulieski Gourriel at 23. Gourriel lead the league in base hits with 126 and runs scored with 80. Las Tunas infielder Yordanis Scull stole 35 bases, the first time in fourteen years that neither Enrique Díaz or Eduardo Paret were among the leaders.

Granma veteran righthander Ciro Silvino Licea ties for the league lead in victories with fellow veteran Pedro Luis Lazo, of Pinar del Río, at 13 wins. Lazo's teammate Yunesky Maya posts the league's best ERA of 1.61 by giving up 16 earned runs in 89.2 innings pitched. Industriales' Yadel Martí has the best record at 11 and 2.

Former rookie sensation Kendry Morales defects to Miami, FL via a boat. The twenty-year old infielder had played three seasons in the for Industriales but was suspended in early 2004 after a eight attempts to defect. Morales would obtain residency in the Dominican Republic before signing with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

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	89	55	34	0.618	-.-		Industriales	89	59	30	0.663	-.-
Isla de la Juventud	90	42	48	0.467	13.5		La Habana	89	54	35	0.607	5.0
Metropolitanos	90	33	57	0.367	22.5		Sancti Spíritus	90	54	36	0.600	5.5
Matanzas	89	28	61	0.315	27.0		Cienfuegos	90	31	59	0.344	28.5

Zona Oriental

Grupo C							Grupo D
Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB		Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Ciego de Ávila	90	54	36	0.600	-.-		Santiago de Cuba	90	55	35	0.611	-.-
Villa Clara	90	51	39	0.567	3.0		Granma	90	50	40	0.556	5.0
Las Tunas	90	47	43	0.522	7.0		Holguín	90	37	53	0.411	18.0
Camagüey	90	35	55	0.389	19.0		Guantánamo	90	33	57	0.367	22.0

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

OCC1

Industriales

1

OCC4

Sancti Spíritus

3

OCC4

Sancti Spíritus

2

Occidental

OCC3

La Habana

4

OCC2

Pinar del Río

1

OCC3

La Habana

3

OCC3

La Habana

2

OTE1

Santiago de Cuba

4

OTE1

Santiago de Cuba

3

OTE4

Granma

0

OTE1

Santiago de Cuba

4

Oriental

OTE3

Villa Clara

0

OTE2

Ciego de Ávila

0

OTE3

Villa Clara

3

All-Star Game

The twentieth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held in Las Tunas on February 26, 2005. In the game, Occidentales defeated Oriente by a score of 4 to 1. Both teams had 7 hits, while the errors were 0 to 1 in favor of Oriente. The winning pitcher was Yunieski Maya and the losing pitcher was Valeri García.

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	.385	112 hits in 291 at-bats
Runs Scored	Yulieski Gourriel	Sancti Spíritus	80
Base Hits	Yulieski Gourriel	Sancti Spíritus	126
Doubles	Michel Enríquez	Isla de la Juventud	30
Triples	Adriano B. García	Cienfuegos	12
Home Runs	Joan C. Pedroso	Las Tunas	27
Runs Batted In	Eriel Sánchez Antonio Scull	Sancti Spíritus Industriales	87	Leader in less at-bats (311) 326 at-bats
Base-on-Balls	Frederich Cepeda	Sancti Spíritus	93
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Amaury Casañas Loidel Chapellí	Matanzas Camagüey	12
Hit-by-Pitch	Eduardo Paret	Villa Clara	25
Strikeouts	Amaury Casañas	Matanzas	80
Sacrifice Hit	Amaury Suárez	Matanzas	14
Sacrifice Fly	Serguei Pérez Yorelvis Charles Antonio Scull	Metropolitanos Ciego de Ávila Industriales	7
Stolen Bases	Yordanis Scull	Las Tunas	35

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Ciro S. Licea Pedro L. Lazo	Granma Pinar del Río	13
Win-Loss Percentage	Yadel Martí	Industriales	0.846	11 - 2
Earned Run Average	Yunesky Maya	Pinar del Río	1.61	16 ER in 89.2 IP
Innings Pitched	Luis M. Rodríguez	Holguín	159.0
Games Pitched	Yolexis Ulacia	Villa Clara	42
Games Started	Orelvis Ávila	Holguín	24
Games Relieved	Yolexis Ulacia	Villa Clara	42
Complete Games	Carlos A. Yánes	Isla de la Juventud	13
Shutouts	Danny Betancourt	Santiago de Cuba	4
Hits Allowed	Ciro S. Licea	Granma	164
Strikeouts	Adiel Palma	Cienfuegos	143
Base-on-Balls	Elier Sánchez	Camagüey	66
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Ubisney Bermúdez Yusef Page García	Las Tunas Matanzas	10
Hit Batters	Misael López Danny Betancourt	Granma Santiago de Cuba	19

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Yulieski Gourriel a third baseman with Sancti Spíritus. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was [[]] of [[]]. Yadier Pedroso of La Habana was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

Súper Liga

The fourth Súper Liga was won by Occidentales who defeated Centrales in the best-of-three championship series. Occidentales (Súper Liga)|Occidentales was managed by the Rey Anglada.

Standings

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Centrales	26	16	10	0.615	-.-
Occidentales	28	15	13	0.536	2.0
Santiago de Cuba	27	14	13	0.519	2.5
Orientales	28	12	16	0.429	5.0
Habaneros	27	11	16	0.407	5.5

Playoffs

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

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .437 - Roger Poll, Centrales
• Base Hits: 46 - Alexei Ramírez, Occidentales
• Runs Scored: 30 - Yulieski Gourriel, Centrales
• Doubles: 10 - Alexei Ramírez, Occidentales; Rafael Orta, Habaneros
• Triples: 3 - Juan Carlos Linares, Habaneros
• Home Runs: 14 - Joan Carlos Pedroso, Santiago de Cuba
• Runs Batted In: 40 - Yulieski Gourriel, Centrales

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 1.000 - Adiel Palma, Centrales (4 - 0); Norge Vera, Santiago de Cuba (2 - 0)
• Games Pitched: 15 - Yolexis Ulacia, Centrales
• Wins: 5 - Pedro Luis Lazo, Occidentales; Alberto Bicet, Santiago de Cuba
• Innings Pitched: 48.2 - Pedro Luis Lazo, Occidentales
• Strikeouts: 36 - Kenny Rodríguez, Habaneros
• Earned Run Average: 2.10 - Adiel Palma, Centrales

Sources

• (May 24, 2006). "44 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