2008-2009 Cuban National League

The 48th Serie Nacional was won by La Habana, 4 games to 1, over Villa Clara. La Habana won the western league title in both the regular season and in the playoffs, while Villa Clara overcame a third-place finish in the regular season to upset both defending champion Santiago de Cuba and Ciego de Avila (which had the best record in the regular season). La Habana was noted primarily for their pitching staff which included Yulieski González, Yadier Pedroso, Jonder Martínez and Miguel A. González, while Villa Clara's biggest names, Ariel Pestano and Eduardo Paret, were winding down their careers. La Habana was managed by Esteban Lombillo.

The finals opened with a close battle. La Habana led 3-0 entering the 8th, with Yulieski González throwing a one-hitter to that point (after 6 no-hit innings). Things turned sour quickly as rookie Ramon Lunar homered, C Yulexis La Rosa tripled and PH Yandy Canto singled to make it 3-2. Jose A. Garcia relieved González but gave up a double to RF Andy Zamora; after a passed ball, 1B Ariel Borrero tied it with a sac fly. In the bottom of the 9th, Yolexis Ulacia came on for Villa Clara. RF Ruby Silva greeted him with a double and moved to third on a fly. With two outs, 2B Ernesto Molinet was intentionally walked. On a full count, DH Rafael Orta singled in the winner for La Habana, 4-3 victors.

In game two of the finals, Villa Clara got on the board in the top of the first. Alain Sanchez was ineffective for Villa Clara, though, giving up runs in the first and third and leaving with a 2-1 deficit. La Habana kept on padding their lead and they were ahead 4-2 entering the 8th. DH Rafael Orta completed a 3-for-3 day with a homer off Ulacia in the 8th to make it 5-2 Habana. Villa Clara still had some fight left, though. Miguel Lahera relieved Miguel A. González after 8 strong innings, but the Cuban national team member was a bust here. LF Yuniet Flores greeted him with a single, Zamora tripled and Borrero singled (to finish his day 4 for 4, getting most of his team's 7 hits) to close it to 5-4. That was it for Lahera and Jonder Martínez entered. Martínez went 1-2-3, getting Lunar, Pestano and La Rosa to end the game and put La Habana ahead in the series, 2 games to 0.

Game three also went La Habana's way, this time from the get-go. In the first, Yosvani Perez allowed two runs in 1/3 of an inning, with Rafael Orta again coming up big, this time with a RBI double to open the scoring. Habana led 5-0 entering the bottom of the 6th, when Yadier Pedroso finally allowed a run. Jonder Martínez replaced Pedroso and tossed scoreless ball for the final 3 2/3 innings. Villa Clara had been held to 8 runs in the first 3 runs by the strong La Habana staff, while Villa Clara's hurlers had given up 14 runs. Their backs were to the wall.

Villa Clara finally took a contest in game four. Yulieski González again turned in a fine start, fanning 12 and leading 3-2 into the bottom of the 9th, but an error by Molinet tied the contest. In the 10th, Lunar singled off Jose A. Garcia with the bases loaded to give Villa Clara the win.

It was only a momentary setback for La Habana, as Miguel A. González went the distance with a 5-hit, 8-K shutout to wrap up the team's dominant pitching of the tournament (12 runs in 5 games). La Habana scored six times in the finale, with both Silva and Molinet going yard.

Alfredo Despaigne set a new single-season home run record with 32, breaking Alexei Bell's one-year-old record by one; this record would not last much longer, being broken in 2010-2011. Vladimir Garcia tied the single-season record for saves. Jorge Padrón tied the record with six hits in a game.

Jorge Alberto Martínez Roque threw the 50th no-hitter of the Castro era, stopping the Industriales at Estadio Latinoamericano on January 29, holding them to the minimum 27 batters. A hit batsmen prevents a perfect game. The right-hander had only been 10-20 for his career entering the contest.

Osmani Urrutia retired as Cuba's all-time leader with a .369 average. Also retiring was longtime Cuban national team catcher Ariel Pestano.

Standings

West Standings

Team	Record	GB	Manager
La Habana	57-33	--	Esteban Lombillo
Pinar del Rio	54-36	3	Luis Casanova
Sancti Spíritus	48-42	9	Juan Castro
Isla de la Juventud	43-47	14	Armando Johnson
Matanzas	39-51	18	Wilfredo Menéndez
Industriales	37-53	20	Germán Mesa
Cienfuegos	34-56	23	Iday Abreu
Metropolitanos	33-57	24	Jorge Milián

East Standings

Team	Record	GB	Manager
Ciego de Ávila	64-26	-	Roger Machado
Santiago de Cuba	57-33	7	Antonio Pacheco
Villa Clara	53-37	11	Eduardo Martín
Holguín	47-43	17	Héctor Hernández
Guantánamo	43-47	21	Agustín Lescaille
Camagüey	41-49	23	Luis Ulacia
Las Tunas	36-54	28	Ermidelio Urrutia
Granma	34-56	30	Osvaldo Avilés

Playoffs

• First round
• Villa Clara 4, Santiago de Cuba 3
• Ciego de Avila 4, Holguin 0
• Pinar del Rio 4, Sancti Spirutus 1
• La Habana 4, Isla de la Juventud 1
• Semi-finals
• Villa Clara 4, Ciego de Avila 1
• La Habana 4, Pinar del Rio 2
• Championship Series
• La Habana 4 Villa Clara 1

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	Michel Enríquez	Isla de la Juventud	.401
Runs Scored	Ramón Tamayo	Granma	87
Base Hits	Yoilán Cerce	Guantánamo	136
Doubles	Michel Enríquez	Isla de la Juventud	35
Triples	Ruby Silva	La Habana	10
Home Runs	Alfredo Despaigne	Granma	32
Runs Batted In	Alfredo Despaigne	Granma	97
Base-on-Balls	Michel Enríquez	Isla de la Juventud	89
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Yosvani Peraza	Pinar del Rio	24
Hit-by-Pitch	Jose Dariel Abreu	Cienfuegos	30
Strikeouts	Erisbel Arruebarruena	Cienfuegos	82
Sacrifice Hit	Leugim Barroso	Industriales	17
Sacrifice Fly	Eriel Sánchez	Sancti Spíritus	8
Stolen Bases	Yoelvis Leyva	Cienfuegos	22

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Ismel Jiménez Yunieski Maya	Sancti Spíritus Pinar del Rio	13
Win-Loss Percentage	Valeri García	Ciego de Ávila	11-1
Earned Run Average	Yadier Pedroso	Ciego de Ávila	1.91	113 IP
Innings Pitched	Yunieski Maya	Pinar del Rio	146 IP
Games Pitched	Alexei Alarcón	Granma	38
Games Started	Yandry Lestapier Yander Guevara	Guantánamo Ciego de Ávila	21
Games Relieved	Alexei Alarcón	Granma	37
Complete Games	Yunieski Maya Norge Vera	Pinar del Rio Santiago de Cuba	7
Shutouts	Danny Betancourt Norge Vera Yunieski Maya Ismel Jiménez	Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba Pinar del Rio Sancti Spíritus	4
Hits Allowed	Yoelkis Cruz	Las Tunas	165
Strikeouts	Aroldis Chapman	Holguín	130
Base-on-Balls	Wilbert Pérez	Isla de la Juventud	81
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Wilbert Verdecia Darwin Beltran	Las Tunas Metropolitanos	10
Hit Batters	Jose Moulin	Isla de la Juventud	19
Saves	Vladimir García	Ciego de Ávila	25

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Alfredo Despaigne of Granma. Michel Gorguet of Guantanamo was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año). Miguel Alfredo González was named Postseason MVP. Esteban Lombillo (La Habana) was named Manager of the Year.

All-Stars were C Rolando Meriño (Santiago de Cuba), 1B Yorelvis Charles (Ciego de Avila), 2B Yoilán Cerce (Guantanamo), SS Alexander Guerrero (Las Tunas), 3B Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spiritus), Bell, OF Alfredo Despaigne (Granma), OF Yoennis Céspedes (Granma), OF Giorvis Duvergel (Guantanamo), DH Leris Aguilera (Holguin), UT Leonis Martin (Villa Clara), RHP Yunieski Maya (Pinar del Rio), LHP Maikel Folch (Ciego de Avila) and RP Vladimir García (Ciego de Avila).

Gold Glove winners were C Yaimel Alberro (Matanzas), 1B Leslie Anderson (Camaguey), 2B Mario Vega (Ciego de Avila), SS Yorbis Borroto (Ciego de Avila), 3B Marino Luis (Cienfuegos) and Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spiritus) in a tie, OF Juan Carlos Linares (La Habana), Alexei Bell (Santiago de Cuba) and Rafael Orta (La Habana) and P Wilbert Pérez (Isla de la Juventud).