2012-2013 Cuban National League

The 2012-2013 Cuban National League season began on November 25, 2012, with the defending champion Ciego de Ávila club winning 1-0 behind 8 no-hit innings from Vladimir García. The league introduced an unusual format due to the 2013 World Baseball Classic (in which Cuba dominated round one but was upset by the Netherlands in round two), with 16 teams playing 45 games apiece before the Classic. Afterwards, the top eight teams were allowed to add 5 players each from the bottom 8 teams and continue on to a second phase. The whole scheme created a lot of confusion.

One thing was done to reduce confusion as the league returned to its historical 16-team format with the elimination of the Metropolitanos after having played with 17 teams for a season. The league now had one team per province for the first time.

A sad note came in mid-March, when Cuban national team hurler Yadier Pedroso, last year's strikeout leader, died in a car crash shortly after returning from the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

Two players reached milestones in early April. Joan Carlos Pedroso (no relation to Yadier Pedroso) became the 9th player to 300 career home runs on April 6. Three days later, Ciro Silvino Licea was the 7th hurler to 200 wins.

The finals faced a match-up of Villa Clara and Matanzas, with Villa Clara nearly sweeping to its first title in 18 years. The team had been barely over .500 in the first half but had benefited from its reinforcements to cruise from there. In the finals, Freddy Asiel Alvarez shut down Matanzas in the opener, running his playoff consecutive scoreless inning streak to 33, breaking Pedro Luis Lazo's Cuban record. The next day, June 12, Villa Clara won, 8-1, behind 3 homers and fine pitching from Misael Siverio. After two days off, Matanzas won its lone game, with Jorge Alberto Martínez tossing 8 shutout innings of four-hit ball in a 4-1 Matanzas win.

On June 16, though, Matanzas again had to face Alvarez; he finally allowed a run in the 8th after building his record to 40 2/3 consecutive scoreless postseason innings. Villa Clara won, 4-1. After a rain-out, Villa Clara won the finale, 8-5, thanks to a grand slam from veteran catcher Ariel Pestano in the 6th inning.

Standings

Team	Classification Phase	Secondary Phase	Manager
Cienfuegos	30-15	26-16	Iday Abreu
Sancti Spíritus	31-14	22-19	Ruperto Zamora
Matanzas	27-18	25-16	Víctor Mesa
Villa Clara	24-21	26-16	Ramón Moré Flaquet
Ciego de Ávila	24-21	21-21	Roger Machado
Industriales	27-18	18-24	Lázaro Vargas
Isla de la Juventud	26-19	17-24	Armando Johnson
Pinar del Rio	24-21	12-30	Giraldo González
Las Tunas	23-22	N/A	Juan Miguel Gordo
Granma	19-26	N/A	Indalecio Alejandrez
Guantánamo	19-26	N/A	Agustín Lescaille
Holguín	18-27	N/A	Felicio García
Santiago de Cuba	18-27	N/A	Alcides Sánchez
Mayabeque	18-27	N/A	Rigoberto Madera
Camagüey	17-28	N/A	Felipe Sarduy
Artemisa	15-30	N/A	Esteban Lombillo

Playoffs

• Semi-finals
• Villa Clara 4, Cienfuegos 2
• Matanzas 4, Sancti Spíritus 3

• Championship Game
• Villa Clara 4, Matanzas 1

All-Star Game

On March 24, 2013, the 2012-2013 All-Star Game took place at Estadio José Antonio Huelga in Sancti Spíritus, Sancti Spíritus. The attendance was over 5,000. The Occidentales won, 13-9, with Fiss again putting a show, this time in a losing cause (3 for 5, 2 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI). Yasmani Tomás goes 2 for 4 with a double, homer, 3 runs and 3 RBI for the winners, while José Miguel Fernández scores three times. Vladimir Baños takes the win while Carlos Juan Viera is pounded for 7 runs in 1 1/3 IP in the loss.

Leaders

Bold indicates either wooden bat record or aluminum bat record (1976-1977 to 1998-1999), Italics indicate Serie Nacional record

Statistics are for classification phase only

Batting

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Batting Average	José Miguel Fernández	Matanzas	.393
Runs Scored	David Castillo	Pinar del Rio	39
Base Hits	Lorenzo Quintana	Pinar del Rio	60
Doubles	Andy Ibáñez Alexander Malleta	Isla de la Juventud Industriales	17
Triples	Lázaro Rodríguez	Cienfuegos	5
Home Runs	Jose Dariel Abreu	Cienfuegos	13
Runs Batted In	Yosvany Peraza	Pinar del Rio	42
Base-on-Balls	Frederich Cepeda	Sancti Spíritus	49
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Alfredo Despaigne	Granma	16
Hit-by-Pitch	Jose Dariel Abreu	Cienfuegos	10
Strikeouts	Yaisel Mederos	Camagüey	39
Sacrifice Hit	Roberto Borrero	Camagüey	14
Sacrifice Fly	Alexander Malleta Lazaro Herrera	Industriales Matanzas	6
Stolen Bases	Lázaro Rodríguez Marino Luis Yuniesky Larduet	Cienfuegos Camagüey Las Tunas	10

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Ismel Jiménez Wilber Pérez	Sancti Spíritus Isla de la Juventud	9
Win-Loss Percentage	Ismel Jiménez	Sancti Spíritus	9-0
Earned Run Average	Ismel Jiménez	Sancti Spíritus	1.06	76 1/3 IP
Innings Pitched	Vladimir García	Ciego de Ávila	84 2/3
Games Pitched	Alexander Quintero Isbel Hernández Diosdani Castillo	Cienfuegos Pinar del Rio Villa Clara	24
Games Started	Vladimir García	Ciego de Ávila	13
Games Relieved	Alexander Quintero Isbel Hernández Diosdani Castillo	Cienfuegos Pinar del Rio Villa Clara	24
Complete Games	Wilber Pérez	Isla de la Juventud	4
Shutouts	Vladimir García Danny Betancourt Ismel Jiménez Maykel Martínez	Ciego de Ávila Santiago de Cuba Sancti Spíritus Matanzas	2
Hits Allowed	Yoelkis Cruz Frank Navarro	Las Tunas Guantánamo	80
Strikeouts	Ismel Jiménez	Sancti Spíritus	60
Base-on-Balls	Juan López	Isla de la Juventud	40
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Alain Dela Yosvani Pérez	Santiago de Cuba Villa Clara	8
Hit Batters	Vladimir García	Ciego de Ávila	12
Saves	Duniel Ibarra	Cienfuegos	13

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Ismel Jiménez of Sancti Spiritus. Norge Luis Ruíz of Camagüey was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año). Freddy Asiel Alvarez was named Postseason MVP. Elber Ibarra was named Umpire of the Year, while Ramón Moré took home Manager of the Year.

Offensive and Pitching All-Stars were C Lorenzo Quintana (Pinar del Rio), 1B Jose Dariel Abreu (Cienfuegos), 2B José Miguel Fernández (Matanzas), SS Yordan Manduley (Holguín-Villa Clara), 3B Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spiritus), OF Alfredo Despaigne (Granma-Pinar del Rio), OF Dayron Varona (Camagüey-Villa Clara), OF Frederich Cepeda (Sancti Spiritus), DH Yosvany Peraza (Pinar del Rio), UT Raúl González (Ciego de Ávila), RHP Joel Suárez (Matanzas), LHP Misael Siverio (Villa Clara) and RP Duniel Ibarra (Cienfuegos).

Gold Glove awards went to C Ariel Pestano (Villa Clara), 1B Joan Carlos Pedroso (Las Tunas-Isla de la Juventud), 2B Andy Sarduy (Villa Clara), SS Yordan Manduley (Holguín-Villa Clara), OF Lázaro Rodríguez (Cienfuegos), OF Dayron Varona (Camagüey-Villa Clara), OF Guillermo Heredia Jr. (Matanzas) and P Alberto Bicet (Santiago de Cuba-Ciego de Ávila).