2016-2017 Cuban National League

The 2016-2017 Cuban season saw a few changes in the formatting. The second phase was reduced from eight teams to six, while the schedule was moved up a few months to coincide more closely with the other winter leagues. Given recent Cuban entries in the Caribbean Series, this would enable the current champion to play in the Series rather than the prior year's champion. Also, with some Cuban stars like Alfredo Despaigne playing in Japan with Cuban permission, they would now be available for a full Nippon Pro Baseball campaign rather than joining part-way into the year. Perhaps more NPB teams would be interested in signing Cuban players if they were available for a full season as well. Defections continued to plague the league, including 2015-2016 MVP José Adolis García.

Two-time defending champion Ciego de Ávila made the finals again, but was swept aside by Granma, which won their first title. Granma had stunned Matanzas in the semifinals. Matanzas had gone an astounding 42-3 in the first half and also won the second half (with a 28-17 mark) but fell in 7 games to Granma. In game 7, a duel of aces, Lázaro Blanco easily outdueled Yoannis Yera in a 12-2 romp.

The finals began on January 18 at Estadio José Ramón Cepero. In the second, Ciego de Ávila C Osvaldo Vázquez opened the scoring with a solo shot off Yoalkis Cruz and his teammates tacked on a couple more runs that inning, but Cruz, Leandro Martínez and Miguel Lahera allowed nothing further. Meanwhile, veteran Vladimir García was shutting down Granma with only one hit in the first six innings. In the 8th, though, he tired, allowing a RBI double by SS Yordan Manduley to score PH Osvaldo Abreu. Raidel Martínez relieved García and he walked 3B Yunior Paumier, fanned DH Despaigne and allowed a single to LF Dennis Laza. 2B Carlos Benitez hit a two-run single to tie it. In the 10th, Despaigne hit a home run for revenge off Raidel Martínez in what would be the winning blow.

In game 2, Granma's Manduley had a one-out double in the first off Bladimir Baños and Paumier singled him in but Baños retired 16 of the next 18. He was matched well by Noelvis Entenza, who threw 7 shutout innings. In the 6th, Granma again got a big two-run single from Benitez, scoring Despaigne and Laza. Entenza finally allowed two unearned runs in the 8th thanks to a Manduley error but Lahera wrapped it up to send Ciego de Ávila to a 2-0 hole at home.

After two close wins on the road, Granma dominated in game at Estadio Mártires de Barbados, their home turf. Blanco, Yanier González and Juan Olivera combined to allow one run while Granma scored five in the first off Dachel Duquesne (1 H, 2 BB, 1 HB, 4 R, 0 outs) and Raidel Martínez en route to a 10-1 win; a grand slam by 1B Guillermo Avilés off Martínez was the big blow. CF Roel Santos had 3 hits in the romp.

In game 4, Granma capped their first title in a closer contest in front of 13,000 fans. The Tigres got on the board in the 4th off Leandro Martínez as Vázquez singled in DH Donald Duarte and RF Yoelvis Fiss scored on a sacrifice fly by 2B off RP César García. García would pitch four shutout frames after that, though, and Lahera again excelled, with two scoreless innings for the win. Granma scored their first run in the bottom of the 4th off Erly Casanova and José Angel García on walks to Paumier, Despaigne and Laza (by Casanova) and by Benitez (off García). José Angel García (Cuba's All-time save leader) pitched shutout ball in the 5th and 6th but faded in the 7th. Avilés hit into an error by 1B Eliecer Griñan and C Frank Morejón laid down a sacrifice. RF Yoelkis Cespedes singled in Avilés with the tying run. In the bottom of the 8th, García walked Despaigne, Laza and Benitez in order. Duquesne replaced him on the hill and Avilés hit a game-winning sacrifice fly.

Standings

Team	Classification Phase	Secondary Phase	Manager
Granma	27-18	23-22	Carlos Martí
Ciego de Ávila	29-16	27-18	Roger Machado
Matanzas	42-3	28-17	Víctor Mesa
Villa Clara	26-18	26-20	Vladimir Hernández Solas
Holguín	26-19	17-28	Noelvis González
Camagüey	24-21	18-30	Orlando González
Las Tunas	23-21	--	Ermidelio Urrutia
Isla de la Juventud	23-22	--	Jose Luis Rodríguez Pantoja
Guantánamo	23-22	--	Rubén Prevost
Industriales	21-23	--	Javier Méndez
Pinar del Rio	18-25	--	Jorge Gallardo
Cienfuegos	18-27	--	Jorge Concepción
Artemisa	18-27	--	Dany Valdespino
Santiago de Cuba	14-30	--	Reutilio Hurtado
Sancti Spíritus	13-31	--	Mario Zulueta
Mayabeque	11-33	--	Vannoy Arado

Playoffs

• Semi-finals
• Granma 4, Matanzas 3
• Ciego de Ávila 4, Villa Clara 2

• Championship Series
• Granma 4, Ciego de Ávila 0

Leaders

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

Where two teams are listed, the player switched teams at the half

Batting

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Batting Average	Jefferson Delgado	Matanzas	.403
Runs Scored	Yordanis Samón	Matanzas	65
Base Hits	Yordanis Samón	Matanzas	126
Doubles	Yordanis Samón	Matanzas	27
Triples	Yoelkis Cepsedes	Granma	9
Home Runs	Osvaldo Vázquez	Ciego de Ávila	17
Runs Batted In	Yordanis Samón	Matanzas	76
Base-on-Balls	Michael González	Mayabeque/Villa Clara	69
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Yordanis Samón	Matanzas	27
Hit-by-Pitch	Dennis Laza	Mayabeque/Granma	19
Strikeouts	Yurién Vizcaíno	Villa Clara	56
Sacrifice Hit	Roberto Acea	Matanzas	15
Sacrifice Fly	Yunior Paumier	Holguín	10
Stolen Bases	Víctor Mesa Jr.	Matanzas	40

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Lázaro Blanco	Granma	14
Win-Loss Percentage	Freddy Asiel Álvarez	Villa Clara-Matanzas	.909	10-1
Earned Run Average	Lázaro Blanco	Granma	1.63	143 1/3 IP
Innings Pitched	Vladimir García	Ciego de Ávila	152
Games Pitched	Alexander Rodríguez	Matanzas	38
Games Started	Yoalkis Cruz Dachel Duquesne	Las Tunas/Granma Ciego de Ávila	22
Games Relieved	Alexander Rodríguez	Matanzas	38
Complete Games	Vladimir García Dachel Duquesne	Ciego de Ávila Ciego de Ávila	5
Shutouts	Lázaro Blanco	Granma	3
Hits Allowed	Dachel Duquesne	Ciego de Ávila	149
Strikeouts	Yoanni Yera	Matanzas	123
Base-on-Balls	Yariel Rodríguez	Camagüey	54
Intentional Base-on-Balls	José Rodríguez Alaín Sánchez	Camagüey Villa Clara	14
Hit Batters	Danny Betancourt	Santiago de Cuba-Camagüey	18
Saves	José Angel García	Artemisa Ciego de Ávila	15

All-Star Game

On October 29, 2016, the 2016-17 All-Star Game took place at Estadio Victoria de Girón in Matanzas, Matanzas. The Occidentales beat the Orientales, 2-1. Julio Pablo Martínez led off the game with a homer off Yoanni Yera but the Orientales did not get another hit the rest of the way against nine different hurlers. Adrián Sosa got the win and José Angel García the save. The Occidentales tied it in the second off Freddy Asiel Álvarez when Leonardo Urgellés hit a sacrifice fly to score Yordanis Samón. Urgellés homered in the 5th off Dairon Riera for the game's last run.

Award Winners

Lázaro Blanco of Granma was named Serie Nacional MVP after leading the league in wins, ERA and shutouts. Eliecer Griñán of Pinar del Rio is named Serie Nacional Rookie of the Year after hitting .336/.402/.495.

Postseason Offensive All-Stars were C Osvaldo Vázquez (Ciego de Ávila), 1B William Saavedra (Pinar del Rio), 2B Carlos Benítez (Granma), SS Alexander Ayala (Camagüey), 3B Jefferson Delgado (Matanzas), OF Víctor Víctor Mesa (Matanzas), OF Julio Pablo Martínez (Guantánamo), OF Dennis Laza (Mayabeque), UT Michael González (Mayabeque) and DH Yordanis Samón (Matanzas). Lázaro Blanco (Granma) was named the top right-handed pitcher, Yoannis Yera (Matanzas) the top left-handed pitcher and José Angel García (Artemisa) the top closer.

Defensive All-Stars were C Franklin Aballe (Holguín), 1B Guillermo Avilés (Granma), 2B Humberto Bravo (Camagüey), SS Yulián Milán (Granma), 3B Osvaldo Abreu (Granma), OF Víctor Víctor Mesa (Matanzas), OF Julio Pablo Martínez (Guantánamo), OF Dennis Laza (Mayabeque) and P Yaifredo Domínguez (Pinar del Río).