Postseason: Great and Competitive teams

First things first, the absences of Santiago de Cuba, Villa Clara, Industriales, and current champion Pinar del Rio do not preclude the passion, sacrifice, and competitiveness of teams involved in the Cuban baseball postseason, according to fans and journalists.

“It will be a huge festivity. Those teams in the postseason earned their spot in the field. And we are sure they will play as the aforementioned traditional teams”, highlighted Heriberto Suarez, national director of baseball in Cuba.

The executive noted that people are working hard to embellish the stadiums of the teams involved in the playoffs. The postseason will kick off tomorrow March 24^th, with Matanzas hosting Isla de la Juventud. One day later, Granma will host Ciego de Avila. Both are best-of-seven semifinals.

Among all four teams, only Ciego de Avila has previously won a Cuban title.

“INDER’s president encouraged us to live a wonderful final based on discipline and sacrifice of all people involved. We must do what we have to do. That’s why our level of demand will increase, backed by all that have been dictated for the season and some amendments for the occasion”, Suarez added.

According to Antonio Castillo, director of the National Baseball Series, umpires —led by Juan Jose Cuevas and Elber Ibarra— will be divided in two groups.

Luis Daniel del Risco will head the group in charge of the highly-useful replay office. This team worked in 78 games in the regular season, with a high percentage of success of umpires’ call 67%, in comparison with the 61% in the MLB.

According to rules, each team will only use 27 players per game. The final will start three days after the conclusion of the semifinals.

Cubasi Translation Staff