The 52nd Cuban national baseball series will have a new competitive structure, as revealed last Friday at a press conference by Higinio Vélez, president of the Cuban Federation of that sport.
The new system imposes the “all against all” regardless of geographic zones, and will have two stages: the first one with 45 games and 16 teams, and the second with 42 games by the first eight that classify in the first round.
The series will open on Sunday, November 25, 2012 at José Ramón Cepero stadium with a game between the locals, national champion Ciego de Ávila, and second place winner Industriales.
Thus, all the Island’s provinces and the special municipality Isla de la Juventud will have the possibility to play against the champion, but they will have to compete hard from the very first day since 45 games is not much and the margin for recovery will be very small.
The best eight teams will then play in the second round, with the possibility of choosing up to five players from a draft made up by players from the loser teams – a procedure that is not too-well known in Cuba.
The four best-ranked teams from among the eight will then go to a play-off where the first place will play against the fourth and the second against the third. The winners of each one of these seven-game duels will then discuss the Cuban national championship, now in possession of the Tigers of Ciego de Ávila.
One of the most striking paradoxes of this new system of competition – among many others that include having excluded the team Metropolitanos – is the reduction from 96 to 87 the number of games in the regular season, when the tournament should extend at least to 120 games, particularly the second round, which evidently will have greater quality.
In addition, this year the Series will be atypical due to the celebration of the Third World Baseball Classic in March 2013, which will call for a recess after game 45 of the national championship and the Stars Game of the season.
At the press conference held in the protocol room of Havana’s Ciudad Deportiva it was also disclosed that the national Cuban team will make an exhibition tour to countries of Europe and Asia next October-November, with Víctor Mesa as manager, in preparation of the Classic, top baseball elite championship at present.
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