1999-2000 Cuban National League
From BR Bullpen
The 1999-2000 season was the thirty-ninth season of Cuba's national baseball system.
Contents |
[edit] Serie Nacional
The 39th Serie Nacional was won by Santiago de Cuba, their second straight title under manager by Higinio Vélez. The team was the best team in the regular season with a 62 – 28 record, the third most in history. In the playoffs, the avispas win eleven straight games, sweeping Camagüey, Granma and finally Pinar del Río for the championship. One of the quarterfinals features the two Havana-based rivals facing off against each other, the first time that this had occurred in the playoffs. The winner of the matchup for the veneration capitalinos was Industriales which defeated Metropolitanos in the best-of-fvie series, 3 games to 2. This is also the first season with wooden bats since the fifteenth Serie Nacional, making this the “year of the pitcher” as offense league-wide is depressed.
Ciego de Ávila's Yorelvis Charles led the serie with a .353 batting average by getting 108 hits in 306 at-bats. Home run leader Ivan Correa of Industriales blasts a mere 10 round trippers, the lowest total since 1977. Both were the lowest totals for a league leader since the mid-1970s. Metropolitanos' Enrique Díaz led the league with 59 runs scored as well as with 35 stolen bases. Amaury Sánchez of Las Tunas records a record 22 sacrifice hits.
Norge Luis Vera of Santiago de Cuba is the league's top pitcher with 17 wins and a 0.97 earned run average – 17 earned runs in 157 innings pitched – beating out four other starters who had sub-1.00 ERAs late in the season. Vera also records a record 8 shutouts.
However, much of nation's attention focuses on the 19-year-old phenom, Maels Rodríguez, pitching for the 39 – 51 Sancti Spíritus team. During the season, he is first pitcher to be officially clocked at above 100 mph during the Serie Nacional. A few weeks later on December 22, Rodríguez throws the first perfect game, a 1 – 0 decision, against Las Tunas at Estadio José Antonio Huelga in front of 4,500 fans. He also ties fellow Sancti Spíritus ace Yovani Aragón for the strikeout title at 177 each – however Rodríguez accomplished the feat in fewer innings.
[edit] Standings
- Bold indicates Zona champion; Italics indicates Serie Nacional champion
[edit] Zona Occidental
| Grupo A | Grupo B | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | G | W | L | WPCT | GB | |||||||||
| Pinar del Río | 90 | 59 | 31 | 0.656 | -.- | Industriales | 90 | 57 | 33 | 0.633 | -.- | |||
| Metropolitanos | 90 | 46 | 44 | 0.511 | 13.0 | Sancti Spíritus | 90 | 39 | 51 | 0.433 | 18.0 | |||
| Isla de la Juventud | 90 | 42 | 48 | 0.467 | 17.0 | La Habana | 90 | 35 | 55 | 0.389 | 22.0 | |||
| Matanzas | 90 | 39 | 51 | 0.433 | 20.0 | Cienfuegos | 90 | 34 | 56 | 0.378 | 23.0 | |||
[edit] Zona Oriental
| Grupo C | Grupo D | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | G | W | L | WPCT | GB | Team | G | W | L | WPCT | GB | |||
| Villa Clara | 90 | 53 | 37 | 0.589 | -.- | Santiago de Cuba | 90 | 62 | 28 | 0.689 | -.- | |||
| Camagüey | 90 | 52 | 38 | 0.578 | 1.0 | Granma | 90 | 53 | 37 | 0.589 | 9.0 | |||
| Ciego de Ávila | 90 | 46 | 44 | 0.511 | 7.0 | Holguín | 90 | 40 | 50 | 0.444 | 22.0 | |||
| Las Tunas | 90 | 32 | 58 | 0.356 | 21.0 | Guantánamo | 90 | 31 | 59 | 0.344 | 31.0 | |||
[edit] Playoffs
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||
| OCC1 | Pinar del Río | 3 | |||||||||||
| OCC4 | Isla de la Juventud | 1 | |||||||||||
| OCC1 | Pinar del Río | 4 | |||||||||||
| Occidental | |||||||||||||
| OCC2 | Industriales | 3 | |||||||||||
| OCC2 | Industriales | 3 | |||||||||||
| OCC3 | Metropolitanos | 2 | |||||||||||
| OCC1 | Pinar del Río | 0 | |||||||||||
| OTE1 | Santiago de Cuba | 4 | |||||||||||
| OTE1 | Santiago de Cuba | 3 | |||||||||||
| OTE4 | Camagüey | 0 | |||||||||||
| OTE1 | Santiago de Cuba | 4 | |||||||||||
| Oriental | |||||||||||||
| OTE3 | Granma | 0 | |||||||||||
| OTE2 | Villa Clara | 0 | |||||||||||
| OTE3 | Granma | 3 | |||||||||||
[edit] All-Star Game
The fifteenth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held at Sancti Spíritus in Sancti Spíritus, Sancti Spíritus (Serie Nacional)|Sancti Spíritus on February 27, 2000. In the game, Oriente defeated Occidentales by a score of 4 to 1. Oriente had 10 hits to Occidentales's 9, while both teams had 1 error. The winning pitcher was Norge Luis Vera and the losing pitcher was Maels Roldríguez.
[edit] Leaders
- Bold indicates either wooden bat record or aluminum bat record (1976-1977 to 1998-1999), Italics indicate Serie Nacional record
[edit] Batting
[edit] Pitching
[edit] Award Winners
The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Norge Luis Vera a pitcher with Santiago de Cuba. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Norge Luis Vera of Santiago de Cuba. Yoandry Urgellés of Metropolitanos was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).
[edit] Sources
- (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 2000 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
- (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XXXIX serie 2000 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
- (November 18, 2005). "Guía Digital 2005-06". Guía Oficial de Béisbol 2005 (Digital). Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
- Peter C. Bjarkman. A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864–2006. : McFarland, 2007. ISBN 0786428295
