List of Cuban baseball champions
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The Cuban baseball champions are the winners of the highest division in the Cuban baseball league system. Organized baseball in Cuba originated with the Cuban League in 1878, which was dissolved during the Cuban Revolution and replaced by the Cuban National Series in 1961. Since 2022, the National Series has been supplanted as the island's top division by the Cuban Elite League.
Early organized Cuban baseball was dominated by teams from the Havana metropolitan area.[1] The most successful teams were Club Habana (which won a record 30 championships, including the first tournament in 1879) and Almendares. In the modern-era of Cuban baseball, starting with the establishment of the National Series in 1961, teams from other parts of the country have enjoyed more success, although Industriales of Havana still hold the most titles (12).
For the entire history of the Cuban League and National Series up to 1985, the champion was determined by win-loss record.[a] The 1985–86 season was the first to incorporate a postseason, in the form of a double round-robin system between four teams; this system has been maintained, with slight changes, up to the present day.
List of champions
[edit]† | Champions also won the Caribbean Series that season |
Cuban League (1878–1961)
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Mike_Gonzalez_Cardinals.jpg/220px-Mike_Gonzalez_Cardinals.jpg)
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Cuban National Series (1961–2022)
[edit]Single-table era (1961–1985)
[edit]Season | Champions | Record | Manager |
---|---|---|---|
1961–62 | Occidentales (1) | 18–9 | Fermín Guerra |
1962–63 | Industriales (1) | 16–14 | Ramón Carneado |
1963–64 | Industriales (2) | 22–13 | Ramón Carneado |
1964–65 | Industriales (3) | 25–14 | Ramón Carneado |
1965–66 | Industriales (4) | 40–25 | Ramón Carneado |
1966–67 | Orientales (1) | 36–29 | Roberto Ledo |
1967–68 | Habana (1) | 74–25 | Juan "Coco" Gómez |
1968–69 | Azucareros (1) | 69–30 | Servio Borges |
1969–70 | Henequeros (1) | 50–16 | Miguel Ángel Domínguez |
1970–71 | Azucareros (2) | 49–16 | Pedro Pérez Delgado |
1971–72 | Azucareros (3) | 52–14 | Servio Borges |
1972–73 | Azucareros (3) | 52–14 | Servio Borges |
1973–74 | Industriales (2) | 53–25 | Pedro Chávez |
1974–75 | Agricultores (1) | 24–15 | Orlando Leroux |
1975–76 | Ganaderos (1) | 29–9 | Carlos Gómez |
1976–77 | Citricultores (1) | 26–12 | Juan Bregio |
1977–78 | Vegueros (1) | 36–14 | José Miguel Pineda |
1978–79 | Sancti Spíritus (1) | 36–14 | Candido Andrade |
1979–80 | Santiago de Cuba (1) | 36–14 | Manuel Miyar |
1980–81 | Vegueros (2) | 36–15 | José Miguel Pineda |
1981–82 | Vegueros (3) | 36–14 | Jorge Fuentes |
1982–83 | Villa Clara (4) | 41–8 | Eduardo Luis Martín |
1983–84 | Citricultores (2) | 52–23 | Tomás Soto |
1984–85 | Vegueros (4) | 57–18 | Jorge Fuentes |
Postseason era (1986-present)
[edit]Cuban Elite League (2022-present)
[edit]Season | Winning team | Manager | Record | Games | Losing team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022–23 | Agricultores (Las Tunas/Granma) |
Carlos Martí | 30–19 | 4–3 | Portuarios (Industriales/Mayabeque) |
2023–24 | Matanzas (2) | Armando Ferrer | 25–15 | 4–2 | Artemisa |
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ In the 1962–63 Cuban National Series, Industriales defeated Oriente 2–1 in a three-game series to determine the title, though it was considered a regular-season tiebreaker rather than a championship series.
- ^ In the alternate Triangal League (Spanish: Serie Triangular)
- ^ The regular Cuban League season was suspended due to poor attendance, so a separate tournament, known as the Single Championship (Spanish: Campeonato Unico) was organized.
References
[edit]- ^ Bjarkman, Peter C. (2016). "Cuban League". Society for American Baseball Research.
Further reading
[edit]- Figueredo, Jorge S. (2003). Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878–1961. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-1250-X.
- Peter C. Bjarkman (2006). A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864–2006. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-2829-5.
- Peter C. Bjarkman; Bill Nowlin, eds. (2016). Cuban Baseball Legends: Baseball's Alternative Universe. SABR. ISBN 978-1-943816-24-8.