The National Series ended with the title going to the best team of the post-season. They were second in the regular stage, but it could also be said they turned out to be the most outstanding. In the standings they led at the top for a long time, earned their direct pass to the Elite League and did so with a substantially different line-up.
Their play-off version, with the incorporation of Yurisbel Gracial, Ariel Martínez and Yoennis Yera, plus Andrys Pérez featuring in every game, became a fortress.
On paper, there was no squad capable of getting near them. The Cocodrilos swept the board, through merit, through their roster and through a winning mentality that lived in the dugout and expressed itself more strongly on the field.
Opinions on balls and strikes are as diverse as they are infinite. But, in the play-offs, the vast majority agreed on the reds’ favourite tag.
They swept the final not because it was played at a neutral venue, and much less because they faced an inferior team, although one diminished colossally from one series to another, like Las Tunas.
They ran the table because their superiority allowed them to count on the contribution of their regulars and their bench, well-oiled from having completed the previous 75 games.
There were no surprises, as this is not the first 4-0 in a final. One need not go back that far; in Series 63 Industriales fell in that manner, the last two in front of their home crowd. Against whom? Leñadores de Las Tunas.
Nor are the two 4-0s by the Blues themselves against Villa Clara distant in time, and even more recent, but in the Elite League, Ciego de Ávila’s title win over the tuneros.
Matanzas is a just champion, even though they materialised, paraphrasing García Márquez, the chronicle of a foretold victory.
What the season does leave us with, however, is more tasks than results. We will dwell on the most important one: how to contribute greater quality?
The phenomenon of development-sports entertainment, an equation that contributes to the level of play, needs to be studied and researched.
Viewing it this way could strengthen the weak side of the National Series: its organisational problems, from its competitive structure to its support design; directly proportional facets.
Quality cannot be considered with 16 teams, for one simple reason: the structure would be larger than its support.
But, given the country’s complex situation, we had baseball, the play-offs were guaranteed and that is a grand slam by the Cuban baseball authorities, called upon by a passionate fan base to turn the seasons around and ensure baseball continues to capture the hearts of its people. (Author: Oscar Sánchez Serra | internet@granma.cu)
