It is about the exponent monarch Las Tunas, Pinar del Río and Santiago de Cuba.

Leñadores tuneros, Vegueros pinareños and Avispas santiagueras will today seek a ticket to the semi-finals of the 63rd National Baseball Series, always in the role of hosts.

These three teams have tipped the scales favourably in their respective bilateral games (3-2), so they only need one win to continue in the fight for the national crown, held by Las Tunas.

This Friday, under the orders of Abeyci Pantoja, the defending champions will host Ciego de Ávila at the Julio Antonio Mella stadium, and the team from Pinar del Río will do the same with Sancti Spíritus at the Capitán San Luis park.

Also, in the continuation of the Cuban baseball classic, Santiago de Cuba awaits Industriales at its almost always impregnable Guillermón Moncada stadium.

This last duel soon came to a slam dunk, when the Avispas stung the Leones three times in a row, who then improved their defence – they had committed 10 errors in the first three games – and won two successive games at the Coloso del Cerro.

In historical postseason statistics, no team has ever been able to pull off a three-game comeback from three games down. «But it can happen at some point,» argued Guillermo Carmona, mentor of the capital’s Leones, at the end of the fifth game.

So it’s time for all the teams in contention to improve the worrying offensive unproductiveness shown so far – too many runners have been left in circulation – and for their starting pitchers to be able to «walk» as many innings as possible.

In addition, the pitching coaches will have to make the necessary adjustments to the relief pitching staff, and more work needs to be done on defence in training.

The quarter-final series between hosts Granma and Matanzas will resume this Saturday at the Mártires de Barbados stadium in Bayamo. The Yumurinos Cocodrilos are leading (3-2).

According to the statistics after the five games played by each team, Pinar del Río leads in pitching (1.23 ERA); Granma has no errors and the most double plays (10), while Matanzas and Ciego de Ávila have the highest average (341).