A few years ago, just starting the National Baseball Series, a friend always asked me: “How’s the ball going?” At first he naturally responded with some comment about the fashionable event, he humored me and we plunged into dialectical debates without ever agreeing. The scene was repeated over and over again, until one day my speed increased…
“How’s the ball going?” he told me as usual, but emphasizing the “ball”. From his sharp look I immediately realized that he wanted to convey something else to me; although he did not give me time to react: “For a long time in the National Series, baseball has not been played, much less baseball. This is bally, and bad, ”he expressed to me with an air of disappointment that still martyrs me.
The worst thing is that he is right. The National Series and the competitive system of Cuban baseball are going through a generalized crisis that is impossible to hide behind the smokescreens that were raised by the performance of the Cuban team in the recent V World Classic. An international level result does not cover the internal shortcomings, the lousy organizational work or the lies (or half truths) that rain down like home runs from the highest management of the sport of balls and strikes on the island.
The best example —or the worst, in this case— is the 62 National Series itself, which has almost ended its qualifying stage with endless scams more typical of neighborhood leagues, the jungle ball or the corner “pitenes”. that of a serious domestic classic.
During the season we have seen stadiums with no more than a hundred people, including policemen and peanut vendors, who have to “per staff” walk through the desolate stands of the Series. We live in a championship in which a team can run out of bats in the middle of a televised game, or in which a former major league player at full capacity (yasmany tomas) almost had to beg, without success, to return to wear the jersey for the ninth of his life.
The Series, in general terms, is foundering under the weight of the nation’s daily ills. It is a perfect mirror of the Cuban reality. Players have complained on social networks about the lousy diet; referees and players have presented problems with transportation and transfers, which has implied the suspension of matches; different groups have spent nights without electricity in their hotels, experiencing the period of rest as a true nightmare.
If we return to practical issues of the game, a player incorporated into the Series was unable to defend his team’s colors in a home game because his uniform was not ready. Shortly after, the problem was solved, the same player could not start another duel with his squad as a visitor because that other suit had not been delivered either.
There is more. A ninth team gets, on its own, some bats to play (remember that a team already ran out of bats in a televised game). The management of the establishment consults with the Head of Rules and Arbitration of the tournament if they can use the acquired logs and, through an inspection, they receive the authorization; but days later the National Commission asks them to remove the bats because they are illegal. Will there be any more solid proof of the ignorance and improvisation that prevail today in the National Series?
Until now, two different balls have been used in the Series. We started playing with the TeamMate, the official supplier of the championship that does not bring us very good memories. The same brand was responsible for the delay of the Elite League at the end of 2022 because the ordered uniforms did not arrive on time. With this precedent, perhaps it would not be prudent to maintain the links; but the directors of the national pastime have not considered it.
Not to make a long story. We started playing with the TeamMate ball; but halfway there, they had to switch to the traditional Batos brand, although it was not nationally manufactured, but imported from some unknown place. The motives? There were delays in shipments, despite the fact that Commissioner Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo said on national television, before the start of the season, that everything was guaranteed. Finally, the TeamMate arrived to close the contest. Late and not so sure…
In each of these episodes the fragility of the Commission has been made evident, whose management has received countless criticisms and questions. Faced with these, they have come forward —almost always at the wrong time— with explanatory notes, communications and circulars that, far from clarifying, have only added fuel to the fire.
From a statistical point of view, the Series does not escape fiasco either, not only because the numbers are bad, but also because the official website of the event, it spends hours down or undergoing maintenance, which limits inquiries from the press and fans. To write this text, for example, it was impossible to verify any of the data obtained in other pages because the official site was not available.
However, it can be safely said that we are facing one of the worst domestic classics in history based on what the numbers show. In the fight, pitchers support an average of almost 5 earned runs per game, only one team (Santiago de Cuba) has an ERA below 4.00 and 7 pitching staffs work for more than 5.00. There are also 7 teams that add more tickets than strikeouts, while half of the teams defend for less than .970.
The impressive thing is that, in the midst of the horrendous panorama, the players continue to wage war on the diamonds. The statistics of the Series, as we saw, are mediocre in general; but some talents have emerged with interesting numbers, the most veteran do not give up and take advantage of their superiority over the league, and the vast majority strive to give their best version and contribute something to a show taken with tweezers.
Will there be ways of salvation? True, many ways could be found to right the course; topic to deepen in another installment… For now we can only sit and see who wins the National Series, which seems less and less baseball and more “ball.”
