The ball is already in the street, it was even before Industriales and Granma played the exhibition match last Friday in tribute to the 60th anniversary of our National Series. Preventing passion from returning to the bloodstream of Cubans is like telling the natives of Rio de Janeiro not to set foot in the Sambadrome or enjoy the carnival.
And it is that the ball continues to be in the blood and mentality of Cubans, although it cohabits with football, although the wait for greater joy continues to be prolonged by our national teams, not only in the senior category, but also in the lower.
Although the talent continues to disperse in other latitudes, pursuing the dream of playing in the Major Basel League, the highest level in terms of quality, and encouraged by an exodus policy that, after breaking the agreement, or rather not fully materializing between the Cuban Federation and the MLB has become increasingly excessive.
The ball is in the street, despite the fact that the ceiling of our National Series has been reduced, due to the quality of the event itself, and the incidence of other variables associated with the development of our national sport, of diverse nature…
It is, despite the scourge of the Covid-19 pandemic and two seasons in which it practically took magic to bring our classic of balls and strikes to fruition.
It is, because its drive, that way in which it is embedded in the popular imagination of Cubans is inescapable, with all its problems, inadequate infrastructure, and even distancing the fans with the current payrolls of the ninths of their preference, which, either due to renewal or for other reasons, have undergone considerable changes in the composition of their squad, and of the emblematic players that identified each team, there are few left at this minute.
Hence, before the play ball on January 23 to play the initial challenge between the current monarch of Granma and Matanzas, at the Mártires de Barbados in Bayamo, it will be very difficult to establish predictions about which teams could become among the eight winners of the quarterfinal playoff after 75 all-against-all matches in the regular warm-up.
Series 61 will retain the format of its predecessor, and the quarterfinals will be played to the best of seven acts and with the official roster of 40 players from each of the graceful casts, without reinforcements in that instance.
Regarding this, the figure of 25 players available to make the trip to sub-series in other provinces is maintained, as well as as a home club, with the particularity that movements of registrations and deregistrations cannot be made during the calendar to players. not registered in the Technical Congress of the contest, as part of the official list of each campus; except for those hired in foreign leagues, and youth athletes called to the national team.
Regarding those who play in clubs from other Leagues and some reinserted into our competitive FCB system, the regulations stipulate that they must be included in the official lists, arrive in Cuba before game 60, and have consumed at least 40 at-bats or accumulate 20 pitched innings, in the case of pitchers, to register for the playoffs.
The ball is in the street, with a drive, beyond the limitations, ups and downs and difficulties of our tournament, systemic or otherwise, but it breathes, it begins to inoculate the fans, it generates expectations. For example, according to their squads, the current champion of Granma, Matanzas as the most compact cast in all its lines, Pinar del Río if its traditional solid pitching responds to it, Santiago de Cuba with a versatile offense, Industriales with a mixture of youth , veteran and reinserted, are among the teams in the sights of many to access the next phase.
Predicting with certainty seems difficult, especially in a scenario that has been considerably affected by the impact of the pandemic, and that saw the national youth and under-23 competitions stop, the main previous evolution scenarios and the immediate quarry of the elite domestic classic .
By the way, the next National Sub-23 is scheduled for the months of July to September, and later, from October to January, the Selective Series will be played, which will see six ninths competing: the reinforced national champion, the team Cuba for those under 23 years of age and four other casts made up according to geographical areas and whose payroll will include the brightest players during the Series.
Here it will be necessary to see if the composition of said tournament manages to captivate the fans, especially when beyond the champion of the patio, the other teams will not respond to marked criteria of representativeness, something that in recent seasons has stopped behaving with that degree fidelity to the territory of origin that was experienced just over a decade ago.
The ball is in the street, and I have no doubt that many fans will be left with the desire to enter the stadiums to play for the ninth of their choice, especially when an enemy outside the field of the magnitude of the coronavirus has imposed strict health protocols, which will limit the capacity to 50% of the capacity in each of the stadiums, taking into account both the infrastructure of the venue and the epidemiological situation of the province at the time of disputing a subseries X.
The ball is in the fairway. It is the passion of Cuba, against all odds, in these two previous years, it has been achieved that it does not stop, as happened to all the other disciplines and our domestic competitions. It is identity, and as such, we rub our hands and expectantly, with open arms and senses, await the start of the 61st season of the Cuban baseball classic.
