Havana Cuba. – Which teams have more quality and greater chances of advancing? Which players should make up these teams: those who play in foreign leagues, or those who excelled in home tournaments? Carlos Martí or Armando Johnson? These are some of the questions that encourage neighborhood debates, in which divided criteria arouse passion for the national sport.
On the ground, as far as quality is concerned, the team that will represent the Island in the V World Classic was in charge of dispelling doubts by beating the Farmers’ payroll a couple of times that will be in the Caribbean Series Greater Caracas 2023in two preparation matches held between Sunday and Monday, at the Coloso del Cerro.
In just 14 innings the champions of the Elite League they supported 20 races and could only step on the home five times, all against a team that is in the third microcycle of training and that did not have the figures of professional circuits that gave their yes to the Cuban Baseball Federation.
Judging by what has been seen, the Farmers will have to improve a lot to emulate the Vegueros of 2015, the last Creole team to win a Caribbean Series. Four years later, the Leñadores from Las Tunas were left at the gates of the championship, losing in the final against the Toros de Panamá.
Despite being a preparatory cap, the national team left its main pitching aces hired in Japan on the bench. Even so, those who went up to the mound of sighs were in charge of fanning the rival batters 12 times and only allowed three extra-base hits, leaving an excellent 3.86 earned run average.
Madero at the ready, the selected player offered the audience a feast of hits, with the individual highlight of Yadir Drake (2 HR, 8 IC) from Matanzas. On a collective level, the ship led by Armando Johnson hit 26 hits, nine extra-base hits, received six free-roam bases and struck out twice, with an astronomical 419 average.
Attendance at both games was low, but it certainly improved a lot in relation to the number of fans who paid to see the Elite League. Beyond the criteria of the Cuban sports authorities, in the stands of the Latinoamericano stadium, where he was CubaNetthe expectations were not good.
“The thing is that the best baseball players in Cuba are here,” said Lester Labrada Ojeda, satisfied with the show, but aware that the quality of the two teams did not invite one to dream. “One would like them to win, but you have to put your feet on the ground and know that what you have to do is suffer.”
Although the result on the grass favored the Cuba team, most fans believe that Agricultores will have better chances of advancing in the calendar, since the Caribbean Series is a smaller event than the World Classic.
In a few days, the team made up of the Wasps from Santiago de Cuba and the Leñadores from Las Tunas will face the teams from Curacao, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico and Panama, in that order.
“They looked bad here, but I don’t think there is much difference in quality with the other teams. They can make a war if they leave behind the problems they have”, highlighted Fidel López Quintero, who also pointed out that several Farmers players were upset at not having been called up to the Clásico: “Yosvani Alarcón is striking out on purpose, it doesn’t even make him swing to the ball”.
The long-awaited Clásico will be played from March 9 to 21. Cuba was placed in group A, along with Italy, Chinese Taipei, Panama and the Netherlands, the latter having become the black beast of the national baseball teams.
“Holland was the first team that demonstrated the quality of Cuban baseball. He knocked us out of the Clásico twice and then even beat us in the cheese league. There’s also Panama and Taipei, who always have good pitching, and the Cubans out there don’t hit because they aren’t adapted to that quality. I don’t think they will make it past the first round,” said Sergio Macías Estrada.
For Adrián Jerez Santiago, this should be a better Clásico for Cuba, which will be able to count on some figures with experience in professional leagues. According to him, to a large extent “the success of the team will depend on what Luis Robert, Yoan Moncada and company can do.”
“In any case, a single stick does not make mount. In the Major Leagues there are really two and the rest of the teams have blunderbuss. The good players of us did not accept to go because of all the rubbish that they talked about when they left, and they wanted to take away the family of many even the house. They do well to refuse now, “said Julián Ferrer Hernández.
The Cuban team will continue training at the Latin American Stadium until mid-February, when it will leave for Japan to carry out preparation games with teams from the Asian country’s Professional League, a few days after beginning its journey through the main baseball tournament worldwide. .
