Cuba Baseball Season Starts November 25th

By Circles Robinson

HAVANA TIMES — The 2012-2013 Cuban baseball season begins on November 25th, announced the country’s baseball federation announced this week. The first game pits last season’s champs, Ciego de Avila hosting Industriales, the runners-up.

One of the big changes announced was the death of the Metropolitanos team that played out of the capital. Havana will now only be represented by its popular squad Industriales.

The season consists of 87 games divided into two stages. In the first stage, 16 teams will compete in 45 games through February 3, with each team facing its 15 rivals in three games.

After a long break to select and prepare the Cuban national team and then its participation in the 3^rd World Baseball Classic in March, the second phase of the season will begin a week after Cuba finishes its play at the Classic.

The schedule has yet to be made public. The announcement did note that just as last season, afternoon games will be played at 1:00 p.m. and night games at 8:15 p.m.

The games will be played in three-game series followed by a travel-rest day.

Meanwhile it was also announced that the Cuban national team would play exhibition games against professional teams of Chinese Taipei, South Korea and Japan between October 20 and November 20.
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To follow the Cuban baseball league and Team Cuba’s international play we recommend the Baseballdecuba.com website.