Against a backdrop of preparation and anticipation for the upcoming March MLB World Baseball Classic, the Cuban League has now wrapped up a “qualification” 45-game first stage in its newly structured National Series XLII season.
Team Cuba just can’t seem to get over the hump against top-level Japanese hurlers. That fact was driven home on Sunday afternoon in Sapporo by a second straight nail-biting defeat.
This past week’s three-game exhibition series between a “pre-selection” Cuban national squad and the Chinese Professional Baseball League all-stars was designed to provide some additional seasoning for both squads as they prepare for next spring’s third addition of the MLB-sponsored World Baseball Classic.
Normally hefty Cuban bats have often underperformed in recent international events, causing a good deal of frustration and some widespread carping among loyal Antillean fans back home in the baseball-mad Caribbean nation.
Team Cuba’s much-anticipated November tour of Taiwan and Japan opened this past weekend in Taichung and Taoyuan with a pair of classic pitching duels that provided few on-field fireworks but nonetheless perfectly mirrored the pattern of so many nip-and-tuck Taiwan-Cuba battles during recent international seasons.
There should be little doubt that third-year Cuban big leaguer Aroldis Chapman has now proven wrong the numerous doubters and naysayers with his rather overpowering summer-long 2012 performances out of the Cincinnati bullpen.
While Cuba’s vaunted national team was reestablishing some much-needed credibility last month at the Haarlem Baseball Week, ex-patriot Cuban players were also continuing to make considerable noise on more-celebrated major league diamonds.
Neither the faultering Cuban team nor the ill-tempered weatherman has painted a very pretty picture here in Haarlem so far this week. The Cuban ball club suffered back-to-back early defeats marked by uncharacteristically impotent offense and highly troublesome inconsistent pitching.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the pitching selection is the noteworthy absence of both Vladimir García (Ciego de Avila) and Odrisamer Despaigne (Industriales) – arguably two of the best arms of the just completed National Series and also stellar performers in the action-packed National Series finale between the champion Tigers and runner-up Blue Lions.
Ciego de Avila’s 20-0 “super knockout” thrashing of Granma in last night’s Oriental League opening semifinals contest was hardly very gripping or even faintly artistic. But it certainly was a game that put several dents in the professional baseball record books.