The 17th season of the Cuban National Series saw Vegueros of Pinar del Río Province win the title, finishing with a slim lead over Industriales of Havana. The makeup of the league was directly influenced by the administrative restructuring of the provinces of Cuba. The league expanded from 14 to 18 teams, and the regular season increased from 39 to 51 games[a] (although some teams played as few as 46 games).
| 1977–78 Cuban National Series Serie Nacional de Béisbol 1977–78 | |
|---|---|
| League | Cuban National Series |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Number of games | 51 |
| Number of teams | 18 |
| Regular season | |
| Champion | Vegueros (36–14) |
Restructuring
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Many teams were reconstituted to align with Cuba's restructuring into 14 provinces and one special municipality, announced in December 1976.[1]
The league expanded to 18 teams: 11 provinces fielded a single team each, three provinces fielded two teams each, and the special administrative area of Isla de Pinos (later renamed Isla de la Juventud) fielded a team.
The three provinces fielding two teams each were:
- Ciudad de La Habana Province (the city of Havana): Industriales and Metropolitanos
- Pinar del Río Province: Vegueros and Forestales
- Matanzas Province: Citricultores and Henequeneros
The 1977–78 season was also the first in which aluminum bats were used league-wide replacing the wooden bats, and was also the first in which the designated hitter was used, replacing the pitcher's turn at bat, following an off-season decision by the Baseball Federation of Cuba and by the National Sports Institution,[citation needed] following the lead of the American League of Major League Baseball four years before.
Standings
edit| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegueros (Pinar del Río) | 36 | 14 | .720 | - |
| Industriales (Havana) | 35 | 16 | .686 | 1½ |
| Camagüey | 30 | 21 | .588 | 6½ |
| Forestales (Pinar del Río) | 29 | 21 | .580 | 7 |
| Metropolitanos (Havana) | 28 | 21 | .571 | 7½ |
| Villa Clara | 28 | 21 | .571 | 7½ |
| Cienfuegos | 29 | 22 | .568 | 7½ |
| Guantánamo | 28 | 22 | .560 | 8 |
| Ciego de Ávila | 26 | 23 | .530 | 9 |
| Citricultores (Matanzas) | 27 | 24 | .529 | 9½ |
| Granma | 25 | 25 | .500 | 11 |
| Santiago de Cuba | 25 | 25 | .500 | 11 |
| La Habana | 21 | 26 | .446 | 13½ |
| Holguín | 22 | 28 | .440 | 14 |
| Sancti Spíritus | 20 | 30 | .400 | 16 |
| Henequeneros (Matanzas) | 16 | 30 | .347 | 18 |
| Las Tunas | 12 | 37 | .244 | 23½ |
| Isla de Pinos | 10 | 41 | .196 | 26½ |
Source:[2]
Notes
edit- ^ A team facing each of the other 17 teams in the league 3 times each yields a schedule of 51 games.
References
edit- ^ Goodsell, James Nelson (December 12, 1976). "Cuba's citizens to have a say". The Columbian. Vancouver, Washington. The Christian Science Monitor. p. 47. Retrieved September 2, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Las 40 primeras Series Nacionales". Granma (in Spanish). Archived from the original on December 27, 2014.
Further reading
edit- "Cronología: 1978" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 25, 2005. Retrieved 2006-10-05. (Note - text is printed in a white font on a white background, depending on browser used.)