The individual series resume tomorrow, but the league leaders won’t return to action until Wednesday. When they open their home field at Calixto García Stadium to host the Santiago de Cuba Wasps. The only team—along with them—to have swept two games this season. By then, Holguin will arrive with a story that seems straight out of a script of rise and redemption.
Meanwhile the team that finished 14th last year now leads the standings with a 31-18 record. Half a game ahead of Matanzas, one game ahead of Industriales, and two games ahead of the reigning champions, the Las Tunas Lumberjacks.
None of this would have been possible without the firm hand of their manager, Lugdis Pineda. A baseball man who has forged cohesion where there was once uncertainty, awakened dormant talents. And transformed every challenge into a ritual of collective courage.
Also the Cubs have been as bright a surprise as the Elephants of Cienfuegos—fifth in the standings—but in Holguin, the amazement is amplified because their fans treat it like a sacred mission.
Moreover the fans, considered by many to be the best in Cuba, fill the stands with a loyalty that defies description. There, every hit resounds like thunder, every out is celebrated like a sunrise. Every victory seems to breathe life into the entire city.
On the field, the numbers speak for themselves: a .318 batting average, 322 runs scored, and 54 home runs, second in the tournament in those categories. When runners are on base, they bat .336 and have driven in 206 of the 806 runs they’ve found in scoring position. More than a quarter of the total, as if the team had learned to hit with slow motion and surgical precision.
Futhermore from the mound, they allow 5.31 earned runs per game—eleventh in the league—but compensate with control (3.99 walks per nine innings, fourth in that category) and a more reliable bullpen, with a 4.83 ERA. The defense is also solid, with a .970 fielding percentage (fifth in the country).
Also amidst this well-oiled machine shine figures like Yasiel González, with a .408 batting average, 16 home runs—leading the league—and 44 RBIs. Lázaro Cedeño, with a .371 average, 13 home runs, and 56 RBIs. Michael Gorguet, with a .349 average, eight home runs, and 31 RBIs.
From the mound, Michel Cabrera stands as the team’s anchor and hope. Boasting six wins and seven saves, while Carlos Santiesteban and Wilson Paredes each contribute five victories. All of this, along with the vivid memory of the title won in 2002 under the guidance of Héctor “Tico” Hernández, fuels a feeling that can be felt in every corner of the City of Parks. This time the Cubs aren’t dreaming, they’re writing it.
Finally they do so with the conviction of those who know that the second championship isn’t an illusion. But a destiny that draws closer step by step, game by game, bark by bark.
With information from Prensa Latina
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