14ymedio/Swing Completo, Havana, 27 January 2025 — Curaçao won by 15-2 over the Leñadores de Las Tunas, who represent Cuba in the Baseball Series of the Americas, based in Nicaragua. Faced with the catastrophic result, the official media Granma reported that the Island’s team “had their hands tied” (was immobilized in the sport), and that their performance was “bad news for Cuban baseball, whatever the competition.”
Those led by Abeysi Pantoja, according to the same media, succumbed to players who had already turned the corner of stardom. The Curaçao team “has the wisdom and the craft” for their participation in teams of the US Major Leagues, in addition to the fact that some currently play in the Minor Leagues.
Cuban baseball is in crisis, and Cubadebate also recognized that nothing worked for the Cubans against Curaçao. The offensive line barely achieved three hits, and the Las Tunas pitchers allowed 16 runs. “You can’t win that way in baseball,” the same report emphasized.
“The pitchers allowed 15 uncatchable hits, and, to top it off, the defense also failed, not only because of the two errors, but also because there was no solution for throws that did not commit,” Granma summarized.
Sports analyst Juan Carlos Guerra Alonso “JuanK” in Por la Goma, reiterated that this bad moment of Cuban baseball “has a lot to do with the suffocating and obsolete policy of those who direct and pull the strings of the sport: those at the top, those in the middle and those “phantoms” who make decisions from behind a desk.”
JuanK specified that “you can’t have a good performance without playing baseball. You can’t live on Saturn, wanting to compete on Earth.” He recalled that the Cuban players have not played for a winter, and in the face of results like those against Curaçao, “we are losing the credibility and respect that our history gave us.”
Cuba’s first defeat against Nicaragua left doubts in some fans and accusations in others. “The Island did Managua a favor, they were clever,” José Pablo, a regular at the stadiums of the Central American country, told 14ymedio. “I have no doubt; those drunken pigs that make up the team (of Nicaragua) could never beat the Cubans for good, no matter how many desertions they have had and not even if they’re tied up and blindfolded.”
Baseball in Nicaragua is also in “decline.” According to a report in La Prensa, despite the investment of 4 billion córdobas for the “construction of 13 stadiums and the remodeling of another 24 sports facilities,” the fans have been absent from the games.
According to sports journalist Pablo Fletes, one of the causes is the local “quality of competition” caused by a championship that brings together 20 teams. The “saturation” has generated the disinterest of fans. Meanwhile, sports reporter Edgard Tijerino commented that national baseball has fallen behind in the international context, so “it has been left out of events such as the World Classic and the Premier 12.
Curazao has three wins and leads the Baseball Series of the Americas. Nicaragua and Águilas Metropolitanas follow, both tied with two games won and one lost. Cuba and Club Daom are equal in fourth and fifth place with one victory and two defeats. In the background is Caimanes de Barranquilla (Colombia) with three consecutive stumbles.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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