A few days before this tournament started, some players did not have important parts of their uniforms
14ymedio/SwingCompleto, Havana, September 23, 2025 — The baseball game between Las Tunas and Ciego de Ávila, which was scheduled for this Tuesday at noon as part of the National Series, has been postponed and may not be played until next Friday. The cause: unforeseen problems with the hotel capacity in the Las Tunas area, according to journalist Pavel Otero postig on Monday.
The three-day delay in the schedule for the game could be the least of the evils, since, according to the same reporter, “it is yet to be confirmed” whether the game — and the series — will actually take place. The decision could put the baseball calendar in a predicament, as there are no dates for recovering suspended games.
Fans on social media responded to the journalist’s post and questioned the work of the organizers. “How it is possible that there is no accommodation for the most important event in our country months in advance? The lack of ethics, professionalism and organization now exceed the limits, but no: ‘it is the fault of the blockade.’ “
“How it is possible that there is no accommodation for the most important event in our country”
This series is not the only one affected by off-field issues. Pavel Otero also reported that the Industriales team in Havana “had a delayed maritime transport from Nueva Gerona to Batabanó and, because of this, had to walk to Bayamo.” Hours later, he reported that the team arrived in town at 5:00 am, so, at least for this Tuesday, that series was also postponed.
It had already been reported on other occasions that baseball players must deal with housing conditions and even meals that are far from optimal, which eventually affects their performance. A few days before this tournament started, the players did not have important parts of their uniforms and sports equipment.
This delay in the games occurs just days before the start of National Series 64, which, for the first time, began in September, when historically it started in March. The National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) reported last October that it would change the date for both the Third Cuban Baseball Elite League and the National Series.
Next, he said that the reason was to prevent the games from being played “in the months of higher temperatures, with the consequent benefit for their rivals.” However, media such as Escambray pointed out days later, in the context of the “economic war” in which the Island lives, that carrying out the Third Elite League and the 64 National Series would be “counterproductive.”
In the context of the “economic war” in which the Island lives, to carry out the Third Elite League and the 64 National Series would be “counterproductive”
For the Sancti Spíritus newspaper, these events require “important logistics of all kinds, which the country today does not have.”
To justify the postponement of the Elite League, which was contested at the end of each year and changed to last March, Escambray said that “it is inconsistent to carry out an event that has not yet proved its full validity after taking place again, at least not in a country which is debating between distributing a drop of fuel for electricity generation and ambulances, or how to establish guarantees for a low price for the rice and sugar in the family basket and the inputs to produce food and medicine that is missing in the pharmacy.”
The official newspaper even gave as an example the cancelation of three editions of the Olympic Games due to world wars -conflicts that left, in total, about 85 million dead — and the case of Tokyo 2020, which was postponed for a year due to the pandemic: “As far as I know, the Elite League of baseball does not even come close to those events in importance.”
According to the same article, with those “few resources that the country has” this year’s National Series would be prioritized, “which demands an even stronger logistical framework and which is, in short, the main socio-cultural event that Cuba has.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
