The Cuban baseball league system is not a single baseball league; rather it is a structure of leagues and series that are governed by the Baseball Federation of Cuba and culminate in national championships and the selection of the Cuba national baseball team. In the primary domestic league, the Cuban National Series, players play for the provinces in which they reside, with each province in Cuba (plus Havana) represented by a team.
Organization of Cuban national baseball system
Cuban National Series
The National Series generally runs from March to July (beginning with the 2022 season) with a schedule of 98 games per team in the regular season. The series is then followed by three playoff rounds culminating in a championship. This series has been played each winter since 1961-62 until the 2020-21 season, and was moved to the spring in 2022. There are 16 teams organized in a West League and an East League. The top four teams from each league advance to a playoff, with the winner crowned in the championship series. Two teams have dominated the National Series in recent years: Industriales and Santiago de Cuba.
Cuban Elite League
Created in 2022, the Elite League (LEB - Liga Elite de Beisbol) took over the former winter schedule that had been dominated by the National Series since its foundation season. It runs from October to February with a similar schedule and format as the SNB formerly had, with the winner of the championship series after the postseason playoffs assuming the role as Cuban representative to the Caribbean Series. Instead of the CNS employing relegation of the lower eight teams halfway through the season, the top eight teams in the SNB which now concludes in August are also directly qualified for the league's regular season, along with twelve players drafted from the lower SNB eight teams of its spring season, beginning with the 2023-24 CEL season. From 2014 to 2019, the SNB champion team advanced directly to the Caribbean Series proper.
Super Series
The Super Series, a summer league, is usually played from May through July with a schedule of about 28 games. The series is followed by a playoff between the two top teams. Its teams are selected from the best players of the National Series. In turn, the Cuba national baseball team is selected from the players in the Super Series. Five regional teams compete: Occidentales (Western region) Havana Centrales (Central region) Orientales (Eastern region) Santiago de Cuba
History of the Cuban baseball league system
Prior to the Cuban Revolution, various professional, semiprofessional, industrial, and amateur baseball leagues and teams flourished in Cuba, including the professional Cuban League and the minor league Havana Sugar Kings.
Since the Cuban Revolution, baseball continued to thrive as Cuba's national game. In February 1961 the government created the National Institute for Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation (INDER) and in March, after the close of the 1960–61 Cuban League season, it decreed the abolition of professional baseball and plans to hold a national amateur championship. Thus, the National Series was conceptualized to serve as the national league circuit. Opening Day for the new league was slated for fall 1961.
The first National Series season 1961–62, included four charter teams: Occidentales, Orientales, Habana, and Azucareros. The next season the number of teams had increased to six, and in 1967 to 12. The expansion of baseball to the provinces was accompanied by the construction of new stadiums in provincial capitals, bringing first-tier baseball to the provincial population. This expansion greatly enhanced the nationwide accessibility of top-flight baseball. The two new Havana-based teams, Industriales and Habana (renamed in the 1970s to Metropolitanos), were similar to the old professional Cuban League rivals, Almendares and Habana in that Industriales, like Almendares, wore blue, while Habana/Metropolitanos, like Habana, wore red. However, after Industriales went on to capture four consecutive championships from 1963–66, they became known as the premier Cuban team. Metropolitanos after the '80s, on the other hand, was unable to be competitive and has failed to re-establish the rivalry; it is now considered a second-class team, where young players and fading veterans share playing time.