Cuba celebrated on Friday, 14 January, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Cuban National Baseball League (Serie Nacional) in the venue where it all started, Latinoamericano Stadium in the capital Havana. Pedro Chavez, Jorge Trigoura and Julio Gonzalez, three legendary players of those days, were honored before historian Félix Julio Alfonso López remembered that Fidel Castro himself hit the ceremonial first ball off pitcher Jorge Santín on that day in 1962. "The newborn league became the first National Championship played in our country," commented López Cuban Baseball Commissioner Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo announced that the 61st edition of the league would open on 23 January with the game between defending champions Granma and Matanzas. The 16 participants will play a 75-game regular season until 11 May. The top eight finishers will advance to the playoffs. WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari attended the night. He presented awards to the National Institute of Sports (INDER), the National Olympic Committee and honoured the Latinoamericano Stadium for its 75 years of service. Fraccari tweeted that he has fond memories of being the first international umpire to work games in the Cuba, indicating that it was an honour to be present for the league's 60th anniversary. The night ended with an exhibition game between the Havana Industriales and defending champions Granma.

Buck O’Neil never uttered a single word of bitterness or regret about not being elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. Till the end, he urged those who loved and rooted for him to do the same. Now, long after a near miss that left many wondering if he’d ever make it, they can rejoice. O’Neil, a champion of Black ballplayers during a monumental, eight-decade career on and off the field, joined Gil Hodges, Minnie Miñoso and three others in getting chosen for the Hall of Fame on Sunday. Former Minnesota Twins teammates Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat also were elected along with Bud Fowler by a pair of veterans committees. “Jubilation,” said Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, that O’Neil helped create. “While we’re all sad that Buck is not here, you just cannot not be happy for all of those who continued to beat that Buck O’Neil drum,” he said. Oliva and Kaat, both 83 years old, are the only living new members. Longtime slugger Dick Allen, who died last December, fell one vote shy of election. The six newcomers will be enshrined in Cooperstown, New York, on July 24, 2022, along with any new members elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. First-time candidates David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez join Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling on the ballot, with voting results on Jan. 25. Passed over in previous Hall elections, the new members reflect a diversity of accomplishments. This was the first time O’Neil, Miñoso and Fowler had a chance to make the Hall under new rules honoring Negro League contributions. Last December, the statistics of some 3,400 players were added to Major League Baseball’s record books when MLB said it was “correcting a longtime oversight in the game’s history” and reclassifying the Negro Leagues as a major league. O’Neil was a two-time All-Star first baseman in the Negro Leagues and the first Black coach in the National or American leagues. He became the ultimate ambassador for the sport until his death in 2006 at 94 and already is honored with a life-sized statue inside the Hall of Fame. For all O’Neil did for the game his entire life, many casual fans weren’t entirely familiar with him until they watched the nine-part Ken Burns documentary “Baseball,” which first aired on PBS in 1994. There, O’Neil’s grace, wit and vivid storytelling brought back to life the times of Negro Leagues stars Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell, plus the days of many more Black ballplayers whose names were long forgotten. Kendrick said it was too bad O’Neil won’t be in Cooperstown for the induction ceremonies, “but you know his spirit is going to fill the valley,” he said. O’Neil played 10 years in the Negro Leagues and helped the Kansas City Monarchs win championships as a player and manager. His numbers were hardly gaudy – a .258 career batting average, nine home runs. But what John Jordan O’Neil Jr. meant to baseball can never be measured by numbers alone. O’Neil was a coach with the Chicago Cubs and enjoyed a prolific career as a scout. His impact is visible to this day. Along with his statue in Cooperstown, the Hall’s board of directors periodically present the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award to a person whose “whose extraordinary efforts enhanced baseball’s positive impact on society … and whose character, integrity and dignity” mirror those shown by O’Neil. In 2006, it appeared O’Neil would get to soak in the praise earned for his work when the Special Committee on Negro Leagues convened to study candidates for the Hall of Fame. The panel indeed elected 17 new members but O’Neil was not among them, narrowly missing out. O’Neil was chosen to speak on behalf of those 17 newcomers, all deceased, on induction day. True to his nature, he didn’t emit a single word of remorse or self-pity about his own fate of being left out. Two months later, O’Neil died in Kansas City. Miñoso was a two-time All-Star in the Negro Leagues before becoming the first Black player for the Chicago White Sox in 1951. Born in Havana, “The Cuban Comet” was seven-time All-Star while with the White Sox and Indians. There was nothing mini about Saturnino Orestes Armas Miñoso on the field. He hit over .300 eight times with Cleveland and Chicago, led the AL in stolen bases three times, reached double digits in home runs most every season and won three Gold Gloves in left field. Miñoso finished up, or so it seemed, in 1964. He came back at age 50 for the White Sox in 1976 – going 1-for-8 – and batted twice in 1980, giving him five decades of playing pro ball. The White Sox retired his No. 9 in 1983 and he remained close to the organization and its players before his death in 2015. Fowler, born in 1858, is often regarded as the first Black professional baseball player. The pitcher and second baseman helped create the popular Page Fence Giants barnstorming team. Hodges became the latest Brooklyn Dodgers star from the pennant-winning “Boys of Summer” to reach the Hall, joining Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella and Pee Wee Reese. An eight-time All-Star with 370 home runs and three-time Gold Glover at first base, Hodges enhanced his legacy when he managed the 1969 “Miracle Mets” to the World Series championship, a startling five-game win over heavily favored Baltimore. Hodges was still the Mets’ manager when he suffered a heart attack during spring training in 1972 and died at 47. His daughter, Irene, said she was with her 95-year-old mother when the vote was announced. “She just pounded her heart and said I‘m so happy for Gil. My dad was a great manager and a great player but above all else he was a great dad,” she said in a statement released by the Mets. Oliva was a three-time AL batting champion with the Twins whose career was cut short by knee problems. “I was looking for that phone call a long time,” Oliva said on MLB Network. “I had so many people work so hard for me to be elected. They said I should have been elected 40 years ago. To be alive to tell the people means a lot me.” Kaat was 283-237 in 25 seasons and a 16-time Gold Glove winner. “I never thought I was the No. 1 pitcher,” he said. “I wasn’t dominant. I was durable and dependable. I am grateful they chose to reward dependability.” O’Neil and Fowler were selected by the Early Days committee. Hodges, Miñoso, Oliva and Kaat were chosen the by the Golden Days committee. The 16-member panels met separately in Orlando, Florida. The election announcement was originally scheduled to coincide with the big league winter meetings, which were nixed because of the MLB lockout. It took 12 votes (75%) for selection: Miñoso drew 14, O’Neil got 13 and Hodges, Oliva, Kaat and Fowler each had 12. Allen had 11. Oliva was an eight-time All-Star and batted .304 in 15 seasons, all with the Twins. The Cuban-born outfielder known for hitting wicked line drives was the 1964 AL Rookie of the Year. Kaat was a three-time All-Star, a three-time 20-game winner and pitched in four decades. He boosted the Twins into the 1965 World Series and won a ring as a reliever on the 1982 Cardinals. Kaat became a longtime broadcaster after he finished playing. During this year’s playoffs, he apologized after saying on an MLB Network game telecast that teams should try to “get a 40-acre field full of” players who look like White Sox infielder Yoán Moncada, who is Cuban. The remark prompted some viewers to recall the unfilled promise by the U.S. government that freed slaves would get 40 acres and a mule after the Civil War.

As the calendar turned to November, Cuban Baseball Commissioner, Mr. Juan R. Pérez Pardo, announced last Friday that the 2022 season will start on January 22th with all 16 teams involved. After a 2020-2021 season with some changes because of the COVID-19 pandemic that affected the country, the new campaign still won’t be a normal season. The COVID-19 pandemic continues impacting Cuba, and at least until further notice, is unknow if fans will be welcomed back to the stadiums. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming season. When will the 2022 Cuban season – 61th National Series - begins? All 16-teams already started training in November and they will be doing it until late December. Opening Day of the 61th Cuban National Series is set for January 22, 2022, and all 16 teams will be in action that day. How many games will be played? The season will have identical format than the previous one (60th National Series). Each team will play 75 games – Round Robin - and there will be three Postseason series. When games will be played? The Cuban Baseball Commissioner announced that the season will mostly be played during the day. Only selected games will be played at night. When the schedule will be released? As usual in Cuba, the season schedule will be announced when the start of the season approaches, usually a month prior to the start of the tournament. What format will be used during the Postseason? The 2022 Cuban Postseason will, once again, have three different series to define the Cuban champion: Quarter-finals, Semifinals, and Finals. The only change for the new season is that the Quarter-finals series will be a best-of-seven series. Other details: The 60th National Series Awards Ceremony will take place on January 14 in Bayamo, Granma. A new tournament, most likely a Selective Series with the best players of the 61th NS, will be held, but the details of this tournament are still unknow. (Photo: The 2021-2022 Cuban Champions Alazanes de Granma/PL)

Braves outfielder Jorge Soler was named 2021 World Series MVP on Tuesday night after he helped Atlanta capture its first World Series title in 26 years. In Game 6 against the Astros, Soler had the most memorable hit of the series, demolishing a three-run home run to put the Braves ahead for good in the title-clinching game. It was the exclamation point on a memorable series for Soler, who came into Game 6 against the Astros with a robust slash line of .294/.368/.706 through the first five games. Then in the third inning Tuesday night, he came up with two on and two out against Luis Garcia, who, pitching on short rest, suddenly looked vulnerable after dominating in the first two innings. Just prior to the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Soler had scalded back-to-back foul balls, and it was obvious he had Garcia timed up pretty well. On that eighth pitch, Garcia threw something in between a slider and a cutter down and in, but the pitch lingered in the zone a bit too long. Soler, suffice it to say, did not miss: That one left the bat at 109.6 mph and traveled an estimated 446 feet. That moonshot merits another angle: That was Soler's third homer of the series, and he became just the fourth Brave ever to hit three home runs in a single World Series. Soler joins Hank Aaron in 1957, Lonnie Smith in 1991, and Ryan Klesko in 1995. More impressively, Soler had three go-ahead homers in this series, and that put him in exclusive company: Soler, the second Cuban-born MVP in World Series history (joining Liván Hernández of the 1997 Marlins), originally joined the Braves at the trade deadline. In 55 games with Atlanta, he hit .269/.358/.524 (128 OPS+) with 14 home runs. He'd previously hit .192/.288/.370 (76 OPS+) with 13 home runs in 94 contests with the Royals. Soler, scheduled to become a free agent this winter, was one of several notable additions Atlanta made to its outfield at the deadline, alongside Eddie Rosario, Joc Pederson, and Adam Duvall. (Photo: Jorge Soler/MLB)

If there was any doubt about just how good Yordan Alvarez was or how integral to the Astros' postseason hopes he has been, he answered those questions emphatically on Friday night. In one of the biggest games of his career, the soft-spoken Alvarez let his play speak for him. He punctuated his ALCS performance with a 4-for-4 night in the clinching Game 6 included two doubles, a single, a triple an RBI and an important run scored on a heads-up play. But looking at what he did over the entire series — not just Game 6 — helps paint a much fuller picture. The 24-year old Cuba native had a record-setting series at the plate. He was 12 for 23 with a home run, six RBIs and a 1.408 OPS. He took home series MVP honors as a result. "Everyone knows the quality of hitters that we have. And I think more so than winning MVP, just what it means to win this game for the team is most important to me," Alvarez said through an interpreter after Houston's 5-0 victory over Boston. "So I'm super happy for the guys." Alvarez by himself outperformed the Red Sox over the final two games of the series, which was unprecedented. Don't mistake Alvarez's youth for inexperience. He was a unanimous choice for 2019 AL Rookie of the Year thanks to a stellar regular season in which he played in just 87 games. Since his debut that year, his OPS is the fifth-highest in MLB; above him are household names such as Mike Trout, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Bryce Harper. Not bad company to keep. He had an impressive postseason in 2019, too, specifically in the ALDS (.316) and World Series (.412). He missed most of the 2020 season with a knee injury but came back even better this year. He played in 144 games and posted a 3.2 WAR while hitting .277/.346 /.531 with 33 homers and 108 RBIs. Once again, that success carried into the postseason and specifically the ALCS. What led to Alvarez's record-setting performance in the series? It could be a lot of things. But the man himself will tell you it was something pretty simple. "I was just really focused. The support I got from these guys and my team means everything," he said. "I was just focused on doing the job." (Photo: MLB & Getty Images)

HOUSTON – AL batting champion Yuli Gurriel hit a winning RBI single in the ninth inning, and the AL West champion Houston Astros headed to the postseason with a 7-6 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday. Gurriel hit .319 and became Houston’s second player to win a batting title after Jose Altuve in 2014, ’16 and ’17. Gurriel became the second Cuban-born big league batting champion after Tony Oliva in 1964, ’65 and 1971. “It’s something really important,” Gurriel said through a translator. “I think everybody knows it’s a big deal, and it’s tough to win a batting title, so that means a lot. I was fine either way with playing today. … It turned out that I was able to be there in the end, so it all worked out.” Gurriel, who entered in the ninth as a defensive replacement, singled to left off Lou Trivino (7-8) to score Jason Castro, who had singled starting the inning and took third on Yordan Álvarez’s one-out double. Gurriel said he wasn’t prepared to hit on Sunday and hadn’t taken a swing all day before the at bat, but he had a positive mindset to get a hit. “He didn’t sit on it,” said Houston manager Dusty Baker, who claimed he predicted to bench coach Joe Espada the previous inning that “Yuli is going to win this game. Walkoff." Astros teammate Michael Brantley went 0 for 2 and finished at .311. Houston went 95-67 and opens the Division Series at home Thursday against the Central champion Chicago White Sox. Oakland was 86-76, finishing nine games back of the Astros in third place. (Photo: Getty Images)

Colombia scored two runs in each of the first two innings and didn't need to look back against a brave Cuban side. Coming off a one-run loss on Friday that ended its chances at playing for a world championship, Colombia needed to get over the defeat quickly. Less than 18 hours later, they got the job done. Led by two home runs from designated hitter Andres Angulo, world No. 15 Colombia outlasted No. 11 Cuba 5-3 on Saturday afternoon in the bronze medal game of the III WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup at Estadio Sonora in Hermosillo. The victory gave Colombia its first-ever medal in a WBSC World Cup event. Box score "Colombia's last title on the world stage came in 1947. My grandfather was playing on that team," commented manager Jose Mosquera. For the record, the tournament was called Amateur World Series and it would evolve into the Baseball World Cup. Matching up for the second time in four days, Cuba and Colombia were destined for a much different meeting from their first one, when Colombia cruised to an 11-0 win in five innings. Cuba scored the game’s first run on a blistering Saturday afternoon in the top of the first when Loidel Chapelli walked to lead off the game and scored three batters later on Yuddiel Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly to center. Cuba’s only lead of the game didn’t last long. Angulo jumpstarted Colombia out of the three-hole with a two-run homer to left following Jordan Diaz’s one-out single through the left side. One inning later, it was the bottom portion of Colombia’s offense contributing when Brayan Buelvas and Juan Zabala singled to kick off the second. With those two at the corners, Rafael Romero worked a walk, but Cuba catcher Andrys Perez threw down to second on ball four, enabling Buelvas to swipe home. Zabala later scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Gustavo Campero to make it a 4-0 lead. Cuba got a run back on an RBI single by Geisel Cepeda, cashing in Chapelli’s second walk in the third inning, but Colombia responded on Angulo’s second homer of the day, a leadoff shot in the bottom of the third. First baseman Ivan Prieto gave Cuba a jolt of life with a one-out solo homer to left in the fourth, but though his team had opportunities the rest of the way, they never capitalized. Cuba left a runner in scoring position in the fifth and left a man at first in the sixth. Called upon to earn his third save of the U-23 World Cup, Colombia’s Jhon Peluffo obliged, retiring all five batters he faced. The victory was extra sweet for Colombia, which hosted the II U-23 Baseball World Cup in 2019 in Monteria and Barranquilla but did not qualify for the Super Round, finishing seventh on home soil. "It's a great honour for us," said Mosquera. "Now we have to keep this group together. This tournament has been a learning experience for all of us, we can improve." (Photo: WBSC)

Cuba came back three times and finally walked it off in the eighth on a base hit by Yuddiel Gonzalez. After two tough losses to open the Super Round, Cuba’s chances at playing for a medal on Saturday rested on their final Super Round game. Win, and hope remained alive. Mission accomplished. Box score World No. 11 Cuba rallied from deficits three times, including a margin of 5-0 midway through their Friday game to stun No. 13 Panama with a 9-8 walk-off win in extra innings at Estadio Sonora. With the result, Cuba pulled even with Panama at 2-3 for fourth place on the Super Round table with two more games left to be played on Friday in Hermosillo. Halfway through Friday’s contest, Panama looked to be cruising to a second win in three Super Round games thanks to five runs scored on three big hits. Rhandall Sanchez staked his team to a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer to left in the second. Erick Mordock drove a ground-rule double to left to plate a run in the third, and in the fourth, Adrian Montero singled up the middle to plate two more. Cuba not only trailed by five runs, it had only tallied two hits before the fourth. In that fourth inning, the bats arrived. Cuba sent 10 batters to the plate and stormed back to tie the game with five runs. Rodoleisis Moreno delivered a bases-clearing double to get his team on the board with three runs while Guillermo Garcia singled to left-center to bring home a fourth tally and Loidel Chapelli came across with the tying run on a two-out fielding error by Panama third baseman Enoc Watts. Panama pulled ahead in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Joshwan Wright, but with one out in the bottom of the seventh, Cuba levelled the score again on a Rangel Ramos sacrifice fly to force extra innings. In the eighth, Panama took advantage of the international tiebreak rule to score a pair of runs Jason Patterson singling home a run and Sanchez scoring on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Adrian Montero. Undeterred facing an 8-6 deficit, Cuba mounted its final rally. With one out and the bases loaded, Ramos scored on a wild pitch charged to James Gonzalez, and the home team was underway. Moreno came across on a fielder’s choice as Garcia beat out a potential double play ball hit to second. With two gone, Yuddiel Gonzalez sent his team into jubilation by lacing a walk-off single to right-center to score Miguel Gonzalez. "I always try to stay positive when I step to the box," commented Gonzalez after the game. "This is what helped me get the hit." Cuba’s rally gave the team a 2-3 Super Round record while dropping Panama to 2-3. The sides now await the results of Friday’s afternoon contest between Venezuela (3-1) and Chinese Taipei (1-3) and the night game between Colombia (3-1) and Mexico (2-2) to determine Saturday’s bronze medal and World Championship Game matchups. (Photo: WBSC)

Colombia is now 3-1 and is aiming at the final. Cuba fell to 1-3, but has still a chance to be in the bronze medal game. On the middle day of the Super Round, Colombia put together another impressive win. Backed by 10 hits from his offense, Colombia starting pitcher Luis Moreno dealt five shutout innings to earn the win as world No. 15 Colombia beat No. 11 Cuba, 6-1, on Thursday afternoon at Estadio Sonora. Colombia and Cuba went scoreless into the third inning, with Moreno and Cuba’s Jonathan Carbo traded scoreless half innings before the visitors broke through. In the third, Colombia’s hot-hitting leadoff man Gustavo Campero got his team on to the board with a two-run homer to right field. Later in the inning, Jesus Marriaga singled through the left side to plate Andres Angulo with Colombia’s fifth hit of the frame to make it a 3-0 game. That lead alone would have been more than enough for Moreno, who scattered three hits without walking a batter and struck out two in his five innings. The right-hander threw 61 pitches, 42 for strikes. Colombia wasn’t done offensively after its big third. The world No. 15 added a pair in the fourth on an RBI double to by Rafael Romero right-center and an Angulo sacrifice fly and then tacked on one more in the fifth on Juan Zabala’s homer to left. Cuba was limited to a run on six hits, finally cashing in a tally in the bottom of the sixth inning with the outcome already in hand on Yuddiel Gonzalez’s RBI single up the middle. "These players showed how much they care about coming to the ballpark and playing hard every day," commented manager Jose Mosquera. "In the early innings, I think we had an overconfident approach. I spoke to the players, reminding them how important the game was, and I'm pleased with what I saw after that." On Friday, Colombia and Cuba will play their final games of the Super Round, with Colombia vying for a spot in Saturday’s World Championship Final and Cuba hoping for a shot at bronze. Cuba will battle Panama at 10:30 in the morning contest while Colombia faces host and defending U-23 World Cup champions Mexico from 19:30 in Hermosillo. (Photo: WBSC)

Venezuela outscored, 11-0 in 5 innings, and outhit, 15-5, Cuba and has now improved its record to 2-1. Box score With the final stage of the U-23 Baseball World Cup just days away, Venezuela’s offense is in top gear. Every batter in Venezuela’s lineup notched at least one hit led by three for leadoff hitter Carlos Rodríguez, who homered and doubled, as the world’s No. 10 run-ruled No. 11 Cuba, 11-0 in 5 innings, on the first day of the Super Round at Estadio Sonora. Rodríguez belted a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first to signal what type of day it would be for his team. Venezuela scored in each of its five innings at the plate, adding another run in the first and four in the second, the team’s biggest frame highlighted by a two-run homer to center from Romer Cuadrado. Following an RBI double by Antonio Pinero and a run-scoring single by Rodríguez in the third, Justin López doubled to plate a run in the fourth and make it a 9-0 game. That set the stage for the fifth when Juan Fernández put the exclamation point on his team’s victory with a two-run homer to left-center to end the contest. Venezuela racked up 15 hits with five players notching multi-hit games and five driving in multiple runs. On the mound, Jesús Vargas did all the work for his team, blanking Cuba over five innings to earn the victory and give Venezuela’s bullpen a second straight day of rest after having Tuesday off from action. Vargas scattered five hits allowed and struck out five without walking a batter, throwing 51 strikes in 73 pitches. On Thursday, Venezuela and Cuba move on to the second day of the Super Round when Cuba faces Colombia at 10:30 and Venezuela matches up with host Mexico from 19:30. (Photo: WBSC)

Left-hander Naykel Cruz muted the Dominican Republic lineup. Cuba scored six runs on ten hits and finished group play with a 4-1 record. Cuba will advance to the Super Round after a convincing 6-2 win over the Dominican Republic on Tuesday afternoon in Ciudad Obregon. Box score The final game of group play saw Cuba score four times in the top of the second inning when five straight batters reached base safely against Dominican Starter Cristian Solano. Right fielder Loidel Chapelli, a former WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup MVP, had one of the RBIs. "We worked hard to qualify," commented Chapelli after the game. "We are really excited now. I came here ready to play. When I stepped to bat in the second, I knew it was a crucial at-bat. Thank God I got that line drive. We will do our best to go home with a medal." That rough patch for Solano marred an otherwise sparkling outing that ended after the righty retired seven straight - including five consecutive strikeouts. On the other side, Naykel Cruz tossed more than 100 pitches in his six innings of work. "I'm thrilled, but you don't have to credit my pitching only," said Cruz after the game. "It was a genuine team effort. I managed to get ahead in the count, which is always my goal." Cruz didn't allow a run until the bottom of the sixth when Cristopher Pujols homered to drive in two with two outs. "I always look for a fastball and I got one up in the zone," said Pujols. "I tried not to do too much and I took it deep." There were not many other good at bats for the Dominican Republic. "Well, we got too anxious and we chased a lot of bad pitches, or at least, not our pitches," added Pujols. Cruz finished the day with nine strikeouts, earning a well deserved win. Cuba had just one extra base hit, a Rodoleisis Moreno triple to begin the seventh, and Moreno was one of three Cuban hitters to finish the game with two hits. The Dominican Republic finishes group play 2–3, having scored just four runs in four games after beating Germany 8-4 in its first game on Friday. They will stay in Ciudad Obregon for the placement round. "My players got to the game too anxious," admitted Dominican Republic manager Ramon Genao. "Things didn't go our way in this tournament, but we still have to do our best to finish on top of the placement round. Motivations won't lack." Cuba heads to Hermosillo as one of four teams that will begin Super Round play with a 1-1 Super Round record. The team was 4-1 overall in five games of group play. Group A, the outcome Mexico (2-0), Cuba (1-1), Chinese Taipei (2-0) advance to the super round. The Dominican Republic (2-0), Germany (1-1) and the Czech Republic (0-2) will play in the placement round. (Photo: WBSC)

After beating the Czech Republic, 7-1, Cuba will face the Dominican Republic in the make-up game of the rained-out opener. Cuba moved one step closer to a Super Round berth with a 7-1 victory over the Czech Republic on Monday afternoon in Ciudad Obregon. Box score Cuba’s starter Jose Santos was the star, tossing a complete-game two-hitter to help his team improve to 3-1 in group play. Santos did not allow a hit until the bottom of the sixth when Marek Chlup tripled to right field. Chlup scored one batter later on a Radim Novotny sacrifice fly to account for the lone Czech run of the day. "Santos helped us a lot going the distance," commented Cuba's manager Eriel Sanchez. "Overall, we've had very good pitching. Thanks to that, we could win close games." Cuba’s offense simply took what it was given by a Czech staff that walked a total of nine batters on the day. Cuba’s first three runs came across in the third inning - the first two on wild pitches and the third on a Yandi Yanes RBI single. The team added two more in the sixth on a sacrifice fly and a Geisel Cepeda RBI double and capped the day with a pair of runs on two hits in the seventh. Rangel Ramos was the only player to record a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI for Cuba out of the eight spot. The Czech Republic finishes group play 1-4, losers of four straight after the thrilling opening night victory over Mexico. Cuba heads into a Tuesday make-up game with the Dominican Republic that is certain to have Super Round implications. "We need to make that one more step to get to the super round," concluded Sanchez. "We know the Dominican Republic is a very strong team. I have a lot of respect for them. For sure, it will be fun to watch us play tomorrow." That game is scheduled to start at 10:30am local time. (Photo: WBSC)