Cuban Elite Baseball League kicks off its kicks off its playoffs today

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 4 (ACN) The semifinal phase of the 1st Cuban Elite Baseball League will begin today with the Centrales vs. Portuarios matchup at the Victoria de Giron stadium in Matanzas(western Cuba), where the best team in seven games will come out on top.

Armando Ferrer, mentor of the Centrales team, announced right-hander Fredy Asiel Alvarez as the starter, while Mayabeque manager Michael Gonzalez announced right-hander Yadian Martinez.

Centrales, which includes players from Matanzas, Cienfuegos and Villa Clara, finished second in the qualifying round (27-23), while Portuarios, which includes players from Industriales and Mayabeque, came in third place (26-24).

They are the favorite to win this play-off, since in the preliminary phase they finished first collectively in both pitching (3.21 pcl) and fielding (979) and were second in batting (288) behind Agricultores (299).

In addition, if, as has been reported, Ferrer's players are joined by the addition of shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena, coming from the Mexican Pacific League, and catcher Ariel Martinez, who played outfield and first base with the Chunichi Dragons in Japan, the team will be greatly
reinforced.

 But the Portuarios team wants to demonstrate that in a play-off the team that works best on the field wins, even though in the qualifying round they finished third in batting (279), fourth in pitching (3.58) and fourth also in fielding (974), shared with Cafetaleros.

 Tomorrow will be the start of the other semifinal between the leader Agricultores (30-19) and the fourth place Tabacaleros (25-24).