Cuban teams fight to qualify for second stage on national baseball series

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 28 (acn) The Cuban baseball championship in its 56th edition will rise its temperature today with the start of new subseries of vital importance to the destiny of the teams involved in the struggle for qualification.

With only six games left to close the preliminary round, only the leader Matanzas has assured its presence in the elite stage of the season, which will be accessed this time by six contenders, the first four will do it directly and the remaining two will be defined in play-off series.
Several teams are struggling to finish into the privileged quartet, including Villa Clara, third with balance of 21 wins and 13 losses, which will take a demanding match when facing away the almost unbeaten Matanzas Crocodiles (34-3).
Only Pinar del Rio, Ciego de Avila and Industriales were able to defeat this year the squad led by controversial manager Victor Mesa, hence the importance for Villa Clara of reaching at least one win over the leaders of the tournament.
After suffering a surprising sweep at the expense of Artemisa, the Ciego de Avila Tigers (24-15) will try to ratify themselves at the second seat of the standings when visiting Industriales (21-17), which is now on the rise after an uncertain start.
Holguin (21-14) will try to consolidate itself at fourth place on its visit to Pinar del Rio (14-19), current runner-up besieged by the specter of elimination, while Granma (22-16) will have a clear opportunity to climb positions when clashing at home with Santiago de Cuba (12-26).
Guantanamo (21-17) will host Las Tunas (19-18) in another attractive subseries between two candidates to the playoffs, while Camagüey (19-19) needs a good result against Sancti Spiritus (12-26) to abandon the slump and stay in contention for tickets to the next stage.
The rest of the matches for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be Artemisa (15-24) vs. Mayabeque (8-27) and Isla de la Juventud (17-19) - Cienfuegos (16-23), always at home of those mentioned first.
Here are the standings of the Cuban baseball championship:
TEAMS W L AVE DIF
MTZ 34 3 919 -
CAV 24 15 615 11.0
VCL 21 13 618 11.5
HOL 21 14 600 12.0
GRA 22 16 579 12.5
GTM 21 17 553 13.5
IND 21 17 553 13.5
LTU 19 18 514 15.0
CMG 19 19 500 15.5
IJV 17 19 472 16.5
PRI 14 19 424 18.0
CFG 16 23 410 19.0
ART 15 24 385 20.0
SCU 12 26 316 22.5
SSP 12 26 316 22.5
MAY 8 27 229 25.0