The 2024 Serie Nacional champion, the Lenadores de Las Tunas, will compete in the 2025 Serie de Las Americas tournament in Nicaragua in late January.
The Lenadores de Las Tunas official roster was announced on Tuesday, January 7.
The No. 3 seed, Leñadores de Las Tunas, won the 2024 Serie Nacional regular season, winning the best-of-seven championship series over Vegueros de Pinar Del Rio in five games back on July 28. The Lenadores de Las Tunas finished in third place in the 2024 season with their record at 42-28, and the Vegueros de Pinar Del Rio were No. 1, ending their record at 50-24.
The No. 1 seed Leñadores de Las Tunas also won the 2023 Serie Nacional regular season, sweeping the No. 5 seed Industriales de La Habana in the best-of-seven championship series.
Leif Skodnick of World Baseball Network reported on October 23 of everything going on with the Cuban Government alongside the 2024-25 winter Elite League season was canceled due to political and economic issues: https://worldbaseball.com/cuba-premier12-team-trains-in-south-korea-and-players-leave-island-amid-crisis-at-home/.
Skodnick reported, “The change in the league’s schedule was announced by Cuba’s sports ministry, the Instituto Nacional Deportivo, Educacion Fisica y Recreacion, or INDER, last Wednesday. In addition to moving the Elite League season to the spring, the Serie Nacional’s next season will begin in September 2025. The season changes were made because the “absence of Cuba in the Caribbean Series makes it unnecessary to continue adhering to the changes made two years ago in our calendars to adjust to the date of that tournament,” Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación stated in Spanish in a press release published by JITDeportivo.cu, a sports media outlet run by the Cuban government” from back in mid-October.
The Elite League operated for two seasons in 2022-23 and 2023-24, and were made up of the teams that finished in the top-six of the Serie Nacional season in the spring-summer.
Cuba last played in the Caribbean Series in 2023, when the annual winter ball tournament of champions was held in Caracas and La Guaira, Venezuela. Eight teams participated in that tournament. The 2024 Caribbean Series, held at loanDepot Park in Miami, featured seven teams, with Cuba absent.
The Agricultores team played in the 2023 Caribbean Series and were champions in the 2022-2023 Elite League Season while winning in seven games in the best-of-seven championship series over the Portuarios when Agricultores’ Osvaldo Abreu hit a walk-off single to center field to capture a 7-6 win and berth to Caracas, Venezuela, including coming back from a 3-1 series deficit. The Cocodrilos de Matanzas won in six games in the 2023-24 Elite League best-of-seven series over the Cazadores de Artemisa and did not participate in an alternative league tournament out of Cuba.
Cuba went 1-6 in Caracas, Venezuela, at the 2023 Caribbean Series, with their first win only coming against Curacao 3-1 in 10 innings on the first day of the tournament at Estadio Estadio Fórum La Guaira. Colombia, Curacao, and Cuba were invited to the 2023 Caribbean Series.
Cuba, before the 2023 event, previously played in the 2019 Caribbean Series in Panama City, Panama, at Rod Carew Stadium with the 2018-19 Serie Nacional, the Lenadores de La Tunas, who lost 3-1 in the championship game against the 2018-2019 Panama Probeis league champion Toros de Herrera.
The 2014-15 Serie Nacional champion, the Vegueros de Pinar del Rio, won the 2015 Caribbean Series for the second consecutive year the country was back at the event. They were the only Cuban team to win the Caribbean Series after 1960 when the United States Trade Embargo began.
Cuba won the Caribbean Series as the formerly known Cuban Winter League, with the Alacranes del Almendares winning in 1949 and 1959, the Leones del Habana in 1952, the Tigres de Marianao in 1957 and 1958, and the Elefantes de Cienfuegos in 1960 before professional sports being abolished from the island and putting a halt to the Caribbean Series until it was brought back in 1970.
Cuba, now in recent times with club events heading into 2025, has changed during the last few years with the alignment of competition that they have faced with professionals from other leagues in club events in the western hemisphere.
The Cocodrilos de Matanzas and the Federación Cubana Beisbol y Softball held the Serie de Estrellas with Venezuela, Mexico, and a 2023-2024 Elite League All-Star team from late January until early February at Estadio Victoria de Girón in Matanzas, Cuba. The Cocodrilos de Matanzas won the Serie de Estrellas over the Elite League All-Star Team 12-2 in the championship game on February 1, 2024.
The 2023 World Baseball Softball Confederation Baseball Champions League was held back from September 28 until October 21, with the 2022 Cuban Serie Nacional champion, the Alazanes de Granma, the 2021-22 Liga Profesional De Béisbol Colombia champion, the Caimanes de Barranquilla, the 2022 American Association champion, the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, and the host team, the 2022 Liga Mexicana de Beisbol champion, Leones de Yucatán at Parque Kukulcán Alamo in Merida, Mexico.
The next club event for the island will be an ultimate test to see if they can compete against growing countries and top-tier countries from the Caribbean with the Serie De Las Americas event in late January.
The Serie De Las Americas is labeling the event from the formerly named tournament, the Latin-American Series, held from 2013 to 19.
The Latin American Series featured champions from club teams in the winter leagues: the Argentine Baseball League in 2019, Liga Profesional De Béisbol Colombia from 2013-119, the Curaçao National Championship AA League in 2018, the Liga Invernal Veracruzana in Mexico from 2013-19, the Veracruz State League in Mexico from 2017-18, the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Nacional in Nicaragua from 2013-19, and the Panama Probeis league from 2013- 19.
The 2013 and 2019 Latin American Series were held at Estadio Universitario Beto Ávila in Veracruz, Mexico; the 2013 and 2017 tournaments was at Estadio 18 de Junio in Monteria, Colombia; the 2016 and 2018 events were at Estadio Nacional Soberania in Managua, Nicaragua, and in 2015 it was at Estadio Rod Carew in Panama, City Panama.
2013-19 Latin American Series Champions:
LPBC – Liga Profesional De Béisbol Colombia
LBPN – Liga de Beisbol Profesional Nacional
LIV – Liga Invernal Veracruzana
Year Venue Champion League Team
2013 Veracruz, Mexico Mexico LIV Brujos de Los Tuxtlas
2014 Monteria, Colombia Colombia LBPC Tigres de Cartagena
2015 Panama City, Panama Colombia LBPC Leones de Monteria
2016 Managua, Nicaragua Nicaragua LBPN Gigantes de Rivas
2017 Monteria, Colombia Nicaragua LBPN Tigres de Chinandega
2018 Managua, Nicaragua Nicaragua LBPN Tigres de Chinandega
2019 Veracruz, Mexico Nicaragua LBPN Leones de León
The Lenadores de Las Tunas will play in the 2025 Serie De Las Américas Event hosted by the Asociación De Beisbol De Las Américas committee will be in January against the winners of the professional leagues with the 2024-25 Liga Profesional De Béisbol Colombia season, the 2024 Liga Argentina de Béisbol winner Club Daom, the 2025 Curacao Professional Baseball league winner, the 2024-25 Liga de Béisbol Profesional Nacional winner in Nicaragua, and the 2024 Serie Nacional regular season winner in Cuba, and winner of the 2024-25 Probeis Panama season.
Abeicy Pantoja is the Lenadores de Las Tunas manager at the 2025 SDLA tournament.
The only players returning from the 2024 Serie Nacional season with the Leñadores de Las Tunas are Yosvani Alarcon, Ramon Vinales, Yudier Rondon, Roberto Baldoquín, Yordanis Alarcon, Jean Baldoquin, Yunior Otero, Danel Castro, Denis Peña, Yunieski Larduet, Hector Castillo, Eliander Bravo, Alejandro Meneses, Alberto Pablo Civil, Keniel Ferraz, and Rodolfo Díaz.
The players that are reinforcements for the Lenadores de Las Tunas at the 2025 Serie De Las Americas tournament that played with other teams in the 2024 Serie Nacional season are Andy Vargas, Frank Herrera, and Raymond Figueredo, played for the Industriales de La Habana, Danny Betancourt and Yoelkis Guibert played for the Avispas de Santiago de Cuba, Yoennis Yera with the Cocodrilos de Matanzas, Yordan Manduley and Nelson Batista with the Sabuesos de Holguín, Dariel Gongora with the Toros de Camagüey, Guillermo Aviles with the Alazanes de Granma, and Geonel Gutierrez with the Cazadores de Artemisa.
Cuba’s roster for the 2025 SDLA event will consist of players who have played in international tournaments, including the World Baseball Classic, the Premier12 tournament, the Central American and Caribbean Games, the Caribbean Cup, and the Pan American Games.
The SDLA Tournament will be held from January 24 to 30, 2025, and will be held in three venues in Nicaragua.
The SDLA semifinals will take place on January 29, and the championship game will take place on January 30, according to the schedule listed below.
The SDLA event will be held at the Estadio Nacional Soberania in Managua, the Estadio Roberto Clemente in Masaya, and the Estadio Rigoberto Perez in Leon, Nicaragua.
2025 Serie de Las Americas Tournament Schedule
All times Eastern Standard Time
January 24
2 p.m. – Panama vs. Argentina – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
6 p.m. – Colombia vs. Curacao – Estadio Rigoberto Lopez Perez, Leon
8 p.m. – Cuba vs. Nicaragua – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
January 25
2 p.m. – Argentina vs. Colombia – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
6 p.m. – Panama vs. Cuba – Estadio Roberto Clemente, Mayasa
8 p.m. – Nicaragua vs. Curacao – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
January 26
2 p.m. – Colombia vs. Panama – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
6 p.m. – Nicaragua vs. Argentina – Estadio Rigoberto Lopez Perez, Leon
8 p.m. – Cuba vs. Curacao – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
January 27
2 p.m. – Argentina vs. Curacao – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
6 p.m. – Panama vs. Nicaragua – Estadio Roberto Clemente, Mayasa
8 p.m. – Colombia vs. Cuba – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
January 28
2 p.m. – Cuba vs. Argentina – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
6 p.m. – Nicaragua vs. Colombia – Estadio Roberto Clemente, Mayasa
8 p.m. – Curacao vs. Panama – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
January 29
6 p.m. – Semifinal Game A: Second Place vs. Third Place – Estadio Roberto Clemente, Mayasa
6 p.m. – Semifinal Game B: First Place vs. Fourth Place – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
January 30
6 p.m. – Championship Game – Estadio Nacional Soberania, Managua
2025 Leñadores de Las Tunas Serie De Las Américas Official Roster:
LTU – Lenadores de Las Tunas
GRA – Alazanes de Granma
SCU – Avispas de Santiago de Cuba
HOL – Sabuesos de Holguín
MTZ – Cocodrilos de Matanzas
IND – Industriales de La Habana
CMG – Toros de Camaguey
ART – Cazadores de Artemisa
Pitchers:
Eliander Bravo (LTU)
Alberto Pablo Civil (LTU)
Rodolfo Diaz (LTU)
Keniel Ferraz (LTU)
Alejandro Meneses (LTU)
Raymond Figueredo (IND)
Andy Vargas (IND)
Geonel Gutierrez (ART)
Yoennis Yera (MTZ)
Frank Herrera (IND)
Danny Betancourt (SCU)
Catchers:
Yosvani Alarcon (LTU)
Rafel Vinales (LTU)
Nelson Batista (HOL)
Infielders:
Yudier Rondon (LTU)
Roberto Baldoquin (LTU)
Yordanis Alarcon (LTU)
Jean Baldoquin (LTU)
Yunior Otero (LTU)
Yordan Manduley (HOL)
Danel Castro (LTU)
Guillermo Aviles (GRA)
Outfielders:
Yuniesky Larduet (LTU)
Hector Castillo (LTU)
Denis Pena (LTU)
Yoelkis Guibert (SCU)
All Stats of the previous 2024 Serie Nacional regular season are on https://www.beisbolcubano.cu/default and https://www.beisbolencuba.com/.
The 46th operation year of the Serie Provincial was the only league in a few major regions on the island of Cuba for the 2024-25 winter league season that had to assess players to play in competition actively and who were not allowed winter league contracts by other professional organizations due to the FCB regulations of not giving recent Serie Nacional and Elite League players permission to leave the country.
In recent years, Cuba has reasserted itself as a dominant force in international club league events, including a series of exhibitions featuring the best teams from the Caribbean, Latin America, and sometimes even North America. These events showcase Cuba’s top-tier baseball talent, including stars from its domestic leagues and former major league players who have returned home. Cuba’s participation in the Serie De Las Americas has allowed the nation to demonstrate its baseball prowess on a global stage.
