The Cuban Baseball All-Star Game will be held in Matanzas
The city of Matanzas will host the All-Star Game of the 61st National Baseball Series (SNB) in Cuba, sports authorities announced on Monday, March 7.
The event, which will take place on Saturday, March 19 and Sunday, March 20, will gather at the Victoria de Girón stadium the best-performing ballplayers in the first two months of the Cuban league.
National commissioner Juan Reinaldo Perez based the choice of the province on the results of the Matanzas Crocodiles during the current season, in addition to its stability in recent sporting events and the conditions of its territory.
At a press conference held at the Latin American Stadium in Havana, it was confirmed that the event will include individual events such as the home run derby and the main attraction, which will be the confrontation of the best teams of the western and eastern provinces.
The traditional game between veterans has not yet been confirmed, although its celebration has not been ruled out.
Several baseball specialists and followers showed their dissatisfaction in social networks, since they understand that the provinces of Villa Clara and Mayabeque -along with Sancti Spíritus, were the others considered- had more elements in their favor to obtain the venue of the call.
The team from Villa Clara has won 9 of the last 10 games under the direction of Pedro Jova, and is installed together with the Cocodrilos in second place in the overall standings, with 18-11. The absolute leader, for the moment, is the Huracanes de Mayabeque team.
Commissioner Perez responded to the controversy over the choice of the venue for the All-Star Game, saying that “the analysis showed that Matanzas complies with the established indicators”.
On the other hand, in the SNB new sub-series will begin this Tuesday, such as a promising one between Villa Clara and Ciego de Avila, the two teams that are in the qualifying zone for the post-season.
Cienfuegos-Sancti Spíritus, Isla de la Juventud-Santiago de Cuba, Industriales-Guantánamo, Pinar del Río-Holguín, Artemisa-Granma and Camagüey-Matanzas will also face each other.
The Mayabeque and Las Tunas games will be rescheduled due to the appearance of positive cases of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus among the Hurricanes, who currently lead the campaign with a 19-10 record.
They are followed by Villa Clara, Matanzas, Santiago (18-12), Ciego de Avila (17-13), Sancti Spiritus (15-14), Industriales (15-14) and Las Tunas (15-15) in the eight places that give tickets to the postseason.
