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The Cuban regime gave the green light to the IV Elite League of Cuban Baseball this Saturday, as the island faces the worst energy and economic crisis in decades, with blackouts exceeding 1,500 MW of deficit and a critical fuel shortage.
According to ACN, the tournament began with an opening day featuring four matches, where Artemisa, Matanzas, and Las Tunas emerged victorious. The schedule will run until July 10, with each team playing 40 games during the qualifying phase, followed by semifinals and a best-of-seven final.
The biggest result of the day was that of the Cazadores de Artemisa, who crushed Industriales de La Habana 14-0 at the Estadio Latinoamericano with 21 hits and three home runs, ending the game by the mercy rule.
Brander Guevara pitched six innings without allowing any runs, striking out seven opponents and allowing four hits. The pitcher will soon head off to fulfill a contract in the Mexican League.
The home runs from Artemisa were hit by Dayan García, Raydel Sánchez, and José Antonio Jiménez, the latter with the bases loaded in the eighth inning. Rafael Orlando Perdomo took the loss for the capital team after leaving the game in the second inning and one-third with six runs against.
In Matanzas, the Cocodrilos defeated the Huracanes de Mayabeque 11-10 in the tenth inning at the Victoria de Girón stadium, in a match that marked the first victory of his career as manager for Eduardo Cárdenas.
That match also marked a historical milestone: the veteran Frederich Cepeda became the first batter in Cuban national tournaments to reach 2,600 hits, hitting a double and a single with two RBIs.
In Las Tunas, the Leñadores defeated the Holguín Cachorros 11-4 with 12 hits. Yosmel Garcés pitched five innings, allowing only one earned run to earn the win.
The tournament begins in a context of unprecedented energy collapse. The blackouts in Cuba exceed 1,500 MW with outages of up to 48 hours in several provinces, and the only significant fuel shipment —the Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin with 730,000 barrels, which arrived in Matanzas on March 31— ran out by the end of April.
This Sunday, Díaz-Canel warned that Russian fuel is running out in days and there are no new confirmed shipments, just a day after the regime inaugurated the tournament with apparent normality.
The Elite League was announced amidst the crisis with the promise of bringing together the six best teams from the 64th National Series: Cocodrilos de Matanzas, Leones de Industriales, Cazadores de Artemisa, Huracanes de Mayabeque, Leñadores de Las Tunas, and Cachorros de Holguín.
Days before the start, the doping scandal involving Alexei Ramírez also erupted, as he tested positive for four anabolic steroids during the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The player had been announced as a reinforcement for Artemisa but declined the invitation due to "personal issues" before the infringement was confirmed.
The National Series 2025-2026 had already faced cancellations due to a lack of transportation and fuel shortages, and the elite tournament is being held while millions of Cubans are facing lines of over 15 hours to obtain gasoline.
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