The 65th National Baseball Series will kick off on October 4, featuring a radically different format from previous editions: fewer games, no extensive interprovincial travel, and the 16 teams divided into four geographic groups. This was confirmed on Saturday by the official program Bola Viva.
The date corrects a previous announcement from Cubadeportes S.A., which had set September 27 as the start of the competition. The technical meeting to formalize the organizational processes will be held on October 1.
The most striking transformation is the division of the teams into two zones and four groups. The Western Zone includes Group A —Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Isla de la Juventud, and Industriales— and Group B —Mayabeque, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Villa Clara—. The Eastern Zone comprises Group C —Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, and Las Tunas— and Group D —Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantánamo—.
Each team will compete in 44 games during the regular season: 24 against rivals from their own group and 20 against teams from the other group in their zone.
The figure contrasts with the 75 or more matches that were held in recent editions and directly reflects the seriousness of the crisis facing Cuba.
At the end of the qualifying phase, the top four teams from each zone will advance to the playoffs, resulting in a total of eight teams qualifying to compete for the title.
The structure by geographical zones is not coincidental: the fuel shortage and the deterioration of transportation make travel between distant provinces unfeasible. Swing Completo points out that the format was designed "in order to not suspend the event," in a context where "shortages and problems are the order of the day."
This logic had already marked Cuban baseball in 2026. In May, the National Commission suspended the Under-12, Under-15, and Under-18 national championships due to the energy crisis. Shortly before, the regime organized the IV Elite League —a reduced tournament with only six teams— as a bridge between the 64th and 65th National Series, amid the same material limitations.
Industriales won that Elite League on July 9, their first title since 2009, and they enter the new season as one of the teams to watch.
The immediate sports landscape adds more shadows to the picture: Team Cuba returned on Friday without a medal from the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo 2026, after losing 1-9 to Puerto Rico in the bronze medal match, which is considered one of the worst historical results of Cuban baseball in that tournament.
The division by geographical zones existed in previous stages of the National Series, but it was eliminated starting with the 2012-2013 season. Its return in the 65th edition is not due to a technical decision, but rather to the inability to maintain the traditional format due to the country's collapse.
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