Cuba national baseball team

Template:Short description Template:Infobox National baseball team The Cuba national baseball team (Template:Langx) represents Cuba at regional and international levels. The team is generally made up of players from the domestic Cuban national baseball system, though it has at times included professional players who defected to the United States. Cuba has been described as a baseball powerhouse and currently ranks 8th in World Baseball Softball Confederation's world rankings.

For much of the 20th century, Cuba dominated tournaments such as the Baseball World Cup (originally, the Amateur World Series), where it won 26 titles (22 more than the next closest nation) between 1939 and 2005. Its success stemmed, in part, from the amateur status of its domestic league, as professional players from other leagues were largely excluded from international competition. During this period, it enjoyed similar dominance at the Pan American Games and the Central American and Caribbean Games.

Cuba has been the most successful national team at the Olympics, medaling in five of the six Olympics in which baseball was played, with three gold medals and two silver medals. It has the distinction of being one of two nations to compete in the first five baseball contests at the Summer Olympic Games.

History

World Baseball Classic era

Cuba competed in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC) tournament, despite the controversy of Cuban involvement and the United States embargo against Cuba. In the final, Cuba lost the gold medal to Japan, 10–6.

Cuba was originally slated to host the 2009 Baseball World Cup, however, they willingly gave up the honor to Europe.

File:Cuba Baseball.jpg

Cuban team lining up prior to the gold medal game in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup against the Netherlands

The 2009 WBC was the second time Cuba competed at the 2009 WBC Pool B stage, at Foro Sol in Mexico City. Cuba continued to advance to the second round with wins over South Africa and Australia. Cuba lost to Japan twice in the 2nd round, and were eliminated.

They last were eliminated before the start of the final stage of any international tournament in 1951.

At the 2013 WBC, Cuba competed in Pool A at the Fukuoka Dome in Fukuoka, Japan. Cuba advanced in the tournament against: China, Japan, and newcomers Brazil. Cuba moved on to the second round in Pool 1 to defeat the Netherlands, losing 6–2. Cuba defeated Chinese Taipei, 14–0. They played a face off game with previous competitors, the Netherlands, and lost 7–6. Just as in 2009, Cuba was eliminated in the path to competing in the finals.

At the 2017 World Baseball Classic, Cuban hitters Frederich Cepeda and Alfredo Despaigne had the distinction in WBC history to be the only players that each hit six home runs in their careers in the WBC.

The team had a 2–1 record in the first round. It was led by slugger Despaigne, who took over as the all-time WBC home-run leader.

Cuba advanced into the second round, where it lost its first game to undefeated Pool A winner Team Israel. Former Major League starting pitcher Jason Marquis (in 5.2 innings) and three Team Israel relief pitchers (including Brad Goldberg and Josh Zeid, who both threw 96 mph fastballs) kept Cuba to five hits and one run, a homer by Despaigne, who became the all-time World Baseball Classic home run leader. Pool A MVP catcher Ryan Lavarnway had two hits for Israel. Cuba went on to lose all 3 games they played and failed to advance to the championship round.

The team tried but failed to qualify for the 2020 Olympics at the eight-team Americas Qualifying Event on May 31 through June 5, 2021. On June 1, 2021, Cuba was eliminated from the qualifiers, marking their first failure to qualify for the Olympic Games.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of professional baseball match results currently active in the latest version of the WBSC World Rankings, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Legend

International tournament results

World Baseball Classic

World Baseball Classic record								Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	W	L	RS	RA		W	L	RS	RA
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon 2006	Runners-up	2nd	5	3	44	43		No qualifiers held
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon 2009	Quarterfinals	6th	4	2	36	24		No qualifiers held
Template:Flagicon 2013	Quarterfinals	5th	4	2	45	18		Automatically qualified
Template:Flagicon 2017	Quarterfinals	7th	2	4	23	40
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon 2023	Semifinals	4th	3	3	31	32		Automatically qualified
Template:Flagicon 2026	To be determined							Automatically qualified
Total	Runners-up	6/6	18	14	179	157		—	—	—	—

Olympics

Summer Olympics record									Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	W	L	%	RS	RA		Method
Template:Flagicon 1992	Gold medal	File:Gold medal olympic.svg 1st	9	0	Template:Winpct	95	16		File:Gold medal america.svg 1991 Pan American Games
Template:Flagicon 1996	Gold medal	File:Gold medal olympic.svg 1st	9	0	Template:Winpct	118	59		File:Gold medal america.svg 1995 Pan American Games
Template:Flagicon 2000	Silver medal	File:Silver medal olympic.svg 2nd	7	2	Template:Winpct	53	21		File:Gold medal america.svg 1999 Pan American Games
Template:Flagicon 2004	Gold medal	File:Gold medal olympic.svg 1st	8	1	Template:Winpct	55	27		Americas Qualifying Tournament
Template:Flagicon 2008	Silver medal	File:Silver medal olympic.svg 2nd	7	2	Template:Winpct	64	28		Americas Qualifying Tournament
Template:Flagicon 2020	Did not qualify								Americas Qualifying Event
Template:Flagicon 2028	To be determined								To be determined
Total	3 Titles	5/6	40	5	Template:Winpct	385	151

Baseball World Cup

• Gold: Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year, Template:Baseball year
• Silver: 1941, 2007, 2009, 2011
• Bronze: 1944, 1951

Intercontinental Cup

• Gold: 1979, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2006
• Silver: 1981, 1997, 1999

Pan American Games

• Gold: 1951, 1963, 1971, 1975, 1979, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007
• Silver: 1967
• Bronze: 2011, 2015

Central American & Caribbean Games

• Gold: 1926, 1930, 1935, 1938, 1950, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1993, 1998, 2006, 2014
• Silver: 1982, 2018
• Bronze: 1946

Minor tournaments

• Latin American Series
  • Champions: 1952

See also

• 1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series
• Cuban National Series