Two Division Series ended on Wednesday night, 7 October 2026, and both were settled by a hitter born in Havana. In the Bronx, Víctor Mesa Jr. broke a 2–2 tie in the sixth inning with a two-run home run, and the Tampa Bay Rays held on to beat the New York Yankees 4–3 and sweep the series 3–0. In Atlanta, Andy Pagés broke a 1–1 tie in the seventh with a two-run single, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Braves 4–1 to take their series 3–1.
Neither hit was a footnote. Each one was the go-ahead blow in a clinching game, and in each case the team never trailed again. What follows is the detail the series wraps leave out: where the two players come from, every Cuban-born line from the four Division Series, and who is left for the League Championship Series.
The two hits
| Game | Hitter | Situation | Result | Pitcher | Score after |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALDS Game 3, Rays at Yankees, Yankee Stadium | Víctor Mesa Jr. (Rays) | Top 6th, two out, tied 2–2, Junior Caminero on base | Two-run home run to right-centre, 107.3 mph off the bat, 401 feet | Max Fried | Rays 4–2 (final 4–3) |
| NLDS Game 4, Dodgers at Braves, Truist Park | Andy Pagés (Dodgers) | Top 7th, two out, tied 1–1 | Two-run single to centre, scoring Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman | Robert Suarez | Dodgers 3–1 (final 4–1) |
Mesa Jr.: the first postseason home run of his career
The home run was Mesa Jr.’s first in the postseason, in his first postseason. He finished the series 2-for-10 with a walk, and both of his runs batted in came on the one swing. MLB.com’s account of the game has him backing slowly out of the batter’s box and staring into the Rays’ dugout as the ball left.
Three weeks before the playoffs he was the American League Player of the Week, an award we covered at the time in Víctor Mesa Jr. Is the AL Player of the Week. He finished the regular season at .260/.327/.498 with 14 home runs in 79 games for Tampa Bay (MLB Stats API).
Pagés: from 0-for-7 to the series-winning hit
Pagés went hitless in the first two games of the series, 0-for-7. He then went 4-for-7 in Atlanta, finishing the series 4-for-14 with a walk and the two runs batted in that won it. The turnaround matters because of what came before it. In the 2025 postseason he went 4-for-51, a .078 average (MLB Stats API), and he missed most of September 2026 with a fractured left hand: the Dodgers placed him on the injured list on 22 August and activated him on 21 September (MLB transaction log; MLB.com).
Speaking in Spanish after the game, Pagés told reporters, “I like being in those at-bats” (MLB.com translation). He was a first-time All-Star in 2026 and finished the regular season at .274/.343/.468 with 23 home runs and 85 runs batted in over 134 games.
Where they come from
Both men were born in Havana, which the MLB Stats API records as their birthplace. That record is the standard this site applies before counting anyone as Cuban-born.
Mesa Jr. was born on 8 September 2001. His father, Víctor Mesa, was one of the defining outfielders of the Serie Nacional and later managed Cuba’s national team, so in Cuba the surname needs no introduction. The Miami Marlins signed him and his older brother, Víctor Víctor Mesa, on the same day in October 2018. Miami traded him to Tampa Bay in February 2026, and the full route is in our Player of the Week piece linked above.
Pagés was born on 8 December 2000 and made his major league debut with the Dodgers on 16 April 2024.
Every Cuban-born line from the Division Series
Seven Cuban-born players appeared in the four Division Series. The lines below are totals across every game, compiled from the MLB Stats API box scores. A player counts as Cuban-born only if the API gives Cuba as his birth country.
| Player | Team | Series result | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Víctor Mesa Jr. | Rays | Beat Yankees 3–0 | 3 G, 2-for-10, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB |
| Yandy Díaz | Rays | Beat Yankees 3–0 | 3 G, 3-for-12, 1 BB, 1 R |
| Andy Pagés | Dodgers | Beat Braves 3–1 | 4 G, 4-for-14, 2 RBI, 1 BB |
| Miguel Vargas | White Sox | Lead Guardians 2–1 (Game 4 on 8 Oct) | 3 G, 3-for-8, 5 BB, 2 R |
| Raisel Iglesias | Braves | Lost to Dodgers 1–3 | 3 G, 2.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 K, 1 SV |
| Víctor Mederos | Braves | Lost to Dodgers 1–3 | 1 G, 0.1 IP, 2 ER, loss in Game 1 |
| Adrián Morejón | Padres | Lost to Brewers 1–3 | 1 G, 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 K, loss in Game 1 |
Who is left for the League Championship Series
The Dodgers open the National League Championship Series in Milwaukee on Sunday, 11 October, a rematch of last year’s NLCS. The Rays open the American League Championship Series at home on Monday, 12 October, against the winner of White Sox–Guardians.
On the active rosters of the five teams still alive, the Cuban-born players are Pagés (Dodgers), Mesa Jr. and Díaz (Rays), and Vargas (White Sox). The Brewers and the Guardians have none. If the White Sox close out Cleveland, three Cuban-born hitters will be in the same American League Championship Series. If the Guardians come back, the ALCS will have two, both in Tampa Bay’s lineup.
The wider 2026 picture is tracked in Cubans in MLB 2026: The Record Year, and every Cuban-born major leaguer is in The Cuban Major Leaguers Database. Díaz’s regular season ended with an American League hits title, covered in Yandy Díaz Wins the AL Hits Title, and Vargas’s power season in Miguel Vargas’s 31st Home Run.
What we did not print
We have not called this the first time two Cuban-born players delivered series-clinching hits on the same day. It may be true, but we have not checked every postseason series since 1903 against two sources, and a site that sells accuracy does not get to print the flattering version. The same goes for any claim about where Mesa Jr.’s home run ranks among Rays postseason home runs.
Spotted an error in this article? Let us know and we'll correct it.
