Two subseries into the 65th Serie Nacional, the west has one runaway and the east has a crowd. Pinar del Río lost their opener in ten innings at Industriales and have not lost since: seven straight wins, a 7–1 record and a four-game sweep of Isla de la Juventud that ended on Monday 12 October. In the Oriental zone, Santiago de Cuba (6–2) sit alone on top, one game clear of three teams at 5–3.
This is the first of our fortnightly SN65 Zone Roundups: both zones’ standings, how each group got there, a player of the fortnight and what to watch next. Every team has now played eight of its 44 qualifying games, all of them inside its own four-team group. The groups and the playoff path are in our SN65 format guide, and every subseries to 29 November is in the full SN65 schedule.
Standings after the second subseries
Occidental zone (Groups A and B)
| Team | Group | W | L | Pct | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinar del Río | A | 7 | 1 | .875 | — |
| Matanzas | B | 6 | 2 | .750 | 1 |
| Cienfuegos | B | 5 | 3 | .625 | 2 |
| Industriales | A | 4 | 4 | .500 | 3 |
| Artemisa | A | 4 | 4 | .500 | 3 |
| Mayabeque | B | 3 | 5 | .375 | 4 |
| Villa Clara | B | 2 | 6 | .250 | 5 |
| Isla de la Juventud | A | 1 | 7 | .125 | 6 |
Oriental zone (Groups C and D)
| Team | Group | W | L | Pct | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santiago de Cuba | D | 6 | 2 | .750 | — |
| Sancti Spíritus | C | 5 | 3 | .625 | 1 |
| Ciego de Ávila | C | 5 | 3 | .625 | 1 |
| Granma | D | 5 | 3 | .625 | 1 |
| Las Tunas | C | 4 | 4 | .500 | 2 |
| Holguín | D | 4 | 4 | .500 | 2 |
| Camagüey | C | 2 | 6 | .250 | 4 |
| Guantánamo | D | 1 | 7 | .125 | 5 |
Monday’s games closed the second subseries. There are no games on Tuesday 13 October, and the third subseries starts on Wednesday.
| Visitor | Score | Home team |
|---|---|---|
| Isla de la Juventud | 3–6 | Pinar del Río |
| Artemisa | 0–7 | Industriales |
| Mayabeque | 3–6 | Matanzas |
| Villa Clara | 2–4 | Cienfuegos |
| Camagüey | 2–3 | Ciego de Ávila |
| Sancti Spíritus | 5–6 | Las Tunas |
| Santiago de Cuba | 15–11 | Holguín |
| Guantánamo | 2–6 | Granma |
Zona Occidental
Group A belongs to Pinar del Río so far. The Vegueros, back under Alfonso Urquiola, won three straight in Havana after the opening-night loss, then swept Isla de la Juventud at the Estadio Capitán San Luis. Monday’s 6–3 win came from behind after an early Hanly Verdecia home run for the visitors, and Pinar answered with home runs by Juan Manuel Pérez, Lester Benítez and Luis Pablo Acosta. Pérez is the second baseman who hit five doubles in one game at the Estadio Latinoamericano on 7 October, a new Cuban record. Industriales (4–4) recovered from losing their first subseries to Pinar by taking three of four from Artemisa (4–4), and closed it with a 7–0 shutout at home on Monday. Isla de la Juventud are 1–7.
Group B is Matanzas and Cienfuegos. The defending champions opened with two shutouts of Cienfuegos at the Estadio Victoria de Girón, 18 scoreless innings in all, and have won both of their subseries three games to one, against Cienfuegos and then Mayabeque. Naykel Cruz already has four saves, the most in the league. Cienfuegos (5–3) answered the slow start by sweeping Villa Clara at the Estadio 5 de Septiembre, finishing with a 4–2 win on Monday. Villa Clara (2–6) have lost four straight. Mayabeque (3–5) have the league’s leading hitter: Dennis Laza is batting .640, with 16 hits, according to beisbolencuba’s statistics.
Zona Oriental
Santiago de Cuba hit their way to the top. The Avispas swept Guantánamo at the Estadio Guillermón Moncada in the opening subseries with 15 home runs in four games, a total that beisbolencuba, JIT and Swing Completo all print. They also hit four grand slams in those four games: Yoelkis Guibert on opening day (11–1), Guibert again and Yordis Perera in the 12–10 comeback on 6 October, and Edilse Silva in the 14–4 finale on 7 October (Prensa Latina and Swing Completo; beisbolencuba also reports Silva’s). Holguín ended the league’s last unbeaten run with a 9–4 win at the Estadio Calixto García on 9 October and won the next game too, but Santiago took the last two, the second of them 15–11 on Monday, to split the series and take first place in the zone alone.
Group C is a three-way knot. Sancti Spíritus won their first three games, lost the fourth to Camagüey, and then split at Las Tunas, where the Leñadores won the last two, 4–1 and 6–5. Ciego de Ávila are level with them at 5–3 after taking three of four from Camagüey, the last a 3–2 walk-off win on Monday. Ciego’s Yoan Carlos Díaz has pitched 16 innings without allowing an earned run, the most innings in the league. Las Tunas, last season’s runners-up, are back at .500 after splitting their opening home series with Ciego and then with Sancti Spíritus. Camagüey are 2–6.
Group D: Granma (5–3) are level for second in the zone after taking three of four from Guantánamo at the Estadio Mártires de Barbados, including the season’s first super-knockout, 17–1, on 10 October. Holguín are 4–4 after two splits. Guantánamo, swept in Santiago and beaten three times in Bayamo, are 1–7.
Player of the fortnight: Yoelkis Guibert, Santiago de Cuba
Santiago’s power has a name at the top of most of the league’s leader tables. After eight games, beisbolencuba’s statistics have Yoelkis Guibert (also written Yoelquis) first in runs scored with 15, tied for first in runs batted in with 17 (alongside Isla de la Juventud’s Frank David González) and first in slugging percentage at 1.120. His five home runs are one behind González’s league-leading six, and two of them came with the bases loaded in the opening subseries.
Guibert is a left-handed-hitting outfielder from Palma Soriano, in Santiago de Cuba province, born on 29 August 1994. Every Serie Nacional season in our player record is with Santiago: five seasons between 2014–15 and 2022, in which he hit .332 with 26 home runs. He is also one of the Serie Nacional regulars who have crossed into Mexican winter ball. The MLB Stats API transaction log has him assigned to the Tomateros de Culiacán in December 2020 and to the Algodoneros de Guasave in October 2023, both of the Mexican Pacific League, and worldbaseball.com reported the Guasave signing in August 2023, after his spell with Culiacán. He was on Cuba’s roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Our reading: eight games in, the bottom is already in trouble
This is our analysis, not a federation figure. Only the top four of each zone’s eight teams reach the playoffs, and 36 games remain. Pinar del Río’s seven-game run is a cushion, not a certainty. The harder arithmetic is at the other end. Isla de la Juventud (1–7) are already three games behind fourth place in the west and Villa Clara (2–6) two, while in the east Guantánamo (1–7) are four behind and Camagüey (2–6) three. Each has 16 group games left, including return subseries against both teams already played, and then 20 zone-stage games against the other group in its zone.
What to watch next
Third subseries, Wednesday 14 to Saturday 17 October: Pinar del Río at Artemisa, Industriales at Isla de la Juventud, Cienfuegos at Mayabeque, Matanzas at Villa Clara, Ciego de Ávila at Sancti Spíritus, Las Tunas at Camagüey, Granma at Santiago de Cuba and Holguín at Guantánamo. The two to follow are Granma at Santiago, the top two in Group D, and Ciego de Ávila at Sancti Spíritus, two of the three teams tied at 5–3 in the east. beisbolencuba lists 2:00 PM starts for Wednesday’s games.
Fourth subseries, 19 to 22 October: the Pinar del Río–Industriales derby returns, this time in Pinar, and Matanzas go to Cienfuegos. Santiago de Cuba visit Guantánamo and Holguín visit Granma. Our next roundup follows that subseries. Rosters for all 16 teams are on our SN65 rosters tracker, and the full calendar is in the SN65 schedule.
Every subseries so far
| Dates | Subseries (visitor at home team) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 4–7 October | Isla de la Juventud at Artemisa | Artemisa 3–1 |
| 4–7 October | Pinar del Río at Industriales | Pinar del Río 3–1 |
| 4–7 October | Villa Clara at Mayabeque | Split 2–2 |
| 4–7 October | Cienfuegos at Matanzas | Matanzas 3–1 |
| 4–7 October | Camagüey at Sancti Spíritus | Sancti Spíritus 3–1 |
| 4–7 October | Ciego de Ávila at Las Tunas | Split 2–2 |
| 4–7 October | Granma at Holguín | Split 2–2 |
| 4–7 October | Guantánamo at Santiago de Cuba | Santiago de Cuba 4–0 |
| 9–12 October | Isla de la Juventud at Pinar del Río | Pinar del Río 4–0 |
| 9–12 October | Artemisa at Industriales | Industriales 3–1 |
| 9–12 October | Mayabeque at Matanzas | Matanzas 3–1 |
| 9–12 October | Villa Clara at Cienfuegos | Cienfuegos 4–0 |
| 9–12 October | Camagüey at Ciego de Ávila | Ciego de Ávila 3–1 |
| 9–12 October | Sancti Spíritus at Las Tunas | Split 2–2 |
| 9–12 October | Santiago de Cuba at Holguín | Split 2–2 |
| 9–12 October | Guantánamo at Granma | Granma 3–1 |
Sources
Standings, the head-to-head table and individual statistics: beisbolencuba, read on 13 October 2026. Standings and Monday’s scores cross-checked against Swing Completo’s two reports of 12 October (Gil Gian Franco, Michel Contreras), which say their figures were checked against the Cuban baseball web portal. Game details: beisbolencuba (4–12 October), JIT (4–12 October), Prensa Latina (5–12 October) and Swing Completo (5–12 October). Calendar and home teams: the official calendar, as set out in our SN65 schedule. Guibert: the MLB Stats API person record and transaction log (698795), worldbaseball.com (12 August 2023) and Cuba Dugout’s player record. Individual statistics are beisbolencuba’s and have not been checked against a second statistical source, so they are attributed in the text.
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