Baseball is Cuba’s national sport, and it is organised differently from anywhere else in the world. There are no privately owned clubs, no free agency and no draft. Players represent the province they were born in, are paid by the state, and the best of them reach the Major Leagues only by leaving the country or by being loaned abroad by the federation that employs them. This page explains how the system works, who runs it, and how a Cuban player gets from a provincial academy to a professional contract.
The two leagues
Cuba runs two domestic competitions, and they are sequential rather than rival. The Serie Nacional is the main championship. The Liga Élite is a shorter, higher-quality tournament played afterwards using the best of the same players.
| Serie Nacional | Liga Élite | |
|---|---|---|
| Started | 1961 | 2022 |
| Teams | 16, one per province plus Isla de la Juventud | 6, drawn from the top Serie Nacional finishers |
| Most recent edition | 64th, 2025–26 | 4th, May–July 2026 |
| Reigning champion | Matanzas | — |
| Next edition | 65th, from 4 October 2026 | Expected 2027 |
The Serie Nacional reached its 64th edition in 2025–26, won by Matanzas, who swept Las Tunas in the final. The calendar has moved around: the 61st, 62nd and 63rd series were each played inside a single calendar year — 2022, 2023 and 2024 — before the competition returned to a winter season.
The 65th series begins on 4 October 2026 in a new format: two zones of eight, each split into two groups of four, and 44 games per team rather than 75. Cuban officials have been explicit that this is a fuel and energy measure — the group structure cuts long-distance travel during a period of sustained blackouts.
The Liga Élite was created in 2022 to concentrate the best remaining talent in one tournament and slow the drain of players abroad. Its fourth edition ran from 2 May to 10 July 2026.
Who runs Cuban baseball
The Federación Cubana de Béisbol (FCB) governs the sport, under INDER, the state sports institute. INDER funds the whole pyramid, from the provincial EIDE sports schools upward. The FCB has at times described itself as a non-governmental organisation in order to negotiate directly with Major League Baseball; Cuban exile media dispute that characterisation on the grounds that INDER is a cabinet-level state body. It is a contested description rather than a settled fact, and it matters, because the answer determines whether MLB is permitted to deal with the federation at all under the US embargo.
How Cuban players reach professional baseball abroad
There are three routes, and only one of them is legal in Cuban eyes.
Defection
The historical route. A player leaves Cuba, often during an international tournament, establishes residency in a third country and signs as a free agent. The largest single incident on record came at the 2021 U-23 Baseball World Cup in Mexico, when nine of Cuba’s 24 players left the delegation after the bronze-medal game.
Federation loan contracts
Since the mid-2010s the FCB has placed players with clubs in Japan’s NPB and in Mexico under dual contracts: the player is contracted to both the federation and the foreign club, and the club pays a fee to the FCB. Liván Moinelo and Raidel Martínez both reached Japan this way. How much the federation keeps is disputed. A Cuban state-aligned account puts it at 10–20% of the contract value, paid separately by the hiring club rather than deducted from the player, and reports total federation revenue from this at over US$2.3 million in 2025. An independent Cuban outlet puts the combined FCB and Cubadeportes cut at around 25%, and quotes a player saying it came out of his own pay. Both figures are in circulation and neither has been independently audited.
The MLB agreement that lasted four months
In December 2018 MLB, the players’ union and the FCB signed a posting agreement: players aged 25 or over with six years’ experience would be released to sign with MLB clubs, the signing club would pay the federation a release fee, and players could travel home in the off-season. It was designed to end the smuggling networks that had moved Cuban players for two decades. The US administration cancelled it in April 2019, on the grounds that the FCB is part of the Cuban government. It has not been reinstated.
Cuba’s new Sports Law, in force since 13 May 2026, hardened the position from the other side. INDER has confirmed the law carries no amnesty: athletes who leave an official delegation remain expelled from the Cuban sports system, may never again represent Cuba, and are barred from entering the country for eight years.
Despite all of that, there were a record 26 Cuban-born players on MLB Opening Day rosters in 2026, beating the previous high of 23, and seven Cubans were selected for that year’s All-Star Game.
Cuba on the world stage
Cuba won 25 amateur World Cup titles between 1939 and 2005 and three Olympic gold medals, and was ranked number one in the world as recently as December 2012. It stood 10th in the WBSC world rankings as of 31 December 2025 — a figure that predates the 2026 World Baseball Classic, where Cuba was eliminated in pool play for the first time in its history. The full competition record is on the Team Cuba page.
Where to follow Cuban baseball
- 65th Serie Nacional: format, groups and key dates
- 64th Serie Nacional: the full 192-game schedule
- Cuban National Series history: every champion since 1961
- All 16 Serie Nacional teams
- Liga Élite 2025
- The cradle of Cuban baseball
- Cuban baseball compared with MLB
Frequently asked questions
What is the Cuban baseball league called?
Cuba’s main league is the Serie Nacional de Béisbol, or Cuban National Series, played since 1961 by 16 provincial teams. A second, shorter competition called the Liga Élite has been played since 2022 using the top six Serie Nacional finishers.
Who won the last Cuban National Series?
Matanzas won the 64th Serie Nacional in 2025–26, sweeping Las Tunas 4–0 in the final. It was their second title.
Can Cuban players sign with MLB teams?
Not directly. A posting agreement between MLB and the Cuban federation was signed in December 2018 and cancelled by the US administration in April 2019. Cuban players who want to sign in MLB must leave Cuba and establish residency elsewhere, which under Cuba’s 2026 Sports Law means expulsion from the national sports system and an eight-year ban on entering the country.
How many Cubans play in Major League Baseball?
There were 26 Cuban-born players on Opening Day rosters in 2026, a record, and 29 appeared in at least one game during that season.
Why is Cuba no longer dominant in international baseball?
Cuba won 25 amateur World Cups between 1939 and 2005 and was ranked first in the world in 2012. Since then a sustained exodus of players, the loss of the legal MLB route in 2019 and severe economic conditions have eroded the talent pool. Cuba failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics and was eliminated in the first round of the 2026 World Baseball Classic.