1977–78 Cuban National Series

The 1977–78 Cuban National Series was a watershed in that it coincided with Cuba's administrative restructuring of 1977, which created fourteen provinces. Pinar del Río's Vegueros won the title, with a slim victory over Havana's Industriales.

Restructuring

Teams were renamed along these lines, many taking the names of their new locations.

Three provinces kept two teams:

• Havana (city): Industriales and Metropolitanos
• Pinar del Río Province: Vegueros and Forestales
• Matanzas Province: Citricultores and Henequeneros

Additionally, the special administrative area of Isla de la Juventud had its own team, despite not being a province.

This league structure survives today in a similar form.

The 1977-78 season was also the first in which aluminum bats were used league-wide replacing the wooden bats, and was also the first in which the designated hitter was used, replacing the pitcher's turn at bat, following an off-season decision by the Baseball Federation of Cuba and by the National Sports Institution, following the lead of the American League of Major League Baseball 4 years before.

Standings

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Vegueros (Pinar del Río)	36	14	.720	-
Industriales	35	16	.686	1½
Camagüey	30	21	.588	6½
Forestales (Pinar del Río)	29	21	.580	7
Metropolitanos	28	21	.571	7½
Villa Clara	28	21	.571	7½
Cienfuegos	29	22	.568	7½
Guantánamo	28	22	.560	8
Ciego de Ávila	26	23	.530	9
Citricultores (Matanzas)	27	24	.529	9½
Granma	25	25	.500	11
Santiago de Cuba	25	25	.500	11
La Habana	21	26	.446	13½
Holguín	22	28	.440	14
Sancti Spíritus	20	30	.400	16
Henequeneros (Matanzas)	16	30	.347	18
Las Tunas	12	37	.244	23½
Isla de Pinos	10	41	.196	26½

References

• "Las 40 primeras Series Nacionales". Granma (in Spanish). Archived from the original on December 27, 2014.
• "Cronología: 1978" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 25, 2005. Retrieved 2006-10-05. (Note - text is printed in a white font on a white background, depending on browser used.)