# Cuba national baseball team

The Cuba national baseball team (Spanish: Selección de béisbol de Cuba) 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.
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

Win  Lose  Void or postponed  Fixture

### 2023
## International tournament results
### World Baseball Classic

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

### Olympics

| Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Summer Olympics record | Qualification |
| Year | Round | Position | W | L | % | RS | RA | Method |
| 1992 | Gold Match | 1st | 9 | 0 | 1.000 | 95 | 16 | 1991 Pan American Games |
| 1996 | Gold Match | 1st | 9 | 0 | 1.000 | 118 | 59 | 1995 Pan American Games |
| 2000 | Finals | 2nd | 7 | 2 | .778 | 53 | 21 | 1999 Pan American Games |
| 2004 | Gold Match | 1st | 8 | 1 | .889 | 55 | 27 | Americas Qualifying Tournament |
| 2008 | Finals | 2nd | 7 | 2 | .778 | 64 | 28 | Americas Qualifying Tournament |
| 2020 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Americas Qualifying Event |
| 2028 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined |
| Total | 5/6 | | 40 | 5 | .889 | 385 | 151 | |

### Baseball World Cup

* Gold: 1939, 1940, 1942, 1943, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1961, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005
* 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