1996–97 Cuban National Series

The 36th Cuban National Series saw Pinar del Río post the league's best regular-season record. In the playoffs, the Vegueros, led by Omar Linares, went undefeated, sweeping both best-of-seven series.

Standings

Group A

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Pinar del Río	50	15	.769	-
Metropolitanos	42	23	.646	8
Matanzas	39	26	.600	11
Isla de la Juventud	31	34	.476	19

Group B

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Industriales	33	32	.520	-
La Habana	30	35	.461	4
Cienfuegos	25	40	.384	9
Sancti Spíritus	16	49	.246	18

Group C

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Villa Clara	37	27	.578	-
Camagüey	33	32	.507	41⁄2
Las Tunas	28	37	.430	91⁄2
Ciego de Ávila	20	45	.307	171⁄2

Group D

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Santiago de Cuba	49	16	.753	-
Holguín	34	31	.523	15
Granma	28	37	.430	21
Guantánamo	23	41	.359	251⁄2

Source:^[1]

Playoffs

Semifinals			Finals

A	Pinar del Río	4

B	Industriales	0
			A	Pinar del Río	4

			C	Villa Clara	0
C	Villa Clara	4

D	Santiago de Cuba	2

References

^ "Las 40 primeras Series Nacionales". Granma (in Spanish). Archived from the original on December 27, 2014.

Cuban National Series
Promotion to Cuban Elite League
Teams (founded)	Artemisa (2011) Camagüey (1977) Ciego de Ávila (1977) Cienfuegos (1977) Granma (1977) Guantánamo (1977) Holguín (1977) Industriales (Havana) (1961) Isla de la Juventud (1977) Las Tunas (1977) Matanzas (1992) Mayabeque (2011) Pinar del Río (1992) Sancti Spíritus (1977) Santiago de Cuba (1977) Villa Clara (1961)
Defunct teams	La Habana Province Metropolitanos (Havana) Agricultores Azucareros Camagüey Centrales Citricultores Forestales Ganaderos Granjeros Habana Henequeneros Las Villas Mineros Occidentales Oriente/Orientales Vegueros
Seasons	1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2022 2023
Awards	Most Valuable Player Rookie of the Year
List of champions (1961–2022)