The addition of reinforcements significantly strengthened the team's offense, whose starting rotation had already been the best in the previous National Series, but their second lineup has been weak, and they have yet to secure their first victory in the competition.

They were ahead for almost the entire four games against the Matanzas Crocodiles, but the relievers were unable to maintain the lead, with some defensive errors along the way, which dashed the hopes of victory for the team with the best batting record at the start of the tournament.

The additions of Frederich Cepeda, Yordanis Samón, and Jeyson Martínez have propelled this team to an astronomical collective batting average of .384, but in their first four games, their pitchers have combined for a .372 average, allowing 36 runs and a staggering 8.82 ERA, making it impossible for them to contend for a win.

Incidentally, Eduardo Cárdenas, in his debut, showed he has absorbed the wisdom of Armando Ferrer, and so far, the Matanzas team isn't suffering from the absence of their regular manager and remains undefeated.

In contrast, I thought Industriales de la Habana would be out of sorts, but they managed to take a couple of wins from Cazadores de Artemisa, the other team that made excellent choices with its new additions.

Without meaning to offend anyone in the capital, they are the only team that looks weaker than the one they fielded in the last domestic competition, even with the additions of reinforcements. The knockout loss they suffered in the first game made me fear the worst, but fortunately they put up a fight in the remaining three games, and hopefully they can maintain that momentum, because nobody wants to see the standings split so early on.

The matches between Las Tunas Lumberjacks and the Holguín Cubs were also close, but the team from the eastern part of Cuba proved once again that they excel at home tournaments, confirming their status as favorites by winning the series 3-1.

This was just the first taste of the season, but a lot can still happen between now and July 10th, especially with player transfers. In fact, Artemisa will no longer have their star player, Brander Guevara, who was completely shut down in that first game and is leaving to fulfill a contractual commitment abroad.

His opponent in that game, Rafael Perdomo, is also about to head for the airport and will be another significant loss for the capital city team, who had to use Fher Cejas as their starting pitcher for the first time in his career.

It's still too early to draw conclusions, and it won't be possible to get a clearer picture of who the semifinalists will be until the rosters stabilize, around the middle of the season.