| Cuba national baseball team | |
| Federation: | Baseball Federation of Cuba |
| Confederation: | Pan American Baseball Confederation |
| Manager: | Armando Johnson |
| Wbsc Max: | 1 |
| Wbsc Max Date: | December 2012 |
| Wbsc Min: | 11 |
| Wbsc Min Date: | 2 times; latest in August 2021 |
| Wbc Apps: | 5 |
| Wbc First: | 2006 |
| Wbc 2Nd Times: | 1 |
| Wbc 2Nd Most Recent: | 2006 |
| Olympic Apps: | 5 |
| Olympic First: | 1992 |
| Olympic 1St Times: | 3 |
| Olympic 1St Most Recent: | 2004 |
| Wc Apps: | 35 |
| Wc First: | 1939 |
| Wc 1St Times: | 25 |
| Wc 1St Most Recent: | 2005 |
| Ic Apps: | 13 |
| Ic First: | 1979 |
| Ic 1St Times: | 10 |
| Ic 1St Most Recent: | 2006 |
| Pag Apps: | 16 |
| Pag First: | 1951 |
| Pag 1St Times: | 12 |
| Pag 1St Most Recent: | 2007 |
| Premier12 Apps: | 2 |
| Premier12 Best Result: | 4 (first in 2015) |
| Premier12 1St Best Result: | 2015 |
| Captain: | Alfredo Despaigne |
| H Title: | Home |
| H Pattern Cap: | _cuba_2023wbc |
| H Pattern La: | _cuba_2023wbc_h |
| H Pattern B: | _baseball_cuba_2023wbc_h |
| H Pattern Ra: | _cuba_2023wbc_h |
| H Pants: | FFFFFF |
| H Socks: | EE3225 |
| A Title: | Away |
| A Pattern Cap: | _cuba_2023wbc |
| A Pattern La: | _cuba_2023wbc_a |
| A Pattern B: | _baseball_cuba_2023wbc_a |
| A Pattern Ra: | _cuba_2023wbc_a |
| A Pants: | EE3225 |
| A Socks: | EE3225 |
| T Title: | Alternate |
| T Pattern Cap: | _cuba_2023wbc |
| T Pattern La: | _cuba_2023wbc_t |
| T Pattern B: | _baseball_cuba_2023wbc_t |
| T Pattern Ra: | _cuba_2023wbc_t |
| T Pants: | 282476 |
| T Socks: | 282476 |
The Cuba national baseball team 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[1] and currently ranks 8th in WBSC's world rankings.
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.[2] They have the distinction of being one of two nations to compete in the first five baseball contests at the Summer Olympic Games since it has been an event that started at the Olympic.
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.[3]
The team had a 2–1 record in the first round.[4] [5] 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.[6] [7] [8] 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.[9] [10] [11] Pool A MVP catcher Ryan Lavarnway had two hits for Israel.[9] 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.[12]
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.[13]
| Qualification record | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | ||||||||||
  2006 | Final | 2nd | 5 | 3 | 44 | 43 | No qualifiers held | |||||
 2009 | Quarter Finals | 6th | 4 | 2 | 36 | 24 | No qualifiers held | |||||
 2013 | Quarter finals | 5th | 4 | 2 | 45 | 18 | Automatically qualified | |||||
| 2017 | Quarter Finals | 7th | 2 | 4 | 23 | 40 | Automatically qualified | |||||
| 2023 | Semifinals | 4th | 3 | 3 | 31 | 32 | Automatically qualified | |||||
| Total | Runners-up | 5/5 | 18 | 14 | 179 | 157 | - | - | - | - | ||
| Qualification | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Method | ||||||
 1992 | Gold Match | 1st | 9 | 0 | 95 | 16 | 1991 Pan American Games | ||
| 1996 | Gold Match | 1st | 9 | 0 | 118 | 59 | 1995 Pan American Games | ||
 2000 | Finals | 2nd | 7 | 2 | 53 | 21 | 1999 Pan American Games | ||
| 2004 | Gold Match | 1st | 8 | 1 | 55 | 27 | Americas Qualifying Tournament | ||
| 2008 | Finals | 2nd | 7 | 2 | 64 | 28 | Americas Qualifying Tournament | ||
| 2020 | Did not qualify | Americas Qualifying Event | |||||||
| 2028 | To be determined | To be determined | |||||||
| Total | 5/6 | 40 | 5 | 385 | 151 | ||||