Havana/Cuban pitcher Liván Moinelo became this Wednesday the foreign player with the most championships won in the history of the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NPB), the most important competition in the world after the United States Major Leagues. His team, the Fukuoka SoftBank Falcons, defeated the Yokohama DeNA Stars 4-2 to complete the Japan Series sweep.
In the decisive duel, the Falcons had to overcome an initial two-run deficit. In the fourth inning, an RBI triple by Yudai Yamamoto tied it and then they took the lead with an RBI single by Yuki Yanagita. The relief kept DeNA at bay and Japanese pitcher Kazuki Sugiyama closed out the game in the ninth inning.
Although Moinelo did not participate in this match, he had an important role in the series. He pitched in the second game, with good numbers: in seven innings he did not allow runs and only had five hits. In addition, he added eight strikeouts to his tally.
With this victory, Fukuoka reached 13 Japanese titles, the last two consecutively. Almost half of the championships have been with Moinelo on the field, which adds six trophies (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2025 and 2026). In this way, the left-hander from Pinar del Río left behind the American Dennis Sarfate, with whom he shared the status of foreigner with the most crowns in the history of Japanese professional baseball.
The left-hander from Pinar del Río left behind the American Dennis Sarfate, with whom he shared the status of foreigner with the most crowns
With the new title, the SoftBank Falcons equaled the Seibu Lions as the second most winning team in the Japan Series, only surpassed by the Yomiuri Giants, who have 22 titles.
Moinelo came to NPB in 2017 and began his career in Japan as a reliever. For several seasons he became one of the most reliable arms in the SoftBank bullpen, before taking on the challenge of becoming a starter starting in 2024, a transition that ended up consolidating him as the leader of the rotation.
This season started later than usual due to physical problems. However, after joining, he once again became a dominant figure from the mound. In the seven starts he made in the regular season he had six wins, one loss and an ERA of 0.76 in 47.1 innings.
In 2025 he was elected most valuable player of the season and best launcher of the Pacific League, after finishing with 12 wins and three losses, and an ERA of 1.46, with 172 strikeouts in 167 innings.
It made him the only Latino to obtain that trophy and he was also the first player from the region to deserve that distinction in the Japanese League.
A year earlier, he won the Gold Glove 2024. This made him the only Latino to obtain that trophy and he was also the first player from the region to earn that distinction in the Japanese League since his compatriot and first baseman Dayán Viciedo, who did so in the Central League, in the 2021 season.
Moinelo is one of the strong assets of the Cuba team and has found in Japan an option to have important income, since he is the highest paid player of the entire league, along with his Mexican teammate Roberto Osuna, with a contract of 26.4 million dollars for four seasons, a significant amount from which the coffers of the Cuban regime will benefit.
According to the Cuban player José Ramón Rodríguez Menéndez, the authorities they keep 25% of the salary of its players with contracts abroad. For this year, in Japan there were six players from the Island (Moinelo, Yomiuri Raidel Martínez, Ariel Martínez, Darío Sarduy, Randy Martínez and Cristian Rodríguez). These contracts report to the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) almost 3 million dollars annual income, since the entity retains a quarter of the salary for what it called “training rights.”
The figure is four times higher than what a player must pay his agent to manage the contract to sign freely in the United States MLB, which ranges from 4 to 5 percent. Despite this, Juan Reinaldo Pérez, president of the FCB, told official journalist Pavel Otero that athletes with contracts managed by the State “receive 100% of their salary.”
