As the Tampa Bay Rays visit Havana, Cuba, to play the Cuban national team in an exhibition game on Tuesday, March 22, at 1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and WatchESPN, we compared the two teams with the help of ESPN Stats & Information.
Starter Chris Archer and Evan Longoria have played against the Cuban national team in international competition. Archer pitched for Team USA in a qualifier for the Pan American Games in 2010, allowing two hits and striking out 10 while tossing six shutout innings in Team USA's victory over a Cuban squad that included Jose Abreu and Yoenis Cespedes. Longoria scored two runs in USA's 6-3 win over the Cuban national team in 2007.
The median monthly salary for a player in Cuba's Serie Nacional (National Series), the highest level of baseball (or beisbol) on the island, is $125 (in U.S. dollars). By comparison, the top-earning Rays player, Longoria, will earn $11.5 million in 2016, while the lowest-earning, Matt Andriese will earn $507,500.
The Cuban sandwich was allegedly born in Tampa, and the city recently proclaimed it Tampa's official sandwich. One of the best places to get one is at Tropicana Field.
A total of 193 Cuban-born players have appeared in the major leagues since 1914, including 32 who have debuted since 2010. The most players from Cuba to appear during a single MLB season was 30, in 1967.
Twenty-seven Cuban players appeared in at least one major league game in 2015, the most in any season since 1970, when there were 28.
The only Cuban-born player on the Rays' roster is outfielder Dayron Varona, a 28-year-old from Havana who left Cuba on a boat to Haiti in 2013 and signed a minor league contract with Tampa Bay last May. He hit .377 in 15 games for Class-A Charlotte and .264 with 10 homers and 50 RBIs for Double-A Montgomery.