Marlenis Tardío can now rest assured. Her three sons are now Cuban champions and the Alarcón seal has further enhanced their symbolic value in Cuban baseball.

I ask Marlenis to borrow her son for a moment when everything has passed and in the dressing rooms of the Latinoamericano Stadium, the players begin to enjoy themselves, now more quietly, in the company of their families. That sort of unconditional rearguard, the other Team Leñadores, made up of proud mothers and fathers, wives, boys, and girls, some of them still babies, also deserve a trophy made to measure for their efforts.

"It's only two or three minutes," I tell them a little cheekily because my real intention is to take a wide look with the privileged eyes of the Lumberjacks' starting catcher and fourth bat, to have that other perspective of the second title in the history of baseball in Las Tunas.

"You know I'm not much of an interviewer, but I can't say no to you". Yosvani swings fast, as usual, and right from that first pitch he hits the ball down the middle. Such deference from one of the most noble and gentlemanly ballplayers I have ever known makes the moment even more emotional and immediately becomes the best epilogue to 18 years of professional work, always very close to the team that now proudly wears its two Cuban crowns.

Then, in a way that seems coherent with the moment, Yosvani chooses to start the dialogue by talking about his family.

"What I'm feeling is very big. In the first championship, my brother Yosbel was there and Yordanis was not; now in the second one Yordanis is there and Yosbel is no longer there... but in any case, I think this is a big thing for my mother, for the whole family, because now the three of us are champions."

The multiple member of the national team, a player loaded with merits that could put anyone off, has nevertheless not lost an ounce of humility.

"I want to thank all the coaches who are in Las Tunas, who are not part of the team, but part of this great family that we are. Campbell, Santana, Martín, the director of the stadium, Damián, who has done an incredible job so that today we can say that it is one of the best in Cuba, not as a facility, but as a ground, which is really what we athletes need."

"I would also like to thank the team management for giving me the confidence to lead the pitching. During the series I had little preparation and I didn't go to catcher, I was more at first base and designated hitter, but I knew that in these play-offs I was going to have all the responsibility as a catcher because that's what I know how to do best and where I can help the team the most," reveals Alarcón.

"In particular, my gratitude goes to the pitching coaches Rodolfo (Correa) and Félix Núñez, to Abeysi and (Ángel) Sosa, to the management in general for giving me that confidence and for never doubting me in any game situation."

The revelation explains the orchestra conductor's attitude that not a few of us have observed in the experienced catcher. That enjoyment at every strikeout, taking charge of every hit, as if the pitch had come from his own hands, or the inevitable dialogue with the pitcher on the way to the bench after the end of an inning. Yosvani to go running to the mound and give quick advice, Yosvani ready to guide with wisdom a group of pitchers who managed to clear all the doubts with which he started the season.

"The truth is that more than proud, I feel fortunate to have had this great responsibility, which at the same time has been an opportunity, and that it has had an effect with the result of becoming champions. They are boys with little experience, but with immense heart and tremendous courage (for not using a swear word) to, whoever the batter was, pitch without fear, with incredible confidence."

"I'm telling you, that's the result. I think it's been a long time since Las Tunas did a great job in the infield that these guys did. There was a bit of fear in the team management, and even the pitchers themselves were a bit insecure when it came to working inside, but they gave me all the confidence and it turned out marvelous, it was incredible."

At 38 years of age and after 18 National Series, the boy from San Antonio, in the municipality of Jobabo, speaks with the propriety that only many years of leadership within the microcosm that is a baseball team can bestow.

"This result is something that we are going to enjoy now for many days because they were very stressful games, very difficult. In that early final with Matanzas was when we said 'We are the Lumberjacks and we are going to go all the way to the top'. It reaffirmed our conviction that we are a big team."

And, to crown this immense team, luck would have it that the most historic venue in the history of Cuban baseball, the home of the multi-champion Industriales, a true temple of the greatest passion of the Cuban people, was the place to be.

"Undoubtedly, for any player, playing at the 'Latino' is always great. Even if you're used to playing at the 'Latino', you'll always want to come back, to see it full, it's a feeling that you have to live to understand. But being a champion is a great thing in any stadium; even more so if it's in your stadium. We played at the 'Latino', but wherever it is, it's something you're going to enjoy to the maximum."

After several years as captain, Yosvani can be aware of everything that surrounds the group. He comes from being one of the pillars in this great work that has marked the transition of Tunero baseball from the basement to the top, and that is why he can recognize who manages to bring something similar to the collective.

"I couldn't fail to mention Súliban Baldoquín. He turned the team around when he arrived. We are all grateful for how he changed us, and for the contribution he made, both materially and spiritually. And, of course, not to forget that Viera and Larduet are champions with us. They also deserve to enjoy this title."

The countdown has been long and in the spacious clubhouse of the "Coloso del Cerro," fewer voices are heard. The team is about to leave and start the trip back to the Balcón de Oriente in the next few hours, where we already know that the reception has turned out to be extraordinary.

Yosvani Alarcón Tardío, voice, and face of the most successful baseball generation in Las Tunas, is still able to apologize with simplicity for having spoken so much, as if those extra minutes were not gold for the pages of this newspaper. The already two-time Cuban champion closes with essential reminders, vindicates the greatness of this team to those who chose not to believe, and reaffirms his status as a lucky man as if it were not the rest of us who should thank him for giving us so much.

"Imagine what this has been like, since we started with so many departures, without the great director we had (Pablo Alberto Civil) and with Abeysi in his first year, which is always difficult. With losses like Viñales, Yudiel Rodríguez, the great Yoelkis Cruz, Yosbel Alarcón, Dailier Peña who didn't start either, Jorge Yhonson, Andrés Quiala; we are talking about the 'main course' of the Lumberjacks."

"And on top of that, seeing that almost nobody trusts you. The national press didn't give us even among the eight qualified and you saying: of course we can, if we still have the great Dánel Castro, Yordanis Alarcón, Denis Peña, Meneses... we have several 'horses', we know we can."

"That's why, knowing that you fought against all those odds, knowing that against all those bad vibes you prevailed and at the end you were champion, makes this a double championship. And, as I said, the word is 'lucky': to have a whole team as a family, to be a Lumberjack, and to have such great fans who have never left us alone."