Baseball fan, it’s that time of the year again! Just a couple of weeks and the Dominican Winter League is kicking off in the country!
As we wrote in another article, in the Dominican Republic, baseball (called here “Pelota”) is more than simply a sport. For the young generations baseball symbolizes a dream and hope for a better future–with the possibility of becoming one of the world’s legendary Dominican baseball players. After all, it worked for Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martínez, David Ortiz, Robinson Canó, José Reyes, Juan Marichal and Bartolo Colón, among numerous others.
This year the schedule includes 57 days of activity from October 16 until the regular season ends on December 22, during which time 150 games will be played among the six teams of the Professional Baseball League of the Dominican Republic: Águilas Cibaeñas, Tigres del Licey, Leones del Escogido, Toros del Este, Estrellas Orientales y Gigantes del Cibao.
The winter baseball calendar is usually divided into three stages: regular season, semifinals (round-robin) and finals, which run from October to January.
Regular Season:
During the first phase of the baseball tournament, the six winter baseball teams each play 50 games, and of these, the four with the most games won will advance to the semi-final round.
(When two teams are tied in terms of wins and losses in fifth place, and both are among the teams with the least difference in fourth place, then a match will be held between the teams to break the tie).
Round Robin:
This is the semi-final of the winter baseball tournament, where only four of the six Dominican teams qualify. During this round, in a round-robin format, they have to play 18 games each and the two teams that win the most games advance to the final round.
Final:
In the winter baseball final, the two teams that have qualified in the round robin will face each other. They will have to win 5 of 9 games to win the National Championship. The winning team will be in charge of representing the country in the Caribbean Series, where they will have to face the champions of the leagues of Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Panama in a series of tournaments.
Stadiums where the Dominican Winter Baseball teams play:
– Estadio Quisqueya (Santo Domingo) – Leones del Escogido y Tigres del Licey.
– Estadio Cibao (Santiago) – Águilas Cibaeñas.
– Estadio Julián Javier (San Francisco de Macorís) – Gigantes del Cibao.
– Estadio Tetelo Vargas (San Pedro de Macorís) – Estrellas Orientales.
– Estadio Francisco Micheli (La Romana) – Los Toros del Este.
If you are a baseball fan and staying in Punta Cana from late October till January, you could consider living this experience first hand! We’re gonna arrange a few tours heading to the Francisco Micheli Stadium in La Romana, the closest one from Punta Cana. Here the dates for the Regular Season 2024:
October 18, 23, 29
November 1, 6, 13, 17, 22, 26, 30
December 4, 8, 14, 20, 22
We’re gonna run semi-private tours with maximum 6 people at the price of 80USD* per person including round trip transportation and entry to the stadium with best seats.
BOOK HERE
*For hotels in Uvero Alto area we require 10usd extra per person.
For the full schedule 2024 check this link
