Dominican Professional Baseball League
Sport | Baseball |
---|---|
Founded | 1951 |
President | Vitelio Mejía Ortiz |
No. of teams | 6 |
Country | Dominican Republic |
Confederation | CPBC |
Most recent champion(s) | Tigres del Licey (2023-24) |
Most titles | Tigres del Licey (24 titles) |
TV partner(s) | Dominican Republic Águilas (CDN Deportes) Estrellas, Toros (Coral 39) Licey, Escogido (Digital 15) Gigantes (Channel 4RD) Outside the D.R. MLB.TV[1] |
Related competitions | Caribbean Series |
Official website | lidom.com |
2024–25 Dominican Professional Baseball League season |
The Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League (Spanish: Liga de Béisbol Profesional de la República Dominicana or LIDOM) is a professional baseball winter league consisting of six teams spread across the Dominican Republic; it is the highest level of professional baseball played in the Dominican Republic. The league's players include many prospects that go on to play Major League Baseball in the United States while also signing many current MLB veterans. The champion of LIDOM advances to play in the yearly Caribbean Series.
Each team plays a fifty-game round-robin schedule that begins in mid October and runs to the end of December. The top four teams engage in another round-robin schedule with 18 games per team from the end of December to the end of January; the top two teams in those standings then play a best-of-nine series for the national title. The league's champion advances to the Caribbean Series to play against the representatives from Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Puerto Rico.[2]
History
[edit]For his close involvement in the Dominican league's establishment and early development, Pedro Miguel Caratini has been called "the father of Dominican baseball".[3]
Four amateur clubs established in the early 1900s still exist today, and form the foundation of Dominican professional baseball: Tigres del Licey in 1907, Estrellas Orientales in 1911, Leones del Escogido in 1921, and Sandino (later renamed Águilas Cibaeñas) in 1937.
During the years 1930-1963, military dictator General Rafael Trujillo can be credited with furthering the sport of baseball in Dominican Republic. Trujillo encouraged many sugar refineries to create teams of cane cutting laborers to play baseball during the idle months of cultivation. Fostering high levels of competition, the organization structure continued to mature stimulating growth in the intensity and popularity of the game.[4]
In 1937, teams of the Dominican Republic signed a large number of players from the Negro leagues of the United States. These players were given large salaries by Dominican men with money and political power. Among these players were baseball stars James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell and Satchel Paige. However, these contracts exhausted team finances, leading to a decline of Dominican baseball until 1950.[4]
Current teams
[edit]Team | City | Stadium | Capacity | Founded |
---|---|---|---|---|
Águilas Cibaeñas | Santiago | Estadio Cibao | 18,077 | 1933 |
Estrellas Orientales | San Pedro de Macorís | Estadio Tetelo Vargas | 8,000 | 1910 |
Gigantes del Cibao | San Francisco de Macorís | Estadio Julián Javier | 12,000 | 1996 |
Leones del Escogido | Santo Domingo | Estadio Quisqueya | 14,469 | 1921 |
Tigres del Licey | Santo Domingo | Estadio Quisqueya | 14,469 | 1907 |
Toros del Este | La Romana | Estadio Francisco Micheli | 10,000 | 1983 |
Former teams
[edit]- Azucareros del Este, 1983–2008, a former name of the current Toros del Este
- Caimanes del Sur (San Cristóbal), during 1983–1989
- Delfines del Atlántico (Puerto Plata), this team was never officially in the league and did not play
- Pollos del Cibao / Pollos Nacionales / Pollos Béisbol Club (San Francisco de Macorís) during 1999–2002, previously Gigantes del Nordeste, currently Gigantes del Cibao
Championship history
[edit]Pre-LIDOM era (1922–37)
[edit]Season | Champion | Manager | Runner-up |
---|---|---|---|
1922 | Leones del Escogido | Luis Alfau | Tigres del Licey |
1923 | Season not completed | ||
1924 | Tigres del Licey | Charles Alexander Dore | Leones del Escogido |
1929 | Tigres del Licey | Charles Alexander Dore | Leones del Escogido |
1936 | Estrellas Orientales | Enrique Mejía | Aguilas Cibaeñas |
1937 | Dragones de Ciudad Trujillo | Lázaro Salazar | Aguilas Cibaeñas |
Modern era (1951–present)
[edit]Won Caribbean Series |
Team | Championships |
---|---|
Tigres del Licey | 24 (2)* |
Águilas Cibaeñas | 22 |
Leones del Escogido | 16 (1)* |
Estrellas Orientales | 3 (1)* |
Toros del Este | 3 |
Gigantes del Cibao | 2 |
Dragones de Ciudad Trujillo | 0 (1)* |
Caimanes del Sur | 0 |
*Championships won before LIDOM (1951)
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Two Dominican teams participated in the 2008 Caribbean Series
References
[edit]- ^ "Watch every LIDOM game on MLB.TV". MLB.com.
- ^ HISTORIA DE LA SERIE DEL CARIBE Archived February 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Accessed on 2011-01-12.
- ^ Van Hyning, Thomas E.; Valero, Eduardo (1995). Puerto Rico's Winter League: A History of Major League Baseball's Launching Pad. McFarland. p. 1.
- ^ a b Klein, Alan. "Baseball as Underdevelopment: The Political-Economy of Sport in the Dominican Republic". Northwestern University, 1989