Dominican Professional Baseball League


The Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League or LIDOM by its acronym in Spanish, is a winter professional baseball league consisting of six teams spread across the Dominican Republic; it is the highest level of professional baseball league in the Dominican Republic. The league's players include many prospects that go on to play in 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 at the middle of 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, Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Current teams

TeamCityStadiumCapacity
Águilas CibaeñasSantiagoEstadio Cibao18,077
Estrellas OrientalesSan Pedro de MacorísEstadio Tetelo Vargas8,000
Gigantes del CibaoSan Francisco de MacorísEstadio Julián Javier12,000
Leones del EscogidoSanto DomingoEstadio Quisqueya14,469
Tigres del LiceySanto DomingoEstadio Quisqueya14,469
Toros del EsteLa RomanaEstadio Francisco Micheli10,000

Former teams

For his close involvement in the Dominican league's establishment and early development, Pedro Miguel Caratini has been called "the father of Dominican baseball".
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.
In 1937, teams of the Dominican Republic signed a large number of players from the Negro League 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.

Founding teams

In the early 1900s, four Dominican teams formed. These teams still exist today, and form the foundation of Dominican professional baseball:
Baseball was first brought to the Dominican Republic by Cubans fleeing the Ten Years' War. At first, it struggled to gain popularity, being confined mostly to the Cuban exiles, but its popularity grew as more and more native-born Dominicans took it up. The growing popularity of the sport led to the formation of LIDOM. The formation of the new domestic baseball league allowed Dominican players to flourish away from the racism and pressures of the American game. The sport's domestic popularity and the new league increased the bond that many spectators felt with their teams; even today, many Dominicans feel tightly connected to the sport.

Community-level impact

As a cultural icon of the Dominican Republic, baseball holds a strong presence in the country. Surrounded by impoverished neighborhoods, baseball stadiums in larger Dominican cities are routinely maintained. Owners of big businesses like sugar refineries funded the construction of these fields to benefit from the games. Games in these stadiums attract major crowds and a sense of community can be observed. Like their American counterparts, these "latinized" games exude free-spiritedness, social cohesion, and festivity from the fans and players alike. In the Dominican Republic, baseball players are regaled as sports heroes and function as role models to their fan base. This idolization is covered by the media more so than in the United States.
The Dominican Republic is a developing country, struggling with poverty. In 2016, 30.5 percent of Dominicans lived below the poverty line, while 5.5% of Dominicans were unemployed. With poverty costing many Dominicans a chance to get a higher education, many look up to the great success of those who become successful baseball players, and see baseball as an escape from poverty. Because of this, children begin playing organized baseball as early as six years old, and compete with others in leagues with the hopes of being recognized by baseball scouts.
Some argue that the perception of baseball as economic salvation is in reality detrimental to the youth of the Dominican Republic, as it promotes seeking baseball success at all costs, at the expense of pursuing higher education

American hegemony inside Dominican baseball

After Fidel Castro's revolution in Cuba and the subsequent U.S. blockade, scouts of the majors turned their sights towards the Dominican Republic. Posed with the opportunity to acquire quality talent at a reasonable price, major league teams established "working relationships" with Dominican professional teams. Since the 1950s, all 30 MLB franchises have established baseball training academies in the Dominican Republic which are tasked by their respective teams to condition and prepare young Dominican prospects for a chance at further developing in the United States. Having produced many successful athletes from these academies, these academies undercut the reliance of U.S. teams on Dominican baseball organizations.

Championship history

SeasonChampionManagerRunner-up
1922Leones del EscogidoLuis AlfauTigres del Licey
1923Incomplete season
1924Tigres del LiceyCharles A. DoreLeones del Escogido
1929Tigres del LiceyCharles A. DoreLeones del Escogido
1936Estrellas OrientalesEnrique MejíaTigres del Licey
1937Dragones de Ciudad TrujilloLázaro SalazarAguilas Cibaeñas

Won Caribbean Series

*Two Dominican teams participated in the Serie del Caribe in 2008
TeamChampionships
Tigres del Licey22 *
Águilas Cibaeñas21
Leones del Escogido16 *
Estrellas Orientales4 *
Toros del Este3
Gigantes del Cibao1
Caimanes del Sur0
Dragones de Ciudad Trujillo0 *

*Championships won before LIDOM