Tonight sees the start of the 2003-2004 Dominican professional baseball championships, known as the “winter league”. The teams competing for the title are the Aguilas Cibaenas, Leones del Escogido, Tigres del Licey, Gigantes del Cibao, Estrellas Orientales and Azucareros del Este. El Caribe salutes the game, which it describes as “more a passion than a pastime for Dominicans”, especially at times like these, when it “helps ease tension and distress”. Readers are reminded that baseball is also an important source of employment and foreign revenue for the country.