Baseball fans in the Dominican Republic are in for a treat over the next week as the two teams from the capital city of Santo Domingo face off for the Dominican Professional Winter Baseball Championship finals organized by the Dominican Professional Baseball League (Lidom).
The Tigres del Licey made the playoffs finishing in first place in the 71st Lidom season with 11 victories and four losses. The Leones del Escogido followed with 10-5, Estrellas Orientales (that had won the regular season) with 5-9 and the Aguilas Cibaeñas with 3-11.
It was the Licey’s third consecutive year making of the playoffs.
Starting Monday, 20 January 2025, the Tigres del Licey will now face the Leones del Escogido in the championship round of the 2024-2025 championships to decide the Dominican representative in the Caribbean Championship that this February 2025 will be played in Mexicali, Mexico, 31 January to 7 February.
It has been many, many years since the Tigres del Licey and the Leones del Escogido had played the finals at the Estadio Quisqueya so tickets will go fast, but the games can be followed online or by radio or TV.
Those rooting for the Tigres will be pushing for a third consecutive championship, while those backing the Leones will be supporting their team which has the longest streak without a championship in the Dominican Professional Baseball League (Lidom). This year, the Escogido is captained by Cooperstown Hall of Famer, Albert Pujols, as he tries out his new skills as a team manager.
Curiously enough, during the regular season, both the Tigres and the Leones struggled to make the semi-final round-robin section of the championship. Both teams finished behind the Estrellas Orientales from San Pedro de Macoris, and the Aguilas Cibaeñas from Santiago de los Caballeros who led the 50-game regular season with 30-20 and 28-22 records respectively.
In fact, the Gigantes del Cibao made things difficult for the Leones del Escogido to even reach the finals, and things were not decided until the last days of the regular season.
The Aguilas were not very good after the 10-day layoff waiting for the final games of the season to be played out, a scenario caused by multiple rainouts. Their record of 1-9 over the first ten games eliminated them early in the round-robin session. The Estrellas battled but could not overcome the surging pair of felines—the Tigres and the Leones.
The best-of-seven final series (which in itself was cut from best-of-nine, due to the rains), starts at the Quisqueya Juan Marichal Ball Park in the capital city at 7:30pm. The playoff games are scheduled to be played on 20, 22, 25 and 27 January at 7:30pm and 21, 24 January at 7:15 pm and 26 January, a holiday, at 4pm. Thursday, 23 January is a day off.
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Diario Libre
Lidom
Lidom
Lidom
20 January 2025