LIDOM Championship Series Begins Today!

MLB offseason activity may be at a standstill due to the owners’ lockout, but Caribbean winter league baseball is heading into the homestretch. The individual national championship series have already begun or will get underway shortly to crown league representatives at the 2022 Caribbean Series, the true World Series of baseball. This year’s LIDOM (Dominican League) championship series will be available to MLB.tv subscribers through the MLB.tv website at or through the MLB app. Broadcasts will be live, in Spanish, with no archived content available.

This year’s LIDOM championship contenders are the Estrellas Orientales (Eastern Stars) of San Pedro de Macorís, known as the hometown of a significant number of big leaguers, and the Gigantes del Cibao (Cibao Giants) of San Francisco de Macorís. The Gigantes were the 2014-15 LIDOM champions, while the Estrellas have four championships during their lengthy tenure, most recently in 2019.

The series will open this evening at 7:30 PM local time at Estadio Tetelo Vargas in San Pedro de Macorís. North American viewers should note that Dominican Republic time is one hour ahead of the North American Eastern time zone. The host stadium will alternate between Estadio Tetelo Vargas and the Gigantes’ home field at Estadio Julián Javier.

Calendario de partidos de la Serie Final vs Gigantes del Cibao. Es tiempo de brillar m�s fuerte.#vamopaencima #brillandox100pre #pisandofuerte pic.twitter.com/OJsSpxT11g

— EOBASEBALLCLUB (@EOBASEBALLCLUB) January 16, 2022

This will be a best-of-seven series with games scheduled daily from Monday, January 17 through Monday, January 24.

The Estrellas have announced Andy Otero as their Game 1 starter, while the Gigantes have announced their starting rotation for the first three games of the series.

Andy Otero ser� nuestro lanzador abridor, en el Juego #1 de la Final Vs. @Gigantes_Cibao, este lunes (7:30 p.m.), en el Estadio Tetelo Vargas. pic.twitter.com/uLG0srNzGg

— EOBASEBALLCLUB (@EOBASEBALLCLUB) January 16, 2022

Rotaci�n para los primeros 3 partidos de la Serie Final. ?#GigantesDeVerdad pic.twitter.com/KnFaDCZP19

— Gigantes del Cibao � (@Gigantes_Cibao) January 17, 2022

The LIDOM champion will have the honor of representing the Dominican Republic as hosts of this year’s Caribbean Series to be held in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital, from Friday, January 28 through Thursday, February 3. The Dominican Republic, represented by the Águilas Cibaeñas (Cibao Eagles), won the 2021 Caribbean Series title. If they repeat in 2022, they will claim the country’s 22nd tournament championship. The Dominican champion will be joined by winter league champions from Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Cuba will be absent once again, which is a source of shame for the Series and for international baseball.