From October to January, Dominican baseball means the winter league, and Santo Domingo has two of its six teams. The Tigres del Licey and the Leones del Escogido share one ballpark, the Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal, a short drive from the Malecón, and when they play each other the stands split into blue and red.
If you are in town during the season, a night at the Quisqueya shows you the city at play. This guide covers the league, the two capital clubs, the stadium, how to get tickets and what to expect on game night.
The Dominican winter league
The league is LIDOM, the Liga de Béisbol Profesional de la República Dominicana. Its season is the autumn and winter championship, and six traditional teams compete for the national title and the right to represent the Dominican Republic at the Serie del Caribe, the Caribbean championship.
The six teams
- Tigres del Licey, Santo Domingo, at the Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal
- Leones del Escogido, Santo Domingo, also at the Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal
- Águilas Cibaeñas, Santiago, at the Estadio Cibao
- Gigantes del Cibao, San Francisco de Macorís, at the Estadio Julián Javier
- Toros del Este, La Romana, at the Estadio Francisco Micheli
- Estrellas Orientales, San Pedro de Macorís, at the Estadio Tetelo Vargas
How the season works
The season opens in mid-October with a regular series that runs to just before Christmas. After that come the semifinal and the final, which decide the national champion. The champion plays for the Copa BanReservas, and the 2026-27 championship is dedicated to the memory of Héctor Rizek Llabaly. The final is a best-of-seven series.
The national champion goes on to the Serie del Caribe in February. The 2027 edition is set for Hermosillo, Mexico, from February 1 to February 7, with five countries taking part.
A short history
The first professional championship in the country was played in 1922, between the Licey and the Escogido. The Escogido won it with a record of 19 wins and 13 losses, while the Licey had the batting leader, Pedro Miguel Caratini, and the home run champion, Ninín Rodríguez.
Professional baseball in the Dominican Republic paused from 1938 to 1950. When it came back in 1951, the championship ran from May 5 to September 24 over 108 games, with four clubs, the Escogido, the Licey, the Águilas Cibaeñas and the Estrellas Orientales, and the Licey won it. The hero of that title was the American Alonzo Perry, who hit .400 in both the regular series and the final, including a famous bases-loaded home run off the Escogido's Enrique Reynoso.
For its first few seasons the league played in summer, from 1951 to 1954, with day games on Saturdays and Sundays. In 1955 Dominican baseball affiliated with the North American organizations, and that October the Estadio Quisqueya opened, bringing night baseball to the capital and the winter season that fans know today.
The 2026-27 season
The 2026-27 season opens on Friday, October 16, 2026, with the capital's derby. The Leones del Escogido, back-to-back national champions, host the Tigres del Licey at the Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal at 7:15 p.m. The same night, the Gigantes del Cibao host the Águilas Cibaeñas at the Estadio Julián Javier at 7:00 p.m., and the Estrellas Orientales visit the Toros del Este at the Estadio Francisco Micheli at 7:30 p.m.
The opening weekend in the capital continues with the Licey at home on Saturday, October 17, against the Gigantes del Cibao at 5:00 p.m., and on Sunday, October 18, against the Escogido at 5:00 p.m.
The regular series ends on Tuesday, December 22. It has 17 dates with no games, including the weekend of December 4 to 6, which the league sets aside for the professional players' federation. Each club plays 25 home games.
Because the Licey and the Escogido share a ballpark, the Quisqueya hosts 50 regular-season home games between them in about ten weeks. On most game dates from mid-October to December 22 there is a game in the capital, so even a short stay usually lines up with one.
The season at a glance
- Friday, October 16: opening night, Escogido against Licey at the Quisqueya, 7:15 p.m.
- Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18: Licey home games at 5:00 p.m. against the Gigantes and the Escogido
- December 4 to 6: league break for the players' federation
- Tuesday, December 22: last day of the regular series
- After December 22: the semifinal and the final
- February 1 to 7, 2027: the Serie del Caribe in Hermosillo, Mexico
Following the season
The league's official website, lidom.com, carries the schedule, standings and news, and for 2026-27 the league approved its first single rulebook, the Código Reglamentario de Lidom, to be published there. The clubs post their own news on their sites and sell tickets through Uepa Tickets.
Tigres del Licey
The Tigres del Licey are the older of the two capital clubs. The club dates from 1907, and its fans celebrate November 7, 1907, as its founding day. Licey's nickname is El Glorioso.
The name comes from the Licey, a stream between La Vega and Moca. When the founders were looking for a five-letter name for the uniform, Francisco Fiallo suggested it, after the stream that was peaceful most of the year but swelled and turned dangerous after heavy rain.
Licey's titles
Licey has won the national championship 24 times, more than any other club in the league. It has also won the Serie del Caribe 11 times, more than any other club from any country, in 21 appearances.
Licey's colors
Licey plays in blue and white, colors that trace back to the club's long relationship with the Dodgers. Licey fans sit on the third-base side of the Quisqueya.
Leones del Escogido
The Leones del Escogido are Licey's neighbors and rivals. The two clubs have been rivals since February 21, 1921, and they have shared a home ballpark since the Quisqueya's first winter in 1955.
Escogido's titles
The Escogido are the league's current champions. In the 2025-26 final they beat the Toros del Este four games to one for their 18th national title and their second in a row. That made the Escogido the third club in titles, behind the Licey with 24 and the Águilas Cibaeñas with 22.
The Escogido were also the reigning Caribbean champions, and the 2025-26 title sent them to defend that crown at the Serie del Caribe in Guadalajara, Mexico, in February 2026.
Escogido's colors
The Escogido play in red, and their fans fill the first-base side of the stadium.
The rivalry
Licey against Escogido is the capital's great baseball rivalry. Because the two teams share the Quisqueya, the crowd divides by color: blue on one side, red on the other, with each club's sponsors and logos on its own side of the bowl.
The rivalry goes back more than a century. The two clubs have been rivals since 1921, and the country's first professional championship, in 1922, was a series between the two, won by the Escogido. Today they share a ballpark, and in 2026 they open the season against each other.
Opening night in 2026 is a Licey-Escogido game, and on opening night in 2021 fans started arriving in the morning for tickets and kept coming all afternoon, flags in hand. If you can only make one game, make it this one, and wear the color of the side you sit on.
The Dominican Republic and the major leagues
Dominican players are a big part of the major leagues. On 2026 Opening Day rosters, 93 players came from the Dominican Republic, more than from any other country outside the United States, and the country has led that count every year since Major League Baseball began publishing it in 1995. Venezuela, the 2026 World Baseball Classic champion, came second with 60.
Big-league games at the Quisqueya
Major league teams also come to the Quisqueya. In March 2024 the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox played two exhibition games there, on March 8 and 9. On March 3, 2026, the Dominican national team, getting ready for the World Baseball Classic, beat the Detroit Tigers 12-4 in front of more than 10,000 fans, with Manny Machado, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ketel Marte in the lineup. It was the first time the national team had played a major league club at home.
The stadium is expected to be replaced by a new ballpark in the coming years, so a game at the old Quisqueya now has a little history attached.
Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal
The Estadio Quisqueya opened on October 23, 1955. It was built for RD$3,500,000 under the engineer Bienvenido Martínez Brea, to plans by the American firm Marr y Holmen. The first hit in the new stadium came from Licey's Alcibíades Colón.
The name
The stadium opened in 1955 as the Estadio Trujillo, took the name Quisqueya after the dictatorship fell, and in 2014 added the name of Juan Marichal, the first Dominican in the Baseball Hall of Fame. It belongs to the Dominican state.
Juan Marichal was born in Laguna Verde in 1937 and pitched for the San Francisco Giants from 1960 to 1973. He won 243 games with a 2.89 earned run average and 52 shutouts, made 10 All-Star teams, was the most valuable player of the 1965 All-Star Game and was known as The Dominican Dandy. In 1983 he became the first native of the Dominican Republic elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
The ballpark
The stadium holds 13,186 people for baseball and up to 25,000 for concerts. It has a curved roof over the main grandstand, with luxury boxes and premium seating around the top. The bleachers are separate from the grandstand, with their own concourses and entrances.
Each club has its own premium club area, and Presidente beer signs are everywhere, including huge ones on the outfield light poles. Locals call the stadium el coloso del Ensanche La Fe, after the neighborhood around it.
New for 2026-27
Before the 2026-27 season, the former Licey bullpen in left field was being turned into a new VIP zone. It is entered from the Avenida San Cristóbal gate and has 200 seats in groups of 50, four bars with eight seats each and eight tables for four. Seats there are sold only for the whole season, not game by game, and the Licey bullpen moves behind left field.
The rest of the park got attention too. Ahead of opening night, crews aerated the outfield grass, remodeled the dugouts used by the Licey and the Escogido, and prepared new space for sponsor signs around the park, with the goal of finishing everything before October 16.
Where it is
The Quisqueya is in Ensanche La Fe, a working neighborhood north and west of the Colonial Zone. From the Malecón it is about 6 km by road, and the VIP zone's gate is on Avenida San Cristóbal.
Getting tickets
Single games
The clubs sell tickets through Uepa Tickets, their official platform, at escogido.uepatickets.com for the Escogido and licey.uepatickets.com for the Licey. You can also buy at the stadium box office. Buy through these official channels rather than from resellers outside the stadium.
The Licey's partnership with Uepa Tickets lets you see the full schedule, buy your ticket online in advance and print it or keep it on your phone, so you can skip the lines at the box office.
Season tickets
For guests staying a long while, both clubs sell season tickets, called abonos, for the 25 regular-season home games. The Escogido's 2026-27 abonos run from RD$16,250 in the Palcos AAA to RD$83,200 for a corporate box, sold through the club's platform, at the stadium offices and at authorized Uepa Tickets points, payable in two to four installments before opening day.
Seats and prices
Seats at the Quisqueya are sold in categories. For the Escogido's 2026-27 season, from the top price down, they are the corporate boxes, the Palcos A, the Palcos AA, the Preferencias and the Palcos AAA. Spread over the 25 home games, the Escogido's season tickets work out to RD$3,328 a game for a corporate box, RD$1,800 in the Palcos A, RD$980 in the Palcos AA, RD$800 in the Preferencias and RD$650 in the Palcos AAA. Single-game tickets are sold separately, so check the price for your game when it goes on sale.
When to buy
Buy early for opening night and for Licey against Escogido, and plan ahead for the semifinal and the final. Single-game prices for opening night had not been published by early October 2026, so check the club sites a week or two before your game.
If you only have one night
If your stay allows a single game, check the schedule for a Licey-Escogido night first, then for a weekend afternoon game if you are traveling with children. Buy online through Uepa Tickets as soon as the game goes on sale, choose your side, and plan your ride there and back before you leave the apartment.
Getting to the game
The easiest way to the Quisqueya is a ride-hailing car or a taxi arranged by your host. Uber runs in Santo Domingo around the clock, and UberXL takes up to six, which suits a group of friends. Evening traffic can be heavy, especially on Fridays, so leave early.
Tell your driver which section you are sitting in so you are dropped close to it. Before you go in, agree with your driver where you will meet after the game, or book your ride home before the last inning so you are not hunting for a car in the crowd. Our getting around guide covers taxis and ride-hailing in more detail.
A night at the ballpark
Game times
Weekday games usually start between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m., and weekend games in the late afternoon. Plan to arrive at least half an hour before first pitch to find your seat, buy a drink and watch the warm-ups.
What to bring
Carry some cash in pesos; the stadium vendors are easier to pay in cash than by card. Wear the color of your team: blue for Licey, red for Escogido. A light layer helps on the cooler nights of December and January, when lows average around 67 °F to 69 °F.
Where to sit
Pick your side before you buy. Licey fans sit along third base and Escogido fans along first base. The premium seats and boxes are around the top of the grandstand, and the bleachers, with their own concourses and entrances, are the cheaper option.
The crowd
For Dominican fans, a game at the Quisqueya is a night out with family and friends and one of the country's favorite pastimes. Fans come with flags and wear their colors, and each side of the stadium cheers for its own team. If you are new to the game, sit among the home fans and follow their lead.
Baseball with children
Weekend games start in the late afternoon, which suits families with young children; you can be home by bedtime after an early dinner. Dominican fans bring their children, and many fans describe the ballpark as a place to share with family and friends. Choose seats in the grandstand under the roof for shade, bring a cap and a small flag in the team's colors, and keep some pesos for snacks from the vendors.
Spanish for the ballpark
A few words help on game night:
- pelota: what Dominicans call baseball, as in going to the pelota
- el play: the ballpark, as in going to the play
- boleta: a ticket
- abono: a season ticket for the 25 home games
- palco: a box or premium section, such as Palcos A, AA and AAA
- liceísta and escogidista: a Licey fan and an Escogido fan
- jonrón: a home run
Baseball beyond the capital
The other four clubs play within a day trip of Santo Domingo. The Estrellas Orientales play in San Pedro de Macorís, about 74 km east, at the Estadio Tetelo Vargas, which opened in 1959 and holds about 8,000. The Toros del Este play at the Estadio Francisco Micheli in La Romana. In Santiago, the Águilas Cibaeñas play at the Estadio Cibao, the largest ballpark in the country, with room for 18,077.
A game in San Pedro or La Romana combines well with a day on the coast. Our day trips guide covers San Pedro de Macorís, the Cueva de las Maravillas and Altos de Chavón near La Romana.
The Serie del Caribe
The Serie del Caribe brings together the champions of the Caribbean winter leagues each February, and the Dominican champion represents the country. The 2027 edition will be played in Hermosillo, Mexico, from February 1 to February 7, with five countries. The Licey have won it 11 times, more than any other club, and the Escogido went into the 2026 edition as the reigning Caribbean champions.
If your trip runs into January, a semifinal or final game is your chance to see the teams playing for that place in the Serie del Caribe.
When to come for baseball
The regular season runs from mid-October to just before Christmas, so October, November and December give you the most games to choose from. The semifinal and final follow into January, and the Serie del Caribe is in early February. Our guide to the best time to visit sets the baseball season against the rest of the year's holidays and events.
If your dates fall between February and October, there is no winter league to watch, but the Quisqueya also hosts concerts, with room for up to 25,000 people.
A baseball weekend from the Malecón
Here is one way to build a long weekend around a game. Arrive on Friday and walk the Malecón at sunset. Spend Saturday morning in the Colonial Zone and the afternoon at the beach. Take a car to the Quisqueya for a late-afternoon Sunday game, with your team's color on and cash in your pocket, and come back to the sea for a late dinner.
Book an apartment on the Malecón and catch a game at the Quisqueya.