Escogido wins Dominican Winter Baseball League, Goes on to Caribbean Series

Escogido from Santo Domingo beat the Gigantes del Cibao from San Francisco de Macoris 5-2 in game 9 of the final series to win the Dominican Winter Baseball League 2009-10. This was the final game of a 9 game finals series. See the recap of the game here. It was a great atmosphere, with fans from both sides descending on the stadium in San Francisco de Macoris. Escogido and their fans later celebrated with a parade in the capital:

Francisco Liriano stood out in the final series. In game 9 he had 10 strikeouts in 5 innings on something like 65 pitches, as he was on a pitch count. He was dominant in this game, and played very well throughout the winter season.

Escogido now goes to the Caribbean Series, to face the winners of the Mexican, Venezuelan, and Puerto Rican winter leagues. This is a 6 game round robin tournament. See some details at this MLB.com article. The games will be on MLB Network.

There are no imported players (no Americans) allowed on these teams. Players must come from the country that the team is from. So, the teams sometimes bring in countrymen from other teams within their league. Should be lots of really good players though, older and younger.

Like always, this is a tournament for national pride. Dominican President Leonel Fernandez wished his country's team good luck.