A National Pastime
This past Thursday some of the other ISA students and I decided to go to a baseball game. Santiago's team, the Aguilas Cibaeñas (eagles of Cibao) were playing the Gigantes (giants).
Baseball is the national sport here in the Dominican Republic and it shows. This professional team was as good as any in the U.S., and many players that play in the MLB are from the Dominican Republic. There are six professional teams in the country. For those interested, Wikipedia has a good article on the league.
The stadium wasn't very large, probably about a third the size of the larger U.S. stadiums. But the stadium got pretty full, even though the Aguilas were about to be knocked out of a round robin tournament.
The game was pretty much like American baseball, but the Americans that went all agreed that there was a lot more action. There were more stolen bases, more hits, and more catches. American baseball focuses a lot of pitching, and while that is important down here there is a larger emphasis on hitting and the rest of the team.
The Aguilas were losing up until the bottom of the fifth, when a series of errors from the Gigantes and hits lead the Aguilas to a lead of 4-2. The stadium erupted into cheers and traditional merengue music blasted on the speakers and every fan began to dance! There was so much celebration that you would think they won the championship.
I have to say, this game was a lot of fun to go to and I'm glad I got to experience a professional game before the season ended!
Baseball is the national sport here in the Dominican Republic and it shows. This professional team was as good as any in the U.S., and many players that play in the MLB are from the Dominican Republic. There are six professional teams in the country. For those interested, Wikipedia has a good article on the league.
The stadium wasn't very large, probably about a third the size of the larger U.S. stadiums. But the stadium got pretty full, even though the Aguilas were about to be knocked out of a round robin tournament.
The game was pretty much like American baseball, but the Americans that went all agreed that there was a lot more action. There were more stolen bases, more hits, and more catches. American baseball focuses a lot of pitching, and while that is important down here there is a larger emphasis on hitting and the rest of the team.
The Aguilas were losing up until the bottom of the fifth, when a series of errors from the Gigantes and hits lead the Aguilas to a lead of 4-2. The stadium erupted into cheers and traditional merengue music blasted on the speakers and every fan began to dance! There was so much celebration that you would think they won the championship.
I have to say, this game was a lot of fun to go to and I'm glad I got to experience a professional game before the season ended!