Field set for Caribbean Series

The 2008 Caribbean Series, which begins Feb. 2 in the Dominican Republic, will have a couple of interesting twists this time around.

The Dominican Republic is trying something new. Instead of holding the event in its traditional Quisqueya Stadium in the capital, Santo Domingo, organizers opted for the city of Santiago in the northern region of the country. Santiago is home to the Aguilas Cibaeñas team, which recently won the Dominican Winter League championship.

And with Puerto Rico not in the tournament this year after canceling its entire winter season, the Dominican Republic will have two teams participating. In addition to the Aguilas, who will be the true "home club" playing in Santiago's Cibao Stadium, the Dominican Republic will also be represented by the Tigres del Licey, runner-up in the Dominican Winter League this year. Licey is the individual club with the most Caribbean Series titles -- nine -- in the history of the event.

Mexico has already determined its representative in this year's tournament, with the Yaquis de Obregon taking out the Venados de Mazatlán in the Pacific League Championship Series. It was the Yaquis' first Mexican Pacific League title in 27 years, and Obregon looks forward to its first Caribbean Series appearance ever (the event did not take place in 1981).

With Aragua's victory over Lara in a hard-fought six-game final series in Venezuela, the field is set: Cibaenas and Licey from the Dominican Republic, Obregon from Mexico and Aragua of Venezuela will fight it out for supremacy in Caribbean baseball.

As has been the case in recent years, the Dominican teams should be favored playing on their home soil, even with "reinforcements" from other clubs in their league spread to two teams instead of one.

And history is on their side. Among this year's participants, teams from the D.R. have won 16 Caribbean Series, vs. six for Venezuela and five for Mexico. On the all-time list, Puerto Rico is second to the Dominican with 14 titles, and in the "first phase" of the event (1949-1960), Cuba captured seven championships and Panama one.

The 2008 Caribbean Series will be played Feb. 2-7 at Cibao Stadium. With the round-robin format, every team will play each other twice, and the team at the top of the standings after six games will be the champion. In case of a first-place tie, head-to-head competition will be the tiebreaker, and if the teams have split their two contests, a one-game playoff will take place Feb. 8 to determine the champion.