The Dominican Summer League (DSL) is a branch of affiliated Minor League Baseball which is played in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. The league was founded in 1985. After the demise of the

Venezuelan Summer League The Venezuelan Summer League (VSL) was a professional baseball sports league that operated in Venezuela from 1997 to 2015, primarily in the state of Carabobo. Teams in the league served as academies for Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations, a ...

after the 2015 season, it is the only Latin America-based rookie league. Teams in the DSL are owned and operated by

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) franchises. The league's season typically begins in June, with each team playing a 72-game schedule, and ends in late August. The division winners advance to the playoffs. The two division champions with the best winning percentages receive byes to the semifinals. The start of the 2020 season was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, with the season being cancelled entirely on June 30. The start of the 2021 season was delayed until July 12, with the season ultimately concluding on October 2 with no postseason; a total of 46 teams competed in six divisions.

Current teams

For the 2021 season, 29 of the 30 MLB franchises fielded at least one

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

in the DSL; the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

did not field a team. All DSL teams are named after their parent clubs (e.g. DSL Twins). Seventeen MLB franchises fielded two teams in the league; such squads are usually differentiated by suffixes (e.g. Blue and Red, or 1 and 2), although the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

named their teams "Colorado" and "Rockies". The 46 total teams were organized into six divisions; five divisions with eight teams and one division (Baseball City) with six teams. There is no correlation between MLB divisions and DSL divisions; DSL divisions have a mix of teams from

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

and

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

parent clubs. Source:

DSL teams per MLB franchise

Playoff procedure

As of 2022, eight teams—six division winners and two wild card teams—qualify for the playoffs seeded by winning percentage regardless of division standing. All postseason series are in best-of-three format.

Champions

Notes

References

External links

Official website
Official website
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DSL Encyclopedia and History
at

Baseball-Reference.com Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

{{Professional Baseball Baseball competitions in the Dominican Republic Latin American baseball leagues Minor league baseball leagues Sports leagues established in 1985 1985 establishments in the Dominican Republic