First-ever Dominican Summer League Cup begins Thursday

It’s time for a new way to determine the Dominican Summer League champions. Are you ready for the DSL Cup?

The brand new playoff format is set to debut in the Rookie ball league on Thursday, when 16 of the DSL’s top teams participate in a two-stage DSL postseason to determine the league’s 2025 champs.

Those 16 teams will be divided into four pools of four teams each, seeded by winning percentage, and participate in a round-robin competition. The team with the best record in each pool will then advance to the Championship Bracket, which will consist of best-of-three Semifinal and Final Rounds.

The original field of 16 is determined by the eight DSL division winners and the eight teams with the best winning percentage that did not win their division (Wild Card teams). This format set up a situation Tuesday where Pirates Gold won its season finale to clinch the Central Division title, winning a tiebreaker over DSL Guardians Goryl. Because they won the division, Pirates Gold made the postseason despite tying for the league’s 18th-best winning percentage, while DSL Guardians Goryl missed the postseason with the same winning percentage.

The DSL Cup’s pool seedings are as follows:

Pool A -- 1, 8, 9, 16
Pool B -- 2, 7, 10, 15
Pool C -- 3, 6, 11, 14
Pool D -- 4, 5, 12, 13

… meaning the postseason pools look like this:

Pool A: DSL Rockies, Pirates Black, DSL Tampa Bay, Pirates Gold
Pool B: Padres Gold, Royals Ventura, Arizona Red, Astros Blue
Pool C: Rangers Red, DSL Athletics, DSL Angels, Giants Black
Pool D: DSL Miami, Giants Orange, DSL Marlins, Red Sox Blue

The DSL Rockies were the toast of the regular season, finishing with the league’s best record at 42-14 (.750 win percentage). The Rockies rode a relentless offense led by DSL batting champion Cristian Arguelles (.422) and RBI champion Ronny Ugarte (68).

Padres Gold, Rangers Red and Miami secured the next three best records, making them and DSL Rockies effectively No. 1 seeds in their pools. Those clubs also benefited from some extraordinary performances. Rangers Red features left-hander Luis Garcia, who led the DSL with 66 strikeouts in 30 ⅔ innings. Miami outfielder Jose Castro set the new DSL record with 16 home runs in 52 games. Padres Gold won the Northwest Division behind contributions from Padres No. 9 prospect Deivid Coronil and No. 16 Jhoan De La Cruz.

The first stop in the professional careers of many international signees, the Dominican Summer League has long served as an early incubator for some of the game’s top talent. Many of the game’s best young players began their careers in the DSL, including Pirates outfielder Oneil Cruz, Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio and Rays infielder Junior Caminero. The league alumni include All-Star players like Xander Bogaerts, Yordan Alvarez, Luis Arraez, Luis Castillo, Willson Contreras, Rafael Devers, Marcell Ozuna, Sandy Alcantara, William Contreras, Teoscar Hernández, Ketel Marte, Julio Rodriguez, and Elly De La Cruz.

Several of the players on MLB’s Top 100 Prospects list began their careers in the DSL, including Brewers infielder Jesús Made (MLB No. 5), Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo (MLB No. 8), Dodgers outfielder Josue De Paula (MLB No. 12) and Mariners outfielder Lazaro Montes (MLB No. 29).

The DSL Cup field consists of numerous players on Top 30 team lists, including but not limited to:

SS Josuar Gonzalez (SF No. 2, Giants Orange)
OF Kevin Alvarez (HOU No. 8, Astros Blue)
RHP Kevin Defrank (MIA No. 9, DSL Miami)
2B/OF Elorky Rodriguez (TEX No. 10, Rangers Red)
SS Dorian Soto (BOS No. 11, Red Sox Blue)
SS Warren Calcaño (KC No. 17, Royals Ventura)
SS Ramcell Medina (KC No. 19, Royals Ventura)
OF Luis Cova (MIA No. 19, DSL Marlins)
C Moises Marchán (KC No. 25, Royals Ventura)
SS Edgar Montero (ATH No. 26, DSL Athletics)