Minor League Baseball announced the 2025 Dominican Summer League (DSL) season will begin June 2 with Opening Day festivities taking place at the Boston Red Sox Academy in Guerra.
The 2025 campaign will also see the introduction of the DSL Cup, a new playoff format that will see 16 DSL clubs qualify for the two-stage DSL postseason. The eight DSL division winners (based on winning percentage) and the eight teams with the best winning percentage that did not win their division (Wild Card teams) will qualify for the postseason. In Pool Play, the sixteen teams will be divided into four pools of four teams each and will participate in a round-robin competition. The team with the best record in each pool will advance to the Championship Bracket, which will consist of two rounds (best-of-three Semifinal and Final Rounds).
“We are looking forward to the start of another great season of professional baseball in the Dominican Republic,” said Peter Woodfork, Major League Baseball’s Senior Vice President of Minor League Operations and Development. “We are also excited for the new postseason format and believe this will enhance the player development environment by increasing the competitiveness of games late season with more teams vying for a spot.”
Dominican Summer League alums currently starring in MLB include four-time All-Star Xander Bogaerts (Padres), three-time All-Stars Yordan Alvarez (Astros), Luis Arraez (Padres), Luis Castillo (Mariners), Willson Contreras (Cardinals), Rafael Devers (Red Sox), Marcell Ozuna (Braves) and two-time All-Stars Sandy Alcantara (Marlins), William Contreras (Brewers), Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers), Ketel Marte (Diamondbacks) and Julio Rodríguez (Mariners). Elly De La Cruz (Reds) was named to his first All-Star team in 2024.
Many of the top young players in Major League Baseball began their professional careers in the DSL, including Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz, Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio and Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero.
Several of the top prospects on MLB Pipeline’s Top 50 list began their careers in the DSL, including Samuel Basallo (Orioles), Jesús Made (Brewers), Josue De Paula (Dodgers) and Lazaro Montes (Mariners).
Baseball Hall of Famers Adrián Beltré, Vladimir Guerrero and David Ortiz began their professional baseball careers on the fields of their native country in the DSL.
The complexes that make up the DSL are split among five cities, including Boca Chica (Angels, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Giants, Mariners, Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Phillies, Rangers, Rockies, Twins, White Sox and Yankees), Guerra (Astros, Braves, Brewers, Cubs, Dodgers, Guardians, Orioles, Pirates, Rays, Red Sox, Reds and Royals), San Cristóbal (Padres), San Pedro de Macorís (Tigers) and La Victoria (Athletics).
The 2025 DSL season has been dedicated to Dominican Hall-of-Fame right-hander Pedro Martinez. The eight-time All-Star and three-time Cy Young Award winner was born in Manoguayabo and made his Major League debut Sept. 24, 1992. He finished his 18-year career with a 219-100 record and five ERA titles as he posted a 2.93 career ERA and finished as one of four pitchers with at least 3,000 strikeouts and fewer than 1,000 walks. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.