Amid eternal woes, Dominicans turn to baseball

Santo Domingo. – Amid rising crime, rampant corruption, shaky institutionalism and overall exasperation, Dominicans sigh in relief starting tonight when baseball again displaces politics as their true pastime, with games between the nation’s six teams.

The Tigers, Lions, Stars, Giants, Bulls and Eagles will be the center of talk as the Dominican Winter Baseball season, with each team playing 50 games, kicks off in three of the country’s stadiums.

Starting tonight there’ll be more analysis on pitching duels than on the “steamrolled” Budget; more attention on which team can take the Bulls’ crown than on the corrupt politicians, and less concern with the spate of holdups and more on which team’s cheerleaders got “the mambo.”