LIDOM, the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League, announced on July 7th that it will incorporate new technological improvements to its replay system during the 2024-25 winter baseball championship.
LIDOM is working with Sertel S.A., a telecommunications company, to make this possible for the start in October. The league president, Vitelio Mejia Ortiz, announced this as a way to strengthen the tournament for years to come.
The changes are all aimed at increasing efficiency and accuracy for the aforementioned games. They include increasing the number of cameras used for replays, deploying robot PTZ cameras at key play points like the bases, enhancing camera resolution, and expanding the number of replay channels to increase the angles available for review.
The main point of improvement seems to be utilizing Hawk-Eye VAR technology to get a wide view of the stadium and continuously capture plays from multiple points.
This surely will be a monumental change for the winter tournament. Last season in the league, the Tigres del Licey were crowned champions. The Tigres finished as the last to qualify in the regular season and then put on a heroic performance in the winners stage to punch their ticket to the best-of-seven series for the title. There, they were victorious over Estrellas Orientales with a 3-2 win in the final game of the series to claim their 24th title, the most in Dominican winter history.
With last year’s winner stage and playoffs being such a thrilling adventure, the advancements in replay will only make for a more action-packed and precise adventure in the 2024-25 season for LIDOM.
Photo Credit: The umpires listen on the headsets as they wait for instructions from MLB for a replay review. (Photo by Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
