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Spring training, left unchecked, can be a bit of a drag. After the excitement of the opening of camp and the first Grapefruit League action, what follows can be a six week slog of games that don’t count for anything. Veteran players often opine that spring camp goes on too long, and by the time the regular season arrives, guys are a little burned out by the amount of meaningless games they’ve played in March. Fortunately, the league continues to add special events to help break things up.
As this is a World Baseball Classic year, we’ve got that to focus some attention on soon. While major league teams hold their breath hoping no one gets injured in what tends to be pretty heated competition with national pride on the line, for fans it’s a pretty exciting high stakes tournament that has produced some amazingly good baseball moments. Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout to lead Samurai Japan over Team USA in 2023 was an absolute classic moment, delivered in the midst of March when the baseball isn’t supposed to matter.
MLB has also instituted the Spring Breakout series over the past few seasons. Seeing franchises’ top prospects face off with each other is a really fun showcase for the next wave of talent. The Tigers prospects, featuring some, if not all of the top 100 prospects, Kevin McGonigle, Max Clark, Bryce Rainer, Josue Briceño, Thayron Liranzo, and more, will square off against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ system, led by Konnor Griffin, the nearly unanimous top prospect in baseball, on March 20.
But there’s another extra event on the calendar as the Tigers head to the Dominican Republic to play a two-game exhibition series on March 2-3. There, they’ll match up against Team Dominican Republic, in what should be a fun trip for the Tigers, and a decent warm-up for WBC action for Team DR. The two-game exhibition on Tuesday and Wednesday will be played in Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal, a ballpark and concert venue in Santo Domingo, the capitol of the Dominican Republic. The Tigers plan to bring 35 players along for the trip, more than half the players in major league camp at this point.
A.J. Hinch told reporters that getting the Tigers’ Dominican contingent, featuring catching prospect Thayron Liranzo and outfielder Wenceel Pérez, into those games will be a priority. It should be a nice opportunity for them to visit with and play in front of family and friends in their home country before the grind of the long season begins. The Tigers will take 35 players total on the excursion. Ty Madden is expected to start Tuesday’s game, but otherwise the Tigers will be deploying a full contingent of bullpen arms to handle those games.
Riley Greene, Javier Báez, Jake Rogers, Colt Keith, Spencer Torkelson, Kevin McGonigle, Josue Briceño, and Max Clark are all expected to play in the series, per Evan Petzold of the Free Press. Framber Valdez, a Dominican himself, will travel home but isn’t expected to pitch. The Tigers will also play a game against Team Panama in Lakeland on Wednesday, so that will be a split squad game using players who didn’t make the trip.
Team DR is managed by legendary slugger Albert Pujols, while noted Tiger killer Nelson Cruz serves as general manager. Obviously they have a pretty stacked roster, with Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Julio Rodriguez, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., among many other MLB stars. The Tigers collection of minor league arms in the bullpen will be sorely pressed to keep them in check.