Spring training 2026 is expanding outside the traditional Florida and Arizona sites, as the Detroit Tigers added two Dominican Republic games to the schedule, set for March 3-4.
The Tigers will be taking on the Dominican Republic team set to play in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, with games scheduled for Santo Domingo’s Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal. This event will mark the first time ever that the DR National Team will host a Major League Club for exhibition games in the country. These games will be played in memory of the victims of the April 8, 2025 tragedy at the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo. As part of the event, MLB and promoter UEPA will donate to Cruz Roja Dominicana (i.e., the Dominican Red Cross) to honor the memory of the victims of the April 8 tragedy in Santo Domingo.
Spring-training games in the Dominican Republic are not unusual; most recently, the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays squared off in a two-game set at Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal. The history of MLB in the DR dates back to a visit from the Cincinnati Reds in 1936, followed by trips from the Brooklyn Dodgers (1948), the Pittsburgh Pirates (1967), the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets (1977), the Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals (1978), the Mets and Montreal Expos (1999), Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox (2000), and the Tigers and Minnesota Twins (2020).
The Dominican National Team is slated to begin its 2026 World Baseball Classic schedule against Team Nicaragua in Pool D action on March 6 at loanDepot park in Miami. Former major leaguer Nelson Cruz is the Dominican Republic’s general manager, while Albert Pujols is the team manager, with the roster filled with plenty of talent, like the Rays’ Junior Caminero and a potential lineup with Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Willy Adames, Ketel Marte and Rafael Devers.
Team DR, winner of the 2013 World Baseball Classic with a perfect 8-0 record, is only one of three countries to win a EBC, joining Team Japan (2006, 2009 and 2023) and Team USA (2017).
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