Article: Winter in the Dominican Republic is a whole new ballgame.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic _ In the Dominican Republic, baseball is not so much a national pastime as it is a national passion.

From the moment you enter any of the four stadiums that play host to the country's prestigious winter league season, ear-splitting merengue music washes over you.

At Dodger Stadium or Fenway Park, a midsummer game can be as somber as High Mass. But in the Dominican, even a playoff game feels like carnival.

Here baseball isn't played, it's celebrated. Where else would you find the first-base dugouts topped by prepubescent go-go girls in nylons and Spandex hot pants? And where else but a Dominican stadium would ...

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