Baseball has a long history in the United States, but it also has strong roots in the Caribbean and Latin America, particularly in the Dominican Republic.
Cubans were the first to bring the game from the US to their country in the 19th century, and later, wealthy Cubans introduced it to the Dominican Republic.
Over the following decades, the sport became deeply ingrained in Dominican culture, while in the United States, baseball evolved into a multi-million dollar industry.
Eventually, the United States began to seek out Cuban baseball talent. But when diplomatic relations between the two countries deteriorated, the Dominican Republic emerged as the primary focus of Major League Baseball's talent pipeline.
