Spanish
Santo Domingo.– Outfielder Bryan de la Cruz, from the Toros del Este, was selected as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2025-2026 championship of the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League (LIDOM), after widely leading the vote carried out by a national jury of specialized communicators, the league reported this Wednesday.
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The election was announced during the program Palco LIDOM and was carried out through the weighted voting system used by the league, in which 69 members of the sports press covering the tournament participated, dedicated to Don Juan Marichal and played in option to the Copa Banreservas. De la Cruz topped the count with 431 points, the result of 57 first-place votes, in addition to six seconds, two thirds and one fourth. He surpassed his teammate Gilberto Celestino, who obtained 206 points, and Raymel Tapia, of the Estrellas Orientales, with 149. They completed the group of the top vote-getters Cristian Adames (Tigres del Licey), Ezequiel Durán and Aderlín Rodríguez (Águilas Cibaeñas), Ismael Munguía (Estrellas Orientales), Deyvison de los Santos (Gigantes del Cibao), as well as Erik González and Yamaico Navarro (Leones del Escogido). The Roman gardener had a decisive performance during the regular season, becoming one of the main offensive pieces of the Toros del Este, a team that concluded with a record of 27-22, in the second position of the table. In 44 games, De la Cruz accumulated 188 plate appearances, with a batting average of .301, after connecting 49 hits, including eight home runs, nine doubles and one triple. He led the tournament in runs batted in (40), scored 29 runs and totaled 84 bases reached. His offensive line was .372 on-base percentage, .515 slugging —the best in the championship— and .887 OPS. With this recognition, Bryan de la Cruz joins the season's award winners, along with his teammate Aaron Sánchez, recently announced as Pitcher of the Year. The evaluating jury was made up of communicators from various regions of the country and abroad, including journalists with no employment ties to the franchises, members of press departments of the teams, Dominican reporters based in the United States, and international communicators established in the Dominican Republic, with the aim of ensuring a balanced and representative process.
