I failed to notice that the Dominican League playoffs started this week.

VENEZUELAN LEAGUE

Twins:  Willians Astudillo (Anzoategui) was 1-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

LARA 1, ZULIA 0 IN ZULIA

Elvis Escobar tripled and scored in the seventh for the game's only run.  Yoanner Negrin pitched five shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks and striking out two.  For Zulia, Richard Castillo pitched four shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk and striking out three.

ANZOATEGUI 7, MAGALLANES 4 IN ANZOATEGUI

Anzoategui scored three in the eighth to break a 4-4 tie.  A hit batsman brought home the lead run and Willians Astudillo doubled in a pair of insurance runs.  Balbino Fuenmayor was 3-for-4.  Alexi Amarista hit a home run, his second.  For Magallanes, Rayder Ascanio was 3-for-5.

MEXICAN LEAGUE

Twins:  None.

MAZATLAN 7, OBREGON 1 IN OBREGON

Brian Hernandez hit a two-run homer in the third to make it 3-0 and Mazatlan was never threatened.  Hernandez was 2-for-3 and the home run was his seventh.  Aneury Tavarez was 2-for-5 with a home run.  Roberto Valenzuela hit a home run, his second.  Roy Merritt struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

MEXICALI 4, HERMOSILLO 3 IN HERMOSILLO

A sacrifice fly in the fourth broke a 3-3 tie.  Luis Juarez was 4-for-4 with a walk.  Xorge Carrillo was 3-for-3.

NAVOJOA 6, LOS MOCHIS 4 IN NAVOJOA

Christian Zazueta's two-run double in the seventh broke a 3-3 tie.  Navojoa led 6-3 until a Los Mochis home run in the ninth.  Alejandro Gonzalez was 3-for-5 for Navojoa.  Jaime Lugo struck out eight in six shutout innings, giving up three hits.  For Los Mochis, Rodolfo Amador was 2-for-2 with a home run and three RBIs.  Jonathan Castellanos pitched three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two.

JALISCO 4, CULIACAN 1 IN CULIACAN

Jalisco scored three in the fifth to break a 1-1 tie.  Jose Oyervides pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk and striking out two.  For Culiacan, Daniel Rodriguez struck out three in three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

DOMINICAN LEAGUE

Twins:  None.

AGUILAS 9, ESCOGIDO 3 AT AGUILAS

The Aguilas scored one in the fourth to break a 3-3 tie and got three in the fifth to take control of the game.  Danny Santana was 3-for-5 with two doubles.

LICEY 5, GIGANTES 3 AT GIGANTES (16 INNINGS)

It was 1-1 after eight and stayed 1-1 through fifteen.  In the sixteenth, Rymer Liriano delivered a two-run single for Licey and they added two more to make it 5-1.  In the bottom of the sixteenth, the Gigantes scored twice and put men on first and second before going down.  Engel Beltre was 3-for-7 for Licey.

In my scramble to get caught up from my Christmas break, I failed to notice that the Dominican League playoffs started on December 26.  Here are the standings:

Licey, 3-0
Aguilas, 1-1
Escogido, 1-1
Gigantes, 0-3

It appears that the first round of the playoffs is a round-robin of eighteen games, with the top two teams then meeting in a best-of-nine playoff series.

AUSTRALIAN LEAGUE

Twins:  Logan Wade (Brisbane) was 0-for-4.

BRISBANE 11, ADELAIDE 3 IN BRISBANE

Brisbane scored two in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead and then got six in the sixth to put the game out of reach.  T. J. Bennett was 4-for-5 with a home run, his sixth.  Andrew Campbell was 3-for-5 with a double and a home run (his third), scoring three times.  Adam Weisenburger was 2-for-4 with a double and a three-run homer.  Pat Young pitched four innings, giving up one run on one hit and five walks and striking out three.  For Adelaide, Rodrigo Ayarza was 2-for-5 with a home run, his fourth.  Jordan McArdle hit a home run, his third, and Angus Roeger hit a home run, his second.

MELBOURNE 14, SYDNEY 7 IN SYDNEY

Melbourne built a 10-1 lead through four innings and led 14-2 before Sydney scored five in the ninth.  Michael Crouse was 3-for-5 with a triple, a home run, and a walk.  Allan de San Miguel was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer (his third), scoring three times.  Jarryd Dale was 3-for-5 with a double.  Delmon Young was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, his fourth.  Brett Cumberland was 2-for-6 with a double and a home run, his fourth.  Josh Tols struck out eight in six innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks.  For Sydney, Connor McDonald hit a home run, his third.

CANBERRA 4, PERTH 3 IN PERTH

Canberra scored on a wild pitch in the sixth to break a 2-2 tie.  They led 4-2 before Perth scored in the ninth.  Perth had men on first and second with one out before going down.  David Kandilas was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Jay Baum was 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.  Brian Grening struck out six in six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk.  For Perth, Tim Kennelly was 4-for-5 with a double.  Garrett Whitley hit a home run, his third.