Junior Caminero's home run celebration was pure emotion

If you don't like big celebrations in baseball, I'd advise you to stop reading. Game 7 of the Dominican Professional Baseball League's championship series took place Monday night and Leones del Escogido infielder Junior Caminero, who plays for the Tampa Bay Rays stateside, put all other celebrations to shame.

After splitting the series' first six games, Leones, managed by MLB legend Albert Pujols, and Tigres del Licey were tied at five runs each entering the ninth inning of the decisive seventh game. Caminero then came to the plate and turned a 104-mile-an-hour fastball 411 feet to dead center field to give Leones the lead. The home run proved decisive, as Leones held Tigres scoreless in the bottom of the ninth and captured their 17th LIDOM title, their first since 2016.

An all-time home run trot from Junior Caminero with an incredible call to match. pic.twitter.com/N7d3WhqqXj
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 28, 2025

While the home run was important, the celebration captured everyone's attention. Leones emptied the bench in celebration, going bananas on the field, and Caminero soaked up every moment. He celebrated with his teammates and even the mascot as he headed to first base, then pumped his fist and jumped up and down as he finished his home run trot, stopping at third base to celebrate with Leones' third base coach and threw his helmet in celebration before emphatically stomping on home plate. The whole trot took about a minute.

The trot wasn't even the best part of the celebration. What the Dominican broadcast failed to show until postgame coverage was Caminero's bat flip. Here it is from a fan in the crowd at Estadio Quisqueya.

4.1 segs bat flip on air @SlangsOnSports @CespedesBBQ pic.twitter.com/hXsPxFGiRf
— Antonio Puesán (@antoniopuesan) January 28, 2025

Have you ever seen a bat go that high in the air?

"To merely call what Junior Caminero did a bat flip is the understatement of the century," a fan wrote on X.

Even ESPN's Scott Van Pelt got in on the fun, naming the home run and ensuing celebration the "best thing he saw today."

"Caminero unloads and has the most extravagant home run trot in the history of baseball," he exclaimed on SportsCenter. "It took a minute and a half. He hugged every person there was!"

Caminero will be entering his first full season in the majors in 2025, and I don't know if there's anything he could do with the Rays to top what he did in Santo Domingo on Monday night.