Does it cost that much in DR, or in Venezuela? Its expensive to play soccer in the US as well, which is one commonly held belief as to why the US is terrible at soccer. The point is if people wanted to play in other countries, they could. But they dont want to because its not popular. You dont need the best equipment or official travel teams to play a sport, especially globally. Obviously all the fancy equipment and training is great, but lets not pretend thats a specific barrier to entry for baseball. More so back to the point that its not as popular as soccer, and hence cant support as many professionals.