Two Major League Baseball (MLB) teams with a large number of Asian players will play an official game in Seoul for the first time ever, and this will also be the opening game. As a result, even players are so popular that they are asked to vote.
Tokyo Sports, a Japanese media outlet, reported on the 11th that the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres’ opening game in Seoul is becoming more popular. As a result, Yu Darvish (San Diego) is also inundated with requests for tickets.
The Major League Baseball secretariat announced the schedule for the official opening game of the 2024 season of the Dodgers’ San Diego. According to the secretariat, the two teams will play their first game of the season on March 20 and 21 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. The game time has been confirmed at 7:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast live throughout the U.S. through ESPN.
It is 6:05 a.m. Eastern time and 3:05 a.m. Western time according to U.S. local time (after summer time). What is noteworthy is that the games are held in prime time based on East Asian standards, not convenient time for U.S. fans to watch. As the games are held in Asia, it seems that the fans had no choice but to pay attention to countries that are popular in the Major League such as Korea and Japan.
The Seoul Series of Major League Baseball is already attracting a lot of attention even before it begins. “Travel agencies are already receiving a lot of inquiries to watch the historic opening game,” Japanese media outlet TV Asahi reported. “In the case of Korean tours, the cost may be cheaper than watching the games in the U.S., but ticket prices may skyrocket,” a travel agency source said. Seoul is so close that it takes only 2 hours and 30 minutes by plane with Japan, and Gocheok Sky Dome is located in southwestern Seoul that it is not far from Incheon International Airport or Gimpo International Airport, making it enough for Japanese tourists to come.
In comparison, the capacity is 16,000 seats, which is not a lot. As a result, fierce ticketing is expected, and it seems that players are also being asked to vote. Darvish also mentioned the news of the confirmation of the Seoul series schedule, saying, “It seems difficult to get a ticket because the stadium is small. I’m getting a call asking for a ticket.”
Both Dodgers and San Diego are popular in East Asia. In the case of the Dodgers, Korean players such as Park Chan-ho (1994-2001, 2008), Ryu Hyun-jin (2013-2019), Choi Hee-sup (2004-2005), Seo Jae-eung (2006) and other Japanese players such as Hideo Nomo (1995-1998 and 2002-2004), Kazuhisa Ishii (2002-2004), Takashi Saito (2006-2008), Hiroki Kuroda (2008-2011), Kenta Maeda (2016-2019), and Yu Darvish (2017) also played for San Diego in the past, and Kim Ha-sung and Choi Ji-man and Darvish played last year.
On top of that, the team has started recruiting more players ahead of this season. The Dodgers, which had no Asian player at all last year, signed a 10-year contract worth 700 million U.S. dollars with Shohei Ohtani in December last year. The Kansas City Chiefs of the U.S. National Football League broke the North American professional sports record of 450 million dollars that they earned to Patrick Mahomes, their starting quarterback, in 2020. Among the overall hitters in the big league, he played in 701 games with a batting average of 0.274 (681 hits in 2483 times at bat), 171 homers with 437 RBIs, 428 runs scored, 86 steals, an on-base percentage of 0.556, an OPS of 0.922, and a pitcher of 86 games as starters, recording 38 wins and 19 losses with an ERA of 3.01, 608 strikeouts in 481 ⅔ innings, 173 walks, and 1.08 WHIP, winning two MVP and rookie awards. He was named the biggest player in the FA market.
In addition, the Dodgers secured the highest 12-year, 325 million-dollar contract for pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the best pitcher in the Japanese professional baseball league. Having pitched in 172 NPB games, he has established himself as the NPB’s best pitcher by winning the Sawamura Award (2021-2023) for three consecutive years with 70 wins, 29 losses and one save and an earned run average of 1.82. Last year, he also started all three games and recorded 16 wins, 6 losses with an earned run average of 1.21 and a total of 34 walks (28 walks, 6 balls) and 169 strikeouts in 164 innings. Nevertheless, he had only two homers, a hit rate of 0.198 and a WHIP (per-inning on-base permit rate) of 0.88, recording 91.3 percent of quality start (more than six innings and less than three earned runs).
In contrast, San Diego already has Kim Ha-sung, who won the Gold Glove Award in the utility category of the National League last year, and Darvish, a 103-win veteran of the big league. On top of that, they recruited two Korean and Japanese national closers ahead of this season. They were Ko Woo-suk (26) and Yuki Matsui (29). Ko Woo-suk joined the San Diego Padres in 2017 and recorded up to 9.4 million U.S. dollars for 2+1 years. He joined the LG Twins in 2017 and recorded 19 wins, 26 losses, 139 saves, an ERA of 3.18, and 401 strikeouts in 368 ⅓ innings in 354 games. In 2022, he garnered 42 saves to rank No. 1 in this category. He also has a lot of experience as a national flag bearer at the 2019 Premier 12 and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
Prior to this, Matsui signed a five-year, 28 million-dollar contract at the end of last month. Matsui, who entered the professional league after being drafted first by the Rakuten Golden Eagles in the 2013 NPB Rookie Draft, pitched in 501 games and posted 25 wins, 46 losses, 236 saves with an ERA of 2.40. He won three saves in total, and became the youngest NPB player to make 100 saves in 2018, and the youngest to make 200 saves last year.
As such, there are already six Asian players (2 Dodgers and 4 San Diego) in both teams, so the Seoul series is a showdown between major league teams and also has the special characteristics of a match between Korea and Japan.
Earlier, Koo Young-yeon, president of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), discussed with Jim Small, senior vice president of MLB, who visited Korea in May 2022 on how to host MLB Asia Tour games and MLB opening games in Korea. In the former case, it was scheduled to be held in November of that year, but it was canceled suddenly, but the latter was constantly mentioned. Eventually, the secretariat and the Players’ Union (MLBPA) said in July last year that “the MLB World Tour will be held in four countries outside the United States and Canada during the 2024 MLB regular season,” including the Seoul Series.
It is the first MLB regular season game to be held in Korea. It is also the ninth opening series in MLB history outside of 50 U.S. states and Canada, and the third in Asia-Oceania after Japan and Australia. The St. Louis Cardinals (1958) and Detroit Tigers (1959) have visited Korea to play, but it was only a friendly game.
The Major League Baseball secretariat has played several games in Asia, Europe, and Oceania countries to expand the base of baseball. Due to COVID-19, games were not held outside the U.S. and Canada for three years from 2020, but regular season games were held in Mexico City (Mexico) and London (UK) last year.
MLB is very excited as it prepares for international games in various countries in 2024, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “With our recent efforts, strong aspirations for baseball have begun to emerge around the world, and on the basis of that, we are looking forward to the 2024 regular season games 헤라카지노도메인 held again in Mexico City and London following 2023 and the season opener in Korea for the first time in history.”
In addition, Dodgers Chairman Stan Casten said, “We are very happy to have a meaningful MLB game for the first time in history next season in front of Korean baseball fans who have excellent knowledge and enthusiasm for baseball.” “The Dodgers have a proud and long history to help the growth of baseball around the world by participating in international away games in Mexico, China, and Australia, and we are very excited to add Korea to this.” Our Dodgers players are very excited to be able to unfold our talents in Korea with rich baseball traditions and talents, including Korean players who have previously belonged to the Dodgers such as Park Chan-ho, Choi Hee-sup, and Ryu Hyun-jin.”
San Diego CEO Eric Groopner also said, “I’m very excited to play MLB in Korea for the first time ever. Korea is a truly remarkable baseball country with a wealth of baseball traditions, passionate fans, and outstanding players. The Padres are proud to participate in the historical 2024 opening series in Korea as a global ambassador with the Dodgers.”
Both teams have a lot of experience in games outside of North America. The Dodgers has participated in a total of six international games since its first overseas game against the Montreal Expos in Puerto Rico in 1988, and the San Diego Padres has played a total of seven international games, including a regular season game against San Francisco on May 1 last year in Mexico City.
