SEOUL — Watch the scene that stirred Monday afternoon right here, and the homecoming that San Diego Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim cemented with a pair of dwelling runs in his return to Gocheok Skydome, and it clicked. Mentioned Padres supervisor Mike Shildt: “Can’t script it significantly better.”
The identical goes for the membership occupying the house dugout this week in Seoul. It’s been 30 years since Chan Ho Park debuted for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who’re in South Korea with a brand new touring band of superstars that solely added to the franchise’s enchantment within the area. In spending greater than $1 billion to accumulate transcontinental superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, every born only a quick flight away in Japan, the staff has nicely established its place because the preeminent major-league membership this facet of the Pacific.
“These two groups are an ideal match,” Jeremiah Yolkut, Main League Baseball’s vice chairman of world occasions, instructed The Athletic forward of the primary MLB regular-season video games ever in South Korea.
The opening recreation begins Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Korea, or 6 a.m. ET in the USA. Right here’s how the groups wound up right here:
What does this imply for the groups?
A mission that began in earnest three to 4 years in the past couldn’t have lined up significantly better.
For the Padres, Kim will get to return to the identical ballpark the place he starred with the Korea Baseball Group’s Kiwoom Heroes. It additionally marked an opportunity for free-agent signee Woo Suk Go to sq. off in exhibition motion towards the identical LG Twins squad he closed out a KBO title with simply final season.
For the Dodgers, there’s a world stage to launch considered one of their most extremely anticipated seasons ever and an opportunity to faucet additional right into a market that, as supervisor Dave Roberts put it, the group needs to “paint blue.”
How did MLB choose Korea?
As Main League Baseball charted out its subsequent batch of worldwide video games following the ratification of the most recent collective bargaining settlement, an apparent market emerged: Asia, the place the league final opened an everyday season in 2019 with a Seattle Mariners–Oakland Athletics sequence in Tokyo.
And whereas a return to Japan and its huge market share made sense — and seems to be within the playing cards once more for 2025 — South Korea, and significantly Seoul, rapidly emerged as a contender.
Town, and Gocheok Skydome, had beforehand partnered with the league to host a part of the opening rounds of the 2017 World Baseball Basic, a check case to see if the town and facility had the correct infrastructure for potential future video games. Extra work continued as soon as the choice was finalized, together with refurbishing the turf fields and guaranteeing sufficient clubhouse and weight room area to accommodate full-fledged video games.
“It’s simply ensuring we’ve got all the things as wanted in order that the Dodgers and Padres actually wouldn’t know the distinction between taking part in right here and taking part in again within the States,” Yolkut stated.
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How is the Korea Collection being obtained?
Tickets to South Korea’s first major-league regular-season video games reportedly bought out inside an hour. Ohtani’s Dodgers debut and Kim’s return to his dwelling ballpark have been an excessive amount of to withstand.
However the market’s total viability and development, the league hopes, will likely be spotlighted over the complete week, with Yolkut pointing to the exhibitions every staff performed towards the Heroes, Twins and Workforce Korea over the previous few days for example.
When Heroes right-hander Ariel Jurado, who pitched components of three seasons within the majors with the Texas Rangers and New York Mets, struck out Ohtani twice in his exhibition, he hoped scouts have been in a position to watch. When Kiwoom third baseman Sung Mun Tune drove a two-run double off the wall in his style of major-league motion, he referred to as it “the very best day ever of my life,” in accordance with a stay translation. Roberts raved about Dodgers scouts’ analysis of Workforce Korea second baseman Hye Seong Kim, who may very well be on big-league groups’ radar as quickly as this winter.
The hope, Yolkut stated, is to make use of it as a possible jumping-off level for not simply drawing consideration to the video games, however forming connections with the native fan base so that they proceed following Main League Baseball.
“We simply want increasingly urge for food for baseball on this market each from a stay occasion perspective and wanting us to be right here, but in addition from merchandise gross sales, enterprise gross sales and watching our video games on the completely different platforms,” Yolkut stated. “We are able to do this on this nation. So it continues to be a market that’s burgeoning. Much more, they need to be part of it so we need to hold that relationship shut.”
Will MLB play extra video games in Korea?
This will likely be a check case. But when the primary few days in Seoul are any indication, it may very well be a market the league returns to because it cycles by worldwide websites.
“As you can inform with the power already we’re seeing out there, the arrival on the airport, what we’re seeing across the metropolis and folks on the inns, watching the gamers come out and in of the inns, they simply need extra,” Yolkut stated. “So I undoubtedly assume Korea will likely be within the working as we take a look at what the play plan will appear to be sooner or later.”
(Picture of Manny Machado and Ha-Seong Kim with members of the LG Twins: Lee Jin-man / Related Press)