It may not fit your usual baseball-viewing schedule, but the World Wide Leader in Sports has reached a deal with South Korea’s major baseball league, the Korean Baseball Organization. Live-televised games begin this week.
It has now been almost two months since all American sports were suspended, but for MLB fans currently hoping for a return of anything that resembles baseball… the time has finally come.
On Monday, just one day before the Korean Baseball Organization’s Opening Day (Tuesday, May 5), ESPN announced that it had reached an agreement with Eciat Media Group regarding the KBO League — South Korea’s most popular sports league. ESPN will televise KBO games during the 2020 regular season, starting with the league’s opening day on Tuesday, and it’s schedule will feature six games per week primarily on ESPN 2 (although, Tuesday’s season opener will air on ESPN at 1:00 A.M. eastern time).
ESPN’s Executive Vice President, Burke Magnus, was thrilled to get a deal done Monday:
"“We’re thrilled to become the exclusive English-language home to the KBO League and to showcase its compelling action and high-level of competition. We have a long-standing history of documenting the game of baseball and we’re excited to deliver these live events to sports fans.”"
ESPN’s broadcast will, of course, operate remotely — this week’s commentators including Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez, Jon Sciambi, Kyle Peterson and Jessica Mendoza — and the game-times are certainly not ideal (most games feature a first-pitch before sunrise on the East Coast), but with the help of TiVO and a little creativity one can easily follow the KBO just like it were every-day MLB games.
ESPN’s deal also includes the KBO’s postseason and its Korea Series (the league’s best-of-seven championship series, similar to MLB’s World Series); however, right now it appears the agreement reached Monday is based on a week-by-week basis regarding game selections (which are made by ESPN). Here’s the slate for this week’s games (via Jay Jaffe at FanGraphs), including Tuesday’s Opening Day matchup between the NC Dinos and Samsung Lions:
| Date | Time (ET) | Game | Commentators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tues, May 5 | 1 AM | NC Dinos vs. Samsung Lions | Ravech, Perez |
| Wed, May 6 | 5:30 AM | Doosan Bears vs. LG Twins | Ravech, Perez |
| Thurs, May 7 | 5:30 AM | NC Dinos vs. Samsung Lions | Ravech, Perez |
| Fri, May 8 | 5:30 AM | KIA Tigers vs. Samsung Lions | Sciambi, Peterson |
| Sat, May 9 | 4 AM | LG Twins vs. NC Dinos | Sciambi, Mendoza |
| Sun, May 10 | 1 AM | LG Twins vs. NC Dinos | Sciambi, Mendoza |
This is an opportunity for not only American baseball fans to get a first-hand look at the KBO, but also a chance for a world-class league to be introduced globally. The KBO, which was founded as a six-team league in 1982, is considered the best class of baseball in South Korea, and has grown to what’s currently a 10-team league. KBO baseball is similar to MLB in many ways, however, in the KBO there are limits regarding foreign born players. In 2014, the league increased its foreign-player cap from two to three players. Also, the designated-hitter is universal in the KBO, and extra-inning limits are imposed for the regular season (12 innings) and postseason games (15 innings).
Unlike Japan’s NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball), it’s quite rare for KBO players to make the move to MLB, however former Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting pitcher Ryu Hyun-Jin is one notable player who made the transition that’s still active today in the majors.
For a nice overview of the KBO’s current stars, on Monday CBS Sports‘ R.J. Anderson put together a list featuring the league’s ten-best players.
So set your DVRs or set your alarms for… extra early. Baseball is finally coming back on Tuesday. Perhaps an exciting 2020 Korean Baseball Organization season will give MLB even more inspiration to successfully devise a plan for its own season. Regardless, there will be real live baseball available soon.