2024 MLB regular season Seoul Series kicks off, everything you need to know

The Major League Baseball regular season will be held in South Korea for the first time. NL West rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres will open the 2024 season Wednesday with a pair of games in Seoul, South Korea. The game will be held at the Gocheok Skydome, home of the Korean baseball organization Kium Heroes.

“I’m really looking forward to learning more about the culture, the city,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said at the winter meetings in December. “Obviously there’s a lot of good players out there, so it’s good for baseball for us and the Padres to be able to go out there and showcase and play two regular-season games.”

This is the first time Major League Baseball (MLB) has kicked off the regular season with an international event since the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners opened the year in Tokyo in 2019. These two games were the final two games of Suzuki’s Hall of Fame career. Here are the details for the two-game Seoul series:

Both games will start at 7:05 pm local time in Seoul, so South Korea will have a night game and the United States will have an early morning game. Over the weekend, the Dodgers and Padres played two exhibition games against the KBO Club and South Korea, respectively, in preparation for the Seoul Series. Both teams have also participated in youth clinics and other promotional events in recent days.

The Padres will be the home team on March 20 and the Dodgers will be the home team on March 21.

1. Park will throw out the first pitch

Chan-Ho Park, the first Korean-born player in MLB history and a former member of the Dodgers and Padres, will pitch the No. 1 pitch ahead of the season opener on March 20. One ball.

Park, 50, made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the Dodgers in April 1994. 17 seasons. Parker went 124-98 with a 4.36 ERA in 1,993 MLB innings.

Park has served as a special advisor to San Diego’s front office since 2017.

2. This is the return of gold

Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, who was born and raised outside Seoul, will return to his hometown ballpark for the Seoul Series in addition to returning to his home country. From 2014-20, he starred in the Kiwoom Heroes (formerly Nexen Heroes), where Gocheok Skydome is his home stadium. Expect Kim Jong Un to receive a hero’s welcome in his hometown.

“I don’t have a favorite moment,” King told MLB.com last summer when asked about his time as a KBO player. “I remember all the games I played there. I can recall everything. I would say all the moments were great. I played hard and I’m proud of it.”

It is worth noting that the Gocheok Skydome has been upgraded this season. The building features new lights, new lawns, a renovated clubhouse and more.

While with the Heroes, King was a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, given annually to the best all-around player at each position. This isn’t strictly a defensive bonus. gold, He is now the shortstop for San Diego, compiled a .294/.373/.493 batting line in seven KBO seasons. He signed a four-year, $28 million contract with the Padres in January 2021 and will become a free agent after 2024.

3. Each team will send additional players

This is not surprising. The Dodgers and Padres will use standard 26-man rosters for the two games of the Seoul Series, though each team will bring five additional players as potential injury replacements for the two games before the Seoul Series. Exhibition match. Here are the 31 players the Dodgers brought to South Korea:

There have been questions about whether Blake Treinen, who brought a returning player to midfield last week, is healthy enough to make the trip, but he is indeed on the travel list. Trenin did not play at all last season as he recovered from shoulder surgery.

Here are the 31 players on the Padres’ trip:

Attention Dylan Seth, Acquired from the Chicago White Sox in a trade last week, is on the travel roster, although he is not scheduled to play in a game. Being traded too late to complete the team charter, he had to fly to Seoul.

4. The starter can pitch off the bench

McCulkin

SD • RP • #34

2023 Statistics

era2.75

whip1.15

intellectual property104.2

BB32

K127

checking data

Padres manager Mike Shildt said McCulkin, who will be in the rotation this season, will be in the bullpen for the Seoul series. This is a two-game series with a seven-day break before the next regular season game, so King doesn’t need to start Game 3 because there is no Game 3 in this series. Using him in the bullpen makes perfect sense.

“When I was told I was going to be in the bullpen in Seoul, I was very excited,” Kim recently told MLB.com. “Because I really just want to pitch in that atmosphere. I’m sure if I started one of those exhibition games (against a KBO team) it would be a great atmosphere. But when the game is important, you want to Big games to pitch.

Pitching out of the bullpen is nothing new for King, who was acquired from the New York Yankees in the Juan Soto trade. King was a dynamic playmaker for New York from 2022 through mid-August 2023, pitching 116 innings, striking out 143 and posting a 2.64 ERA. He then moved into the rotation and finished 2023 with a 1.88 ERA in eight starts.

5. More international events are coming soon

The Seoul Series is part of Major League Baseball’s internationalization process. This will be neither the first nor the last international game played by Major League Baseball in 2024. Here is the remaining international fixture list for 2024:

The Yankees’ two games against Diablo Rojos were exhibition games (Diablo Rojos is the Yankees of the Mexican League in terms of number of championships, historical significance, etc.). All other international series listed above are regular season events, although Seoul is the only new location. Major League Baseball has already played its regular season games in Mexico City and London.

6. Dodgers and Padres still have to finish spring training

After the Seoul series, the Dodgers and Padres will travel to Southern California to wrap up their exhibition seasons. It’s a long trip with major changes — it’s about a 13-hour flight from spring training in Phoenix to Seoul, and a 16-hour time difference — and both teams will have a few days to adjust and recover after two games. normal. Here’s their upcoming schedule:

It’s two regular season games in Seoul, a few days off, a few final spring exhibition games, another day off, and then back to regular season baseball. Granted, it’s an unusual schedule, but it’s necessary given the travel involved.