Professional Baseball Begins – in Korea

While we continue to wonder if and when MLB baseball teams will take the field again, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will have kicked off by the time this posts. ESPN will even be airing some of these games, so there will be actual live baseball on American TV – most likely while you are fast asleep, but still…live baseball! ESPN will be showing six games a week during the regular season, generally airing with start times between 1am and 5:30am.

Personally, I’m actually pretty excited. I have missed watching baseball and while I would like to be watching the Yankees, I am pretty interested in the KBO. I grew up in Korea in the 80s and have always been curious about the league, so this is a great opportunity to see it in action. Though I’ll be honest, it’ll be recorded or the replay. I miss baseball, but not enough to wake up in the wee hours of the mornings.

If you are interested in learning more about the KBO, here are a few facts and links to check out:

The KBO has ten teams. These are: the Doosan Bears, Kia Tigers, LG Twins, Lotte Giants, and Samsung Lions, all having been founded in 1982. Then came the Hanwa Eagles, SK Wyverns, KT Wiz , NC Dinos, and Kiwoom Heroes.

The Kia Tigers are widely considered the “New York Yankees” of the KBO. They have 11 championships, five of which were in the 80s and the most recent being in 2017. They aren’t looking particularly strong this year, however.

There are a handful of former MLB players in the league.

Here are some ideas on who you might want to cheer for in the KBO.

And here are some players to keep an eye out for as potential MLB prospects.