Baseball's official opening day is more than a week away. That's when all 30 Major League teams will be playing.
But the season gets off to an early start on Wednesday in South Korea, where baseball has a history dating back more than a hundred years — and much more recent ties with American sports fans.
About four years ago, the only pro baseball on American television came from South Korea.
ESPN broadcasted professional Korean baseball games during the pandemic while Major League teams suspended play until late July of that year.
This year, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres are starting their seasons in Seoul with a pair of games on Wednesday and Thursday.
The teams have been in town for a few days playing some exhibition games.
On Monday, Padre Kim Ha-Seong smashed a pair of homers in a 5-4 win against his former Korean team, the Kiwoom Heroes — while another former member of the Heroes, Go Woo-suk, closed the game for the Padres.
A total of 25 South Koreans have played in the Major Leagues starting with Chan Ho Park, who broke in with the Dodgers in the 1990’s.
His Dodger teammate for a time was pitcher Hideo Nomo, the first Japanese to play in the major leagues since the 1960’s.
In 2022, the Dodgers also signed Chin-Feng Chen, the first Taiwanese player in the majors.
The Dodgers don’t currently have any Koreans on their roster, but their most popular player this week in Seoul is from neighboring Japan: superstar Shohei Ohtani.
