Baseball back in S. Korea as nation emerges from coronavirus pandemic

The scene was eerily quiet. If you were only trying to pick up some sound without seeing what was happening, you wouldn't have guessed that you were at a baseball game. Maybe you could still have heard a pin drop, but as LG Twins left-hander Cha Woo-chan was getting ready to deliver his first pitch of the 2020 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season Tuesday, the few people that were allowed at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul -- media, team officials and cheerleaders -- were waiting with bated breath.

May 5, 2020

KBO club manager sees ESPN deal as 'good opportunity' for promotion

With the global coronavirus pandemic having brought most of the sporting world to a halt, LG Twins manager Ryu Joong-il is grateful for the start of a new South Korean baseball season and also for an opportunity to get the brand out to the international audience. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will become the second pro baseball league, after the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan, to start a season. The Twins will host their Seoul rivals Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadiu

May 5, 2020

ESPN to broadcast S. Korean baseball games

The US sports cable giant ESPN will broadcast South Korean baseball games to its American audience, starting with the first day of the season on Tuesday. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Monday that ESPN has struck a deal with Eclat, the Korean company with international distribution rights to KBO games. ESPN will air one game per day and six games per week, with an opening day game between the Samsung Lions and the NC Dinos leading things off. The game is set to begin at 2 p.m.

May 5, 2020

Baseball league to provide real-time feed of video review

Starting this season, when umpires in South Korean baseball put on their headsets to connect with the league replay center, fans will be able to watch the same feed as officials in the video room. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Monday that it will post replay clips in real time on its website, www.koreabaseball.com, starting with Opening Day on Tuesday. When managers challenge a call, the replay center reviews the play using feeds from about a dozen cameras from the broadcast

May 4, 2020

Baseball managers, players thank frontline medical staff for making season possible

Of the many signs that life in South Korea is returning to normal amid the global coronavirus pandemic, the start of a new baseball season may be among the clearest. After all, if it is safe for grownups to take their bats and gloves and play a game for three hours, then it must be OK to engage in other activities, too. The 2020 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season will start Tuesday after being delayed from the original March 28 Opening Day due to the COVID-19 outbreak. As they prepare fo

May 4, 2020

Another KBO manager voices displeasure with compressed season

The list of South Korean baseball managers unhappy with a compressed schedule for this season is growing. Son Hyuk of the Kiwoom Heroes has joined four other skippers in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) in criticizing the league office for forging ahead with the usual, 144-game schedule, despite the delayed start to the season. The 2020 Opening Day had been set for March 28, but the coronavirus outbreak forced the KBO to postpone it to next Tuesday. The KBO and its board of governors --

April 28, 2020

ESPN nearing deal to broadcast S. Korean baseball games: source

The US sports media giant ESPN is nearing a deal to broadcast South Korean baseball games to its American audience this season, an industry source told Yonhap News Agency on Monday. The source, who requested anonymity because the deal wasn't finalized as of Monday afternoon, said ESPN could air multiple Korea Baseball Organization games per week. The exact duration of the deal and proposed financial terms weren't immediately clear. The KBO's regular season will begin on May 5, pushed back by m

April 27, 2020

[Photo News] Korea ready to play ball amid COVID-19 pandemic

The Korea Baseball Organization announced Tuesday that the 2020 regular season will kick off on May 5, which is also the Children’s Day holiday. The season was postponed from its regular start date of March 28 due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Four exhibition games are to be played for the preseason, one of which started Tuesday and the last to be wrapped up Monday. All exhibition games and early regular season games will be played without fans, amid concerns over the spread of t

April 22, 2020

Baseball league opts for safety in determining new schedule

The number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea has been in decline for the past several days. But in setting the new schedule for the 2020 season, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) was not taking any chances. The KBO announced Tuesday the new season will begin on May 5. The original Opening Day was March 28, but the league had to postpone it due to the coronavirus outbreak. Encouraged by signs of improvement on the quarantine front, the KBO had hoped to open the season as early as May

April 21, 2020

S. Korean baseball regular season to begin May 5

Baseball will be back in South Korea on May 5. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Tuesday that the 2020 regular season, postponed from its March 28 start date due to the coronavirus outbreak, will begin May 5, which is also the Children's Day holiday. The decision was reached at the league's meeting with its board of governors, made up of presidents from the league's 10 clubs. In preparation for the regular season, teams will play exhibition games starting Tuesday. They were init

April 21, 2020

S. Korean baseball to return with preseason action this week

It's time to play ball in South Korea -- some preseason ball, that is. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will open a truncated exhibition season Tuesday, with its 10 clubs scheduled to play four games each through April 27. The coronavirus outbreak forced the KBO to wipe out its original, March 14-24 preseason and also postpone its March 28 Opening Day. But a recent decline in new COVID-19 cases has allowed the league to reschedule its preseason, and it's expected to announce the new regu

April 20, 2020

Baseball league mulling shortening season over coronavirus

The South Korean baseball league is pondering shortening the 2020 regular season by as many as 36 games, with its start having been delayed by the coronavirus outbreak. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) held an executive committee meeting with general managers (GMs) from 10 clubs Tuesday at the league headquarters in Seoul. The season was supposed to have begun last Saturday, but the COVID-19 outbreak forced the KBO to postpone the start indefinitely. Last Tuesday, the board of governors -

March 31, 2020

S. Korean baseball season pushed further back to late April

The South Korean baseball league decided Tuesday to postpone the start of the 2020 season even further to late April, with its hope of beginning in the middle of next month dashed by the coronavirus pandemic. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said the new season will not begin before April 20, following a three hour-plus meeting with a board of governors, made up of 10 club presidents. The new regular season was slated to begin this Saturday, but the COVID-19 outbreak forced the KBO to de

March 24, 2020

2 baseball clubs halt training over coronavirus concerns

Two South Korean baseball clubs halted their offseason training on Tuesday over coronavirus concerns. The Doosan Bears canceled their practice Tuesday after learning that a player had been in secondary contact with a coronavirus patient. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) team said a family member of the player had come in direct contact with the COVID-19 patient at work, and that relative is awaiting test results. In the meantime, all Doosan players have been asked to self-isolate at hom

March 24, 2020

Foreign players in S. Korean baseball set to rejoin teams this week

Just a few weeks ago, when Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) clubs were wrapping up their spring training in places like the United States, Japan and Taiwan, their foreign players, most of them Americans, were rushing to return to their home country. South Korea was struggling to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, while the US appeared to be safe. But the tables have since turned, and those players are now on their way to South Korea. The COVID-19 outbreak forced the KBO to cancel i

March 23, 2020

KBO team cancels practice after player reports fever

A South Korean baseball club canceled its practice and closed its home stadium on Monday after a player reported a fever. The Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said the unidentified player will be tested for the novel coronavirus later in the day, and the rest of the team will be self-isolated in their homes in the meantime. The Giants, based in Busan, 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, came home from their spring training in Australia last Tuesday. They had three days of

March 23, 2020

Sick baseball player tests negative for coronavirus

The South Korean baseball league breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday after an ill minor leaguer tested negative for the novel coronavirus. The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said the player, with their Futures League affiliate Goyang Heroes, will remain quarantined in his team dormitory for 14 days. Both Kiwoom and Goyang were forced to suspend all baseball activities on Monday, and will now resume training on Thursday. The player, who remained unidentified, had a fev

March 17, 2020

Minor league baseball player with fever tested for coronavirus, practices canceled

A South Korean minor league baseball player is awaiting the result of his test for the novel coronavirus after reporting to Monday's practice with a fever. The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization said Monday one player with their Futures League affiliate, Goyang Heroes, had a fever of 38.3 C when he was checked before entering the team's practice facility in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, just west of Seoul. The player, whose identity is being withheld, was immediately tested at a nea

March 16, 2020

Pro baseball league postpones start of regular season over coronavirus

The South Korean professional baseball league decided to push back the start of the regular season indefinitely on Tuesday, amid concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus. Following a meeting with club presidents, the Korea Baseball Organization said the 2020 season will begin sometime in April, instead of March 28 as originally scheduled. It marks the first delay of the KBO regular season since the league's inception in 1982. The league said it had consulted with health experts befo

March 10, 2020

Under virus uncertainty, foreign players for S. Korean baseball clubs to train in home countries

With a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the start of the professional baseball season in virus-hit South Korea, teams' foreign players will train in their home countries for the time being. The Korea Baseball Organization clubs have been scrambling to close their overseas training camps in the past week or so, with more and more countries applying travel restrictions on South Koreans following the COVID-19 outbreak. The Samsung Lions and the LG Twins have returned from Japan. The KT Wiz and

March 9, 2020