The 2024 MLB Seoul Series: Everything You Need To Know

For the very first time, the MLB season is kicking off in South Korea. While the other 28 teams will open the season on Mar. 28, 2024, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres will get things going a week earlier with a two-game series at Gocheok SkyDome in Seoul.

From how to watch the games to when they all take place, here is a rundown of every key detail about the upcoming 2024 MLB World Tour: Seoul Series.

Who Is Playing in the MLB Seoul Series?

The Dodgers and Padres will open the MLB season with a pair of regulation games at Gocheok SkyDome in Seoul. Before that, however, two clubs from the KBO League, and Team Korea itself, will get a chance to face off against the MLB squads.

The Dodgers will play an exhibition match against the Kiwoom Heroes, while the Padres will take on the LG Twins. Both MLB clubs will also play against the South Korean national team.

The Padres will be in for a particular challenge, since the Twins are the reigning Korean Series champions. The Dodgers could have things slightly easier; the Heroes finished below .500 last season and recently lost their superstar to the San Francisco Giants. (Perhaps you’ve heard of a guy named Jung Hoo Lee?)

Team Korea certainly won’t make things easy for either the Dodgers or Padres, but the national team will be playing without Ha-Seong Kim (as he suits up for San Diego), as well as several other players who will remain with their MLB clubs in spring training.

When Does the Seoul Series Start?

The exhibition matches will take place on Mar. 17 and 18, while the regulation games will be held on Mar. 20 and 21. Here is the full schedule for all six games in Seoul:

Don’t forget: South Korea is currently 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and 17 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time. However, there is no daylight savings in South Korea. Once daylight savings time kicks in on Mar. 10, South Korea will only be 13 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time and 16 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time.

Players To Keep an Eye On

MLB Players

All eyes will be on Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. Not only is Kim returning to his home country, but he is returning to his former home stadium; he spent the first seven years of his professional career with the Heroes. He won three consecutive Golden Glove Awards during his final three years in the KBO, and he will surely come home to a warm welcome.

Unlike his new teammate, Woo-Suk Go hasn’t been gone from the KBO for long – he signed his first MLB deal (a two-year, $4.5 million pact with the Padres) this winter. Still, he can also expect a warm welcome when he returns to face the Twins, the team with whom he spent the past seven seasons, pitching to a 3.18 ERA and collecting 139 saves in 354 games.

Finally, this section wouldn’t be complete if I failed to mention the one player everyone in the world wants to watch: Shohei Ohtani. The biggest baseball star on the planet will make his highly-anticipated Dodgers debut during the MLB Seoul Series, and you can bet fans from all around the world will be tuning in – even if the game takes place in the middle of the night in their time zone.

Luckily for fans in Ohtani’s home country, Japan and Korea are in the same time zone. As for those of us in North America? Get ready for a late night – or an early morning.

KBO Players

Much like the Padres have a former Twin in their bullpen, the Twins have a former Padre in their starting rotation. Once a top prospect, Casey Kelly came to San Diego in 2010 as part of the massive trade package for Adrián González. Kelly made his MLB debut with the Padres in 2012, but Tommy John surgery and subsequent struggles limited him to just 40.1 IP with San Diego from 2012-15.

Kelly has had much more success since joining the Twins in 2019, starting at least 27 games in each of the past five seasons with a 3.08 ERA in that time. He was even named a KBO All-Star in 2022. Although his time with the Padres was short, it will be fun to see if he gets in the game against his former team.

One player to look out for on the Heroes is Hye Seong Kim. The 25-year-old infielder hit .335 last season, smacking 29 doubles, six triples, and seven home runs in his best season to date. As reported by Yoo Jee-ho of Yonhap News Agency, the Heroes will post Kim for MLB clubs after the coming season.

Other KBO stars to watch include 23-year-old Bo Gyeong Moon of the Twins, who has ranked among the league leaders in OPS in each of the past two seasons; 29-year-old Chang-ki Hong of the Twins, who led the KBO with a .444 OBP last season; and 23-year-old Woo Jin An of the Heroes, who ranked second among starting pitchers (min. 100 IP) with a 2.39 ERA in 2023.

How To Watch the MLB Seoul Series?

To make things nice and easy for fans in the United States, the MLB Seoul Series will be nationally televised on ESPN. However, the games will be blacked out in Los Angeles and San Diego.

Fans in the L.A. area can watch the games on Spectrum SportsNet LA, while fans in San Diego will be able to watch on Padres.TV, MLB’s streaming option for Padres games. These local broadcasters will also show the exhibition games on Mar. 17 and 18.

In addition, the games will be available on MLB.tv, although normal blackout restrictions will apply. Both of the Padres exhibition games will be made available as MLB.tv’s Free Game of the Day, as will the two regulation games, per the MLB.tv website.