Dodgers to face KBO club Heroes to launch MLB preseason in Seoul

The preseason schedule in Seoul for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, the two Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs opening their new season in South Korea, was released Wednesday.

Coupang Play, a South Korean streaming service and the official presenting partner for the MLB World Tour Seoul Series, announced that the Dodgers will kick off the slate of preseason games here at noon March 17 against the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

Then at 7 p.m. the same day, the Padres will face the South Korean national team.

At noon March 18, the Padres will play the defending Korean Series champions, the LG Twins. The Dodgers will follow that up with a game against the Korean national team at 7 p.m. the same day.

All games will be played at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.

The dome will then host the two regular-season games between the Dodgers and the Padres on March 20 and 21, with both games starting at 7:05 p.m. These will be the first MLB regular-season games ever to be played in South Korea.

Tickets for the four preseason and two regular season games will be available exclusively on Coupang Play’s website (https://www.coupangplay.com/promotion/mlb-seoul-series) for subscribers of the Coupang Wow premium service.

Tickets for the six games will go on sale over the next six Fridays, starting this week.

For instance, tickets for the March 20 game can be purchased on Coupang Play starting at 8 p.m. this Friday. And those for the March 21 game will go on sale online at 8 p.m. on March 1. The ticketing windows for the four preseason games will open on the four Fridays in between: Feb. 2, 9, 16 and 23.

Both the Dodgers and the Padres have strong Korean connections. It was 30 years ago that former pitcher Park Chan-ho became the first South Korean to appear in an MLB game when he made his debut with the Dodgers. The Los Angeles club later featured South Korean left-hander Ryu Hyun-jin in their rotation, and Ryu capped his seven-year run in 2019 by leading the majors in ERA and finishing second in the National League Cy Young Award voting.

The Padres currently have two South Korean players in tow: Kim Ha-seong, a former Kiwoom Hero who in 2023 became the first Asian infielder to win a Gold Glove, and Go Woo-suk, an ex-LG Twins closer who signed a two-year deal with San Diego earlier this month.

The South Korean national team is expected to feature some of the KBO’s brightest young stars, including Roh Si-hwan of the Hanwha Eagles, runner-up in the 2023 KBO most valuable player award voting, and Kim Hye-seong of the Heroes, a defensive whiz at second base who will be posted for MLB clubs after the 2024 season.

The KBO is expected to name the national team manager early next month and fill out the roster.