Why Are The Dodgers Playing in Korea?
In 1994, the Dodgers became South Korea’s unofficial Major League Baseball team when pitcher Chan Ho Park debuted as the league’s first player of Korean descent.
Park’s gradual rise to stardom — he would go 80-54 for the Dodgers from 1996-2001, with a 3.77 ERA — still reverberates to this day. Wednesday and Thursday, the Dodgers and San Diego Padres will kick off MLB’s regular season in Seoul.
Korean journalist Daniel Kim told Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain that the Seoul Series tickets are the most sold-out events since “maybe a BTS concert.” Given the Dodgers’ popularity in Korea, MLB would be foolish to waste the marketing opportunity — if the Dodgers and one other team were willing to go.
“Dodger organization and Korean baseball fans, we go way back to the ’90s. Exactly 30 years ago, when Chan Ho Park became the first ever Korean player to play in the majors.”
— Korean journalist Daniel Kim, via Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain.
Yet the historic debut of one player only partially explains why the Dodgers are kicking off a new season halfway around the world, with the first MLB games on Korean soil (or Astroturf).
The Dodgers stormed through the offseason by pillaging the best talent on the free agent market. The two highest-paid free agents, two-way star Shohei Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, are of Japanese descent. Ohtani already has plenty of fans in Korea, including the CEO of the country’s number-2 financial firm. The Japanese media attention has naturally followed the two players to Seoul.
Earlier this year, NPB Commissioner Sadayuki Sakakibara reportedly confirmed that the league is “already in discussions with MLB about bringing a series to Tokyo in 2025.” But the arrival of the two Japanese stars might have come too late to plan a game in Japan for next year.
Another reason why Korea is the first stop on the Dodgers’ expected Asian tour: San Diego Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, who last year became the first player of Korean descent to win a Gold Glove award. The Padres’ presence as the Dodgers’ foil is not incidental.
Kim, the Korean journalist, believes the crowd’s loyalties will be split.
“I’m glad that it’s the Dodgers that’s one of the teams that’s here. The L.A. logo, the Dodger Blue, has been a presence in Korea. Even without the Seoul Series, you saw a ton of Dodger caps in Korea, hoodies and things like that. I know Ha-Seong Kim is on the Padres, he’s gonna get a lot of cheers. But at the end of the day, the Dodgers organization has done historically a lot for Korean baseball community. So if there was going to be a major league baseball game in Korea, I think it’s fitting that the Dodgers are one of the teams that’s going to be playing in it.
“There are so many Dodger fans here in Korea and they get to see their favorite players in person. So it’s a celebration.”
— Korean journalist Daniel Kim, via Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports
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