KBO League Season 2020: Everything About the Game

The 39th season of KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) is beginning from 5th May 2020 after a week-long delay due to coronavirus. It was originally scheduled for 28 March 2020.

Introduction — KBO League season 2020:

All thanks to the quick & aggressive actions taken by the South Korean Government in response to Coronavirus pandemic. With single-digit cases reported in mid of April, the country is slowly and gradually restoring to normal.

The good news for sports freaks is the highest level of baseball played in South Korea, KBO is rescheduled to kick off on the 5th of May 2020. It was about six weeks ago that everyone was just envisioning watching the game live. The sounds of the bats smacking the ball and the ball hitting the catcher’s mitt have already begun in the stadium.

The usual 144 games schedule will be played by every KBO team. In case, the coach or any player gets infected by COVID-19, the game will be stopped for at least three coming weeks in a row. If you are envisioning the thunderous crowd cheering for their team in the stadium — it is not going to happen this time. There won’t be fans in the stadium. However, they can watch a broadcast game.

With Major League Baseball, on indefinite hiatus due to COVID-19 and KBO the only game in the town currently, American fans too can change now. And, therefore, we are putting together the nuts, and bolts of KBO to educate every sports freak and enjoy the swashbuckling performances by the participating teams.

2020 KBO League season Schedule:

Initially, the KBO 2020 schedules were announced in December 2019 with the opening day being 28th March 2020. Later due to the spread of coronavirus in South Korea, there was an announcement from Korea Baseball Organization that the games are temporarily being canceled until April 2020. On 21s April itself the Preseason KBO League games and regular games were scheduled to begin from 5th May 2020.

General information about KBO Teams:

KBO has 10 active teams. The name of these teams isn't based on their Geographical location like the MLA norms. The team includes Lotte Giants, Samsung Lions, the Doosan Bears, LG Twins, and Kia Tigers ~ the five older ones each founded in 1982. The other five found newly include Kiwoom Heroes (2008), the KT Wiz (2015), the Hanwha Eagles, SK Wyverns, and NC Dinos (2013).

KBO Best Team:

KBO’s most dominating team in recent times has been the Doosan Bears. They are behind only the Samsung Lions with respect to KBO franchises postseason appearances numbering to 22. Bears were the winners of the 2019 Korean series which is the third title to their name in the last five years. The Lions & Bears have second & third championships at their names with eight & six titles respectively. The Kia Tigers with a total of 11 titles to their names are on the top.

The Best Players of KBO:

Left-hander Hyeon-jong Yang of team Kia Tigers were given the top performer for 2019 KBO games. Over his 184 innings, he posted an overwhelming 2.29 ERA with five times as many batters as he walked. He made strides with commands. In his five beginning seasons, he had walked around five for every nine innings.

Eui-Ji Yang belonging to team NC Dinos, on the other hand, is the best performer as a position player. He has to his name, more walks than strikeouts with hits. 354/.438/.574 and 20 home runs. Initially, he was a part of team Doosan Bears, however, in 2018 he signed a pact worth $10 million for five-years. This was the second biggest contract signed in KBO after Dae-ho Lee & he Lotte Giants deal.

Season Structure of KBO:

Each of the KBO teams has to play a 144-game season. In KBO, each team has to play the other nine for a balanced schedule. Although the KBO season 2020 has begun later than it was originally scheduled, it still has a schedule for a complete 144-game slate.

KBO: A New Brand of Baseball for Americans

Now Americans can watch Korea’s professional baseball league, KBO ESPN 2, and the ESPN app. KBO is undoubtedly a new brand of baseball for Americans where raucous crowds and bats flips are just normal. As the US sports keeps its doors shut because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the only option left for the American audience is Korean baseball.

Prior to COVID-19 sports shut down in America, the Korean Baseball was more of a highlight-drive. The sports-hungry audience would just catch up on the highlights & the cool moments on various social media sites — and that was it. It was Dan Kurtz’s love for KBO (which came during his study in Korea) that the game returned to America. Since 2000, for the past 20 years, he has been compiling and writing about KBO in English. He’s been actively talking about the game on various social media channels including YouTube. So, watch the complete KBO season 2020 to uncover ~ who is closest to Mike Trout in KBO, whose game resembles that of the Yankees and more such interesting things.