SEOUL– The 2023 South Korean baseball season will begin on April 1.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced the schedule for the new season on Tuesday. The league’s 10 clubs will each play 144 games, starting with two games on the opening weekend.
The defending champions SSG Landers will host the Kia Tigers at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, just west of Seoul, to begin their title defense.
The other opening weekend matchups are: the Lotte Giants at the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul; the Hanwha Eagles at the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul; the LG Twins at the KT Wiz at KT Wiz Park in Suwon; and the NC Dinos at the Samsung Lions at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu.
Teams will play the regularly-scheduled portion of games through Sept. 10. Rained out games will be made up starting the following week.
Beginning in 2023, the KBO will do away with late-season, two-game sets, after teams had complained about excessive traveling and increased injury risks in late days of the season.
The two-game series ensured that every team played each other 16 times and had the exact same number of home games and road games, 72 apiece.
Starting next season, teams will alternate in having 73 home games one season and 73 road games the next season.
For 2023, the Landers, the Wiz, the Giants, the Bears and the Eagles will have 73 home games. The rest of the league — the Heroes, the Twins, the Tigers, the Dinos and the Lions — will play 73 times at home in 2024.
The All-Star Game will be played on July 15, and the league will have the annual midsummer break from July 14 to 20.
On the other hand, the KBO will not pause during the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in September.
Source: Yonhap News Agency