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Do you miss live baseball? It’s time to get your baseball fix!
With the dearth of live sports, ESPN has struck a deal to air six KBO games per week. KBO has already kicked off its 2020 season on May 5th, and it is hoping to play a full 144-game season. The league will be shut down for 3 weeks, however, if a player or coach is found to be infected with COVID-19. But that’s a good safety measure.
What are the major differences between MLB and KBO?
1. Teams and Games
While MLB teams play 162 games, KBO teams play only a 144-game season. We know that MLB has two leagues, with 3 divisions for each. For KBO, there is only one league with no divisions. Also, KBO has just one-third as many teams as MLB.
Here are the 10 KBO teams:
- Kiwoom Heroes
- LG Twins
- Doosan Bears
- SK Wyverns
- KT Wiz
- NC Dinos
- Samsung Lions
- Lotte Giants
- Kia Tigers
- Hanwha Eagles.
The teams are not identified by geographical location, and they have their sponsors included in their names instead.
2. Playoffs
KBO has fewer teams, so the playoff format is different as well. The top 5 teams with the best records during the regular season will advance to the playoffs. No. 4 and No. 5 teams will play another wild-card best-of-three series, and the winner will face No. 3 in a best-of-five series.
But No. 5 team would automatically start with 0-1 against No. 4 team. This means that No. 4 team would only need to win one game. Following that, the winner of the best-of-five series will play against No. 2 team to reach the finals.
3. Strategy
In MLB, it’s all about using the best player against another best. You would see Dodger’s Clayton Kershaw trying to pitch a ball as fast as he can, while hitters try to make a home run out of it. But you are going to see something different in KBO.
KBO focuses more on teamwork. They might not have the best pitcher in the team, but they would win against a team with the best pitcher by stealing bases and more.
In the drama “Stove League,” Im Dong-Gyu (Jo Han-Sun) was one of the star players in Dreams. But the general manager Baek Seung-Soo (Namkoong Min) decided to kick him out of the team. He claimed that there were many reasons, but the biggest one of them all, was Im Dong-Gyu’s off-putting personality.
In other words, the general manager of Dreams decided to trade a competent player off because he couldn’t work well in a team, even though that player was one of the top three hitters in the entire league.
4. Player Stunts
Bat flips are seen as a form of disrespect in MLB. And this is also where it sets KBO apart. KBO is full of exciting games with interesting bat flips!
You might want to get to know more about KBO through the drama “Stove League“! It follows the story of a general manager who works behind the scenes to help his baseball team (which has always been ranking last) win in the coming season.
You can find many similarities between the drama and the long history of KBO. For example, LG Twins had implemented a new salary policy back in 2010 and the fictional baseball team Dreams in “Stove League” did something similar.
The complete series of “Stove League” can be found on KOCOWA. Subscribe to KOCOWA and you can start binge-watching right away!
Are you watching or going to watch KBO on ESPN? If you have, how do you find it?
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