Get to know the KBO

You may have heard that ESPN was negotiating to acquire the rights to the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), potentially bringing baseball back to us during our time of quarantine. On Monday, we learned that ESPN would be broadcasting one KBO game per day for the time being. Here's the opening week schedule:

As much fun as the 2005 White Sox retrospective has been, I miss live baseball. I also won’t say no to getting a glimpse at baseball around the world (can we get the Dominican League on TV next?). While the season in Korea has plans to resume (albeit without fans, high-fives, or spitting on the field), we over here in the U.S. are still waiting for some baseball to be played in 2020 (outside of the few spring training games we already got).

Now that we're lucky enough to have KBO on our screens, here are some things to should know that will make us all well-rounded individuals with an understanding of a different baseball league.

The Deal
It was reported last week that ESPN had reached out to their Korean counterpart Eclat to acquire the broadcast rights to the KBO ... for free. That didn’t fly, so ESPN also floated the idea of paying Eclat once a profit had been secured from the KBO broadcasts. ESPN is also offering a month-to-month contract that would allow them to drop KBO programming when (if?) MLB and any other sporting entities return.

RulesThere’s a universal designated hitter in the KBO, so those of you who hate the DH will be mad.

The KBO also plays a maximum number of innings before a tie is declared, which to me seems a thousand times better than Rob Manfred’s nonsense extra innings rule of putting someone on second. The KBO extra-inning rule maxes out at 12 innings during the regular season and 15 during playoffs.

There is also a foreign player limit of three, which brings me to ...

Know your (former) White Sox
Does anyone remember Odrisamer Despaigne from his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearances with the 2019 White Sox? Well, good news if he was your favorite from 2019 — he’s currently signed with the KT Wiz. 

Everyone’s favorite mustache, Tyler Saladino, is expecting to see some time with the Samsung Lions this season.

You can find the whole list of KBO Foreign Players at mykbostats.com, and our friends at MLB Trade Rumors also have a blurb about all the former MLB players who have hopped over to Korea. 

There are only 10 teams
Unlike our packed MLB roster of 30 teams, the KBO is currently only 10 strong.

The KBO schedule isn’t any less rigorous — they play 144 regular season games, as of 2015 when the KT Wiz were added (previously there were only 128 games), with each team playing each other 16 times.

When looking up the teams, I discovered there was once a team called the Hyndai Unicorns and I would have definitely been rooting for them, but alas they are no more (Wikipedia tells me they ceased operations in 2008). Current 2020 teams include:

Doosan Bears (2019 champs)
Hanwha Eagles
Kia Tigers
Kiwoom Heroes
KT Wiz
LG Twins
Lotte Giants
NC Dinos
Samsung Lions
SK Wyvern

My plan for picking a team is currently based on how I pick March Madness brackets: by mascot. Apparently a Wyvern is some kind of dragon, so I'm leaning in that direction. If you need help deciding in a more technical way, Joe Resis really digs into some details about the teams in his companion piece.

So far, the KBO is looking to be our best bet for 2020, so enjoy some semblance of baseball, beginning this week!