All you need to know about the South Korea MLB series featuring the Dodgers and Padres

For the first time ever, Major League Baseball will play regular season games in South Korea. The contests will feature the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. We’ll run down some key information baseball fans will want to know before the first pitch is thrown.

The Dodgers and Padres will square off for a two-game series on March 20 and 21, played just after 7pm in Seoul, South Korea.

Before the two clubs face off for games that count in the standings, they will have plated exhibition contests against local Korean baseball teams such as the Kiwoom Heroes and the LG Twins. Major League Baseball’s website also confirms that the Dodgers will also face a team of Korean All-Stars.

All exhibition games will be held at Gocheok SkyDome in Seoul. According to Bloomberg News, the venue has just shy of 17,000 seats.

The opening game of the series will be Shohei Ohtani’s first regular season tilt with the Dodgers. He signed a 10 year, $700 million contract with the club in the offseason. “I want to put on a good show for everybody,” Ohtani told the Associated Press.

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Ohtani also spoke to the dynamic of Japan and Korea in the athletic arena. “Japan and Korea, they’ve always had a great rivalry when it comes to sports. I’ve always watched the games between Japan and Korea and I always respected, looked up to Team Korea and Korean players,” he told the Associated Press.

Perhaps the Dodgers were a logical choice to participate in MLB’s first regular season game in South Korea. In 1994, Los Angeles signed Chan Ho Park, who became the first Korean-born player to play in the major leagues.

Park pitched in the majors for 17 seasons, nine of which came with the Dodgers. He also pitched for the Padres for two years, according to Baseball Reference. MLB Communications has announced that Park will throw a ceremonial first pitch before the first game of the series.

Los Angeles and San Diego are each allowed to bring 31 players to Seoul for the two game series, but the clubs can only designate 26 players as active for each contest.

The Padres made a blockbuster trade a few days before the start of their regular season. They’ve acquired starting pitcher Dylan Cease from the Chicago White Sox, and have had to slot Cease into their itinerary for Seoul.

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Cease’s new teammate, Padres slugger Manny Machado, is impressed that the pitcher is even with the team in South Korea. “It’s a tough journey,” Machado told the San Diego Union Tribune. “Getting traded and ‘hey, by the way, you’re going to Korea tomorrow…’ he’s a trooper doing that.”

San Diego is excited to have Cease join the top of their starting pitching rotation, but he won’t be available to pitch in the two games against the Dodgers, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. Instead, he will get his feet wet in an exhibition game against the LG Twins.

Seoul has dreams of hosting MLB games consistently in the years to come. Sports Business Journal highlighted the enthusiasm Seoul’s mayor, Oh Se-hoon, has for this vision. “There are a lot of baseball fans in Seoul, and it’s a very attractive city.”

The Padres have two South Korean players who will travel with the team for the Dodgers series. They are shortstop Ha-Seong Kim and relief pitcher Woo Suk Go.

“It’s an honor for me to play in the first MLB games in Korea,” Kim said according to the Yonhap News Agency. “And I think other Asian players that came before me paved the way.”

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Woo Suk Go was no sure thing to even be selected to travel with the Padres for this game. He is determined to work hard and prove to himself and the team that he can contribute this season. “But even if I don’t (make the active roster), I will not change my approach and mindset. I will keep trying to improve my stuff,” he told The Korea Times.