Koreatown Abuzz Over Historic Dodgers ‘Seoul Series’ In South Korea

Steve Kang isn’t planning on getting much sleep Wednesday morning when the Dodgers meet the Padres for Opening Day in Seoul, South Korea. The game — the first of two at Gocheok Sky Dome and the first regular season MLB game ever played in South Korea — starts at 3 a.m.

“I will be up and awake at a sports bar or restaurant in Koreatown,” the Koreatown resident said. “I’m a huge Dodgers fan and I’m very proud this is happening, that my motherland is able to host the Dodgers.”

“There’s a lot of buzz coming from South Korea, which translates into buzz here in Koreatown,” for what’s been dubbed the Seoul Series, said Kang, who works at the Koreatown Youth + Community Center.

Dodger Blue in Ktown

The Dodgers have deep roots in L.A.’s Korean American community. In 1994, Chan Ho Park became a Dodger and the first Korean-born player to play in the major leagues. Park will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the first game.

Ryu Hyun-jin was a star pitcher for the Dodgers from 2013 to 2019, leading the MLB with a 2.32 ERA and finishing second in the NL Cy Young Award voting.

Each year, the Dodgers host a Korean heritage night.

New heavyweights

Superstar Shohei Ohtani will make his debut in South Korea after signing a 10-year, $700 million dollar contract with the Dodgers in December. He underwent right elbow surgery last September and will not pitch this season, but will be in the lineup as the team’s designated hitter.

And don’t forget pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, another right hander for whom the Dodgers have high hopes. Yamamoto will start game two against Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove. In game one, Dodger Tyler Glasnow starts against Yu Darvish of the Padres.

The two-game series is expected to be highly competitive. The Dodgers and Padres have an intense rivalry in the National League West Division.

3 a.m. start time? No problem

For Kang, the only question is where to watch. He’s guessing many of the sports bars and restaurants in the enclave west of downtown will be open all night.

“There are so many here in Koreatown so I’ll have to pick and choose,” he said. “I’ll have to see which specials come out next week,” hoping for a deal on food and drink.

Establishments are prohibited from serving alcohol after 2 a.m. So it’ll be mocktails during the game “and then towards the tail end of the game maybe we can resume drinking,” he said. Bars can start serving again at 6 a.m.

Kang says Korean Americans are accustomed to going out at odd hours in Koreatown to watch World Cup soccer or other big sporting events in Seoul.

“Many restaurants open up just so that patrons can come and watch the game at their restaurant or at their sports bar even though it’s early in the morning or late at night,” he said.

That's also the game plan for Dodgers fan and Eater LA lead editor Matthew Kang (no relations to Steve) — if his wife is ok with watching the kids in the middle of the night.

"I would love to watch it with my friends in LA, maybe in K-town, and there's kind of a tradition of watching sports events that are taking place in South Korea," the writer and editor said.

More likely than not, though, the Torrance resident said he'll set an alarm to drag himself out of bed for the games.

"I'm sure I'll have friends that I will be texting with and that'll wake me up anyways," he said.

How to watch the games

There are four Dodgers’ games — two against South Korean clubs precede two against the Padres. All can be viewed live on SportNet LA. All times are Pacific Standard Time.

• Saturday, March 16 at 8 p.m. PST: Dodgers v. Kiwoom Heroes 
• Monday, March 18 at 3 a.m. PST: Dodgers v. South Korean National Team
• Wednesday, March 20 at 3:05 a.m. PST: Dodgers v. Padres
• Thursday, March 21 at 3:05 a.m. PST: Dodgers v. Padres

Coupang Play, a South Korea-based streaming app, is the exclusive streaming platform in Seoul, according to Dodger Nation. The app is not available in the United States without a VPN.

This is hardly the first time the MLB season has opened outside the 50 U.S. states and Canada. This will mark the ninth time, with five previous openers in Tokyo and one each in Sydney; Monterey, Mexico; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.