I’ve been watching some of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) games that have been televised since the league began play on May 5, 2020. I started out watching the ESPN broadcasts of the games, but soon gave that up, as the quality was pretty poor overall. I have turned to watching the games on Twitch via the KBO Twitch channel. While the games are broadcast completely in Korean, the experience has been much more fulfilling. The ESPN broadcasters seemed to be more interested in interviewing their various guests than calling a game, while the Korean broadcasters are clearly interested in the game itself. While I cannot understand anything beyond the English used for certain events in the game (a home run is a “home run,” and the ball-strike count is always given in English), the enthusiasm and excitement for the game comes through clearly. The broadcasters are invested in the game itself, and that is a much more satisfying experience.
I don’t get up to catch a 5:30 AM EDT start time; I’m not that desperate to watch a live game. Sometimes I will watch the game in the early afternoon, sometimes in the late afternoon. I get the rosters loaded up on my laptop so I can track the players, as their names are listed in Hangul on the screen. I’m considering getting a scorebook to keep track of lineups, but I might not go that far. Even the American players have Hangul spellings of their names, which is fascinating to me.
The stadiums are all devoid of fans, which is too bad, as Korean cheering culture is pretty legendary, much like Japanese cheering culture. Songs, chants, thundersticks and cheerleaders are all usually part of the environment, but with the pandemic are currently absent. Occasionally some artificial music and cheering is played over the loudspeaker, but the excitement and buzz that usually accompany any baseball game are noticeably absent. It’s quite depressing in a lot of ways to watch a home run ball land into empty seats. On the other hand, the way the bat cracks when meeting the ball is clear and resonant in a way you don’t ordinarily hear in a stadium full of fans. You can also hear the cheers and encouragement from the dugout clearly as well.
The game itself as played by Koreans is a bit different. Here are some observations after having watched about 4 games:
- Hitters want to swing the bat. Counts do not generally go too deep. It’s primarily a contact game, not a power game. Stadiums are a bit smaller than in the US; as far as I can tell, there are no fences as deep as 400′. It’s considered very poor form to strike out looking; a horrible-looking swing for a third strike is better than being caught standing there with the bat on your shoulder.
- There is very little evidence that analytics plays a big part in the game. Defensive shifts are few. Defense, I am told, is actually emphasized as an important part of the game, but I have seen some pretty weak defense so far. The range of defensive athletic ability is a little weaker than in the US. Throwing arms, range, tracking fly balls – all these aspects of defense are just not quite as good as you see in the US. Sometimes even routine fly balls feel like an adventure in a KBO game. Part of this may be that defensive positioning is not as precise as in the US.
- Quality pitching relies on movement and location, not on speed and power. KBO’s best arms top out at maybe 92 MPH at best. It’s interesting that even the American pitchers playing in the KBO are not power pitchers. There’s no way anyone who can throw 95+ is not pitching in the US.
- This may be harsh, but KBO bullpens generally are terrible. Quality relief pitching is nowhere near the caliber one sees in the US. One of the reasons that the KBO has so many late-inning comebacks is that relief pitching is so weak. KBO starters are generally left in games a lot longer simply because bullpen options are not great.
- The opposite side of bad bullpens is lots of offense. Yesterday I watched the Doosan Bears and the Lotte Giants in a game that was won 10-9 by the Giants with a walk-off HR on the first pitch of the bottom of the 9th. The game itself kept changing leads almost inning by inning. The Giants and Bears both have strong lineups, with fair collections of hitters hitting above .350. That’s a lot of fun to watch.
- The competitive balance in the league appears to be a bit weak. There are 10 teams, but really only two or three strong teams. This can lead to a lot of blowouts. I haven’t seen every team play yet, but it does appear that the Bears and the Giants are two of the top teams. The NC Dinos lead the league right now with a record of 7-1.
While I am glad the option is there to watch some “live” 2020 baseball, I still tend to enjoy the 2019 recorded games I’ve been watching a little more. Seeing fans in the seats while the game is being played is much more reassuring, and feels more normal. Since I don’t know the outcome of the actual Oakland game I might be watching, it has a live feel to it. Still, I don’t mind taking in the KBO action. It many ways it’s a fun brand of baseball, but I think it would be more fun if fans were in attendance. I miss the ambiance of the game. Perhaps that is what is most missing in this pandemic moment – the ambiance of life itself.
