Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres to open 2024 MLB season in South Korea
The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres are officially set to open the 2024 season playing internationally in South Korea. This will mark the first time MLB has had a regular season series in South Korea, per Front Office Sports.
The Dodgers and Padres will play a two-game series in Seoul to open the season. An exact venue for the series hasn’t been chosen, yet, though.
MLB first played an international series, not counting home games for the Toronto Blue Jays or Montreal Expos, in 1996. That was in Mexico and was played between the Mets and Padres. By 2000, MLB expanded its international games to Asia, playing in Japan.
In recent years, MLB has made it clear that expanding to foreign markets is important, with games in Australia and England. On top of that, the number of games played internationally has increased under Rob Manfred. In fact, this is already the third international series scheduled for 2024, along with the series in Mexico and England respectively.
The fact that the Dodgers and Padres have a rivalry is also key, as Manfred explained MLB wants to showcase these rivalries following the Mets-Phillies series in London announcement.
“We think our game is at its best when we have traditional rivals playing and we want to show the fans here in London the very best form of baseball,” Manfred said. “We want to show our best when we come someplace special like London. We do regard London to be special – of strategic importance to us.”
In 2018, the Dodgers and Padres met for a three-game series in Monterrey, Mexico. It will also be the fifth season the Padres have played internationally, playing in Mexico City earlier in 2023.
Los Angeles Dodgers select DJ Uiagalelei
In the 20th round of the 2023 MLB Draft, the Los Angeles Dodgers surprised a lot of people by drafting DJ Uiagalelei. A quarterback who transferred from Clemson to Oregon State this offseason, Uiagalelei has never been known by the sports world as a baseball player. Despite this, the Dodgers saw something in the young signal-caller.
The reality is that coming out of high school, Uiagalelei was a good pitcher who received attention. A pitcher, he was noted for throwing a 90 mph fastball. However, he chose to play football, where he was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2020, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.
So, the odds are DJ Uiagalelei doesn’t leave football for baseball. The Dodgers just thought he was worth a shot at that point in the draft.