Night One of the KBO: Will ESPN Benefit From Live Baseball?
While we continue to await the potential start of the major league baseball season, at least there was a dose of action on the diamond that we could tune in to see Monday night on the west coast and early Tuesday morning on the east coast of the United States. The KBO opened their season halfway across the globe and action was televised on ESPN. Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez handled the announcing duties of the contest between the NC Dinos and the Samsung Lions from their homes.
Of course, with the way 2020 has gone, from the COVID-19 pandemic to murder hornets, things couldn’t go off without a hitch. No, of course, before the first pitch in the contest was thrown, we were halted from seeing baseball by Mother Nature as a rain delay held first pitch up for a short period of time. Once the game got going, it was the NC Dinos prevailing by a 4-0 count, winning as a -150 favorite on the road with the game falling well under the total of eight runs set for the contest. That one wasn’t the only game on the circuit, though it was the lone one that was televised on ESPN. How was it for opening night action? Well, Dinos outfielder Na Sung-Bum put it this way after the contest:
"It would have been better if they (the fans) could be with us, but I am glad that we delivered something good to fans watching TV.”
That wasn’t even the craziest reason to have a game delayed on opening night. The contest between the Kiwoom Heroes and the Kia Tigers was delayed after a building across the street from the stadium caught fire. It took nearly 20 minutes before the smoke dissipated and the fire was controlled. In the end, Kiwoom wasn’t flustered by the fire or by opening their season on the road as they cruised to an 11-2 triumph. Former slugger Matt Williams took the loss in his first game as the manager of the Kia Tigers in the process. He was 179-145 as the manager of the Washington Nationals in 2014-15.
Elsewhere, the Lotte Giants, who were in the basement by a solid margin last season with a 48-93-3 record, opened the 2020 campaign with a solid 7-2 win on the road over the KT Wiz. The LG Twins defeated last season’s champions, the Doosan Bears, 8-2, to send a message. Doosan has played in the Korean Series in each of the last four seasons, winning two titles in that span. In the final game of the night, it was the Hanwha Eagles going on the road and blanking the SK Wyverns by a 3-0 count.
It’s unclear what the ratings will be for the broadcasts as the game was early this morning. It was rebroadcast Tuesday afternoon. As for Tuesday night’s/Wednesday morning’s action that is televised on ESPN, the Doosan Bears continue their set with the LG Twins with first pitch scheduled for shortly after 5:30 am ET. The game will be shown again at 2 pm ET and then 2:30 am ET on Thursday morning in the United States, with the telecasts coming to you on ESPN2. For that game, Doosan is a solid -185 favorite with the over/under set at 9.5 runs for the contest. Lee Young-ha (17-4, 3.64 ERA in 2019) is expected to get the call for Doosan while Song Eun-beom (2-6, one save, 5.25 ERA) takes the mound for the LG Twins.
