PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — American baseball fans who stayed up late were able to watch a television rarity during the coronavirus pandemic: live baseball. South Korea’s professional league, the Korea Baseball Organization, opened their 2020 season at 1 a.m. EST on Tuesday after a several-week delay.
ESPN will broadcast six games a week. For the first televised game, between the Samsung Lions and NC Dinos, broadcasters Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez were remote in their homes watching the feed from South Korea.
Some ballparks had photos of fans in the empty stands. One team, the LG Twins, even had its cheerleaders, mascots and drummers working — while wearing masks and distancing themselves from one another.
Cheerleaders still doing their best, for fans watching from home pic.twitter.com/f2BMBBLhzS
— Victoria Kim (@vicjkim)
May 5, 2020 If a member of any team tests positive for the virus, the league will shut down for at least three weeks. The KBO’s goal is to play a 144-game regular season schedule.
Baseball already started in Taiwan weeks ago with the Chinese Professional Baseball League.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
