With Major League Baseball’s trip to Seoul confirmed for next March, attention now turns to which players will be flying to South Korea.바카라사이트
MLB announced its 2024 MLB World Tour Plan on Wednesday (ET), announcing that it will host Major League Baseball games in four cities in 2024: Seoul, South Korea; Mexico City, Mexico; London, England; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The so-called “Seoul Series” will feature an opening two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. On March 20-21 next year, the two teams will play the opening series in Seoul, representing all of Major League Baseball.
The venue has yet to be determined, but according to the KBO, the Gocheok SkyDome is a strong possibility. Hosting Major League Baseball in Seoul has been in talks between the KBO and MLB since last year, and it was already known that the Dodgers-San Diego game would be scheduled.
The Dodgers and San Diego are two of Major League Baseball’s leading franchises in the Western Conference, with star-studded rosters. The two teams will cross the Pacific Ocean next March, loaded with superstars with astronomical salaries. Which players will join San Diego’s Kim Ha-seong in Seoul?
The outcome of the MLB offseason after this season will determine the shape of the historic Major League Baseball game in Seoul.
Of course, the roster as it stands today is anything but spectacular. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman are two of the biggest names still playing for the Dodgers next year. Betts is signed through 2032 and Freeman through 2027. They’re joined by Chris Taylor, Will Smith, and James Outman.
However, ace Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urias, and J.D. Martinez, the Dodgers’ biggest hitter in the first half of the season, are free agents after this season, so we don’t know if they’ll stay.
Compared to the Dodgers, San Diego’s roster feels more weighty. They have a lot of big stars with super long-term contracts. Darvish Yu, Joe Musgrove, Fernando Tatis Jr, Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Jake Cronenweth, and Juan Soto will be on a plane to Seoul if they are not traded.
This season’s Opening Day payroll ranks San Diego third overall with $249 million, while the Dodgers are fifth with $222.72 million. The Padres have added a lot of depth to their roster over the past three years through free agency and extensions, while the Dodgers, who have consistently ranked first and second in payroll, were thrifty last winter.
Realistically, Ohtani has the best odds of signing with the Dodgers. The Dodgers check all the boxes: they can afford a contract worth at least $500 million, they’re a winning team, and they’re in the West, which is Ohtani’s preferred division. Other teams often mentioned are the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, and San Diego, but none of them compare to the Dodgers.
“Every year, the desire to win gets stronger,” Ohtani said during the All-Star Game media day at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on Nov. 11. It sucks to lose,” he said, hinting that he would choose a team with a winning record. If Ohtani lands in the Dodgers’ arms, the greatest baseball player in Major League Baseball history will set foot on Seoul soil next spring.