Faced with calendar crunch, KBO to schedule games on Mondays

All News 13:52 September 06, 2022

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) -- Under pressure to finish the season in time for a fall exhibition series, the South Korean baseball league said Tuesday it will reschedule some canceled games on Mondays, normally an off day for teams.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said the scheduling change will apply to games on the next two weekends.

For instance, if games this coming Saturday and Sunday are canceled due to inclement weather, they will be made up the following Monday, with the first pitch at 2 p.m. If games on Sept. 17 and 18 are rained out, then they will be played on Sept. 19 instead, starting at 6:30 p.m.

This file photo from Aug. 19, 2022, shows Incheon SSG Landers Field following the cancellation of a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game between the SSG Landers and the LG Twins. (Yonhap)

If a club loses both of the weekend games, then only one of them will be made up on the following Monday and the remaining game will be rescheduled at a later date, the KBO added.

KBO teams typically play from Tuesday to Sunday. In the early part of the season, they played two sets of three-game series each week. Since August, they have been playing three sets of two-game series over those six days per week.

The regularly-scheduled portion of the season ends Sept. 23. From that point on, teams will be playing games that were canceled earlier in the year.

Sixteen games were rained out in August, and three games have been lost so far in September.

The KBO is hoping to crown the Korean Series champions by no later than Nov. 5. The South Korean league is scheduled to host Major League Baseball players for four exhibition games later that month: on Nov. 11 and 12 in the southeastern city of Busan, and Nov. 14 and 15 in Seoul.

There have been talks of playing doubleheaders in September, although teams have often balked at playing two a day because of injury risks and lack of pitching options.