Baseball league announces 2020 regular season schedule

The top South Korean baseball league announced its 2020 regular season schedule on Monday.

The Korea Baseball Organization said the new season will begin on March 28, making it the third straight regular season to open on a Saturday. 

The 10 clubs will each play 144 games.

Defending champions the Doosan Bears will host the Lotte Giants at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul for a two-game opening series. Other opening weekend matchups are: the Kiwoom Heroes hosting the LG Twins at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul; the SK Wyverns bringing the Samsung Lions to SK Happy Dream Park in Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul; the KT Wiz visiting the Hanwha Eagles at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul; and the Kia Tigers hosting the NC Dinos at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of the capital.

There will be an in-season break from July 24 to Aug. 10 for the Tokyo Summer Olympics. South Korea, the defending Olympic baseball champion, has qualified for the competition and will send a team of KBO All-Stars to Japan.

The starting times for the games will be announced later. In 2019, all weekday games began at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday games began at 5 p.m. from March to June, at 6 p.m. in July and August and again at 5 p.m. in September and October.

Games on Sundays and holidays started at 2 p.m. from March to May, at 5 p.m. in June, at 6 p.m. in July and August and at 2 p.m. in September and October. (Yonhap)