KBO creates 'fantasy' award

South Korea’s top professional baseball league said Wednesday it will launch a new award this season based on “fantasy baseball” points using real-life statistics for pitchers and position players.

The Korea Baseball Organization announced the creation of the “Cass Point” award, named after a popular local beer. Oriental Brewery Co., which produces Cass beer, is the official sponsor of the award. Fans can follow daily updates at the award‘s official Web site (www.casspoint.com). League officials said they hope the point award will generate more interest among fans.

The 2011 KBO season starts this Saturday, with all eight clubs in action. Baseball has long been South Korea’s most popular professional sport. After setting an all-time single season attendance record of 5.9 million fans last year, the league hopes to attract about 6.6 million fans in 2011.

The Cass Point contest will be based on a South Korean version of fantasy baseball, a widely popular type of online contest among fans of Major League Baseball. Participants build and manage a roster of real-life players, competing with others using offensive, pitching and sometimes fielding statistics of real major league players.

Under Cass Point, position players will be awarded 10 points for a single, 20 points for a double, and 50 points for a home run, and so forth. They will lose five points for each strikeout and 10 points for every fielding error.

For pitchers, a win will be worth 100 points and a save will count for 40 points. But a loss will result in a deduction of 20 points, and every earned run will take away 10 points.

Officials said in the near future, they will eventually build a fantasy league based on these points, whereby participants will draft and trade players within a salary cap. They said getting involved in fantasy baseball should help sustain interest in pro baseball.

The KBO said the top points earner, regardless of the position, will be awarded 10 million won at the season‘s end. The highest scorer in a position different than the top scorer will receive 6 million won. (Yonhap News)





















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