The Los Angeles Dodgers will open the 2024 season by taking on the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea, as part of the MLB World Tour.
The two-game series is being played at Gocheok Sky Dome from March 20-21, with 7:05 p.m. local start times (3:05 a.m. PT).
With just over five weeks until the historic matchup, the Dodgers are already thinking ahead on who may potentially take the mound for them in South Korea.
Manager Dave Roberts said the team will likely piggyback its starting pitchers in the Seoul Series to help protect their health, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
Roberts said the Dodgers have not decided which pitchers will start the two games in Korea on March 20-21 but it is likely that they will line up other pitchers to “piggyback” with them, expecting the starters won’t be fully built up by then.
“Probably, yeah. I think that’s fair,” Roberts said. “Yeah, guys to take down a couple, two, three innings behind the starter.”
The Dodgers have deployed the piggyback strategy on several occasions in recent years, where one starting pitcher throws five innings and/or 75 pitches and a second one finishes the game. They’ve also utilized openers with bulk pitchers going behind them.
As it currently stands, the Dodgers are projected to open the 2024 season with a rotation of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Bobby Miller, James Paxton and Emmet Sheehan. Michael Grove and Gavin Stone are other potential options on the team’s 40-man roster.
The Dodgers have already ruled out Walker Buehler from being part of the Opening Day rotation due to an innings limit, but the right-hander recently said he is ahead of schedule in his rehab.
Dodgers tickets for Seoul Series opener sold out
Tickets for the Seoul Series opener went on sale last month and are said to have sold out in roughly an hour. Padres season ticket holders had an opportunity to purchase seats, but the rest were reserved for Coupang Wow subscribers in South Korea.
It is believed that tickets for the second game in the matchup, which go on sale March 1, will be made available to Dodgers season ticket holders.
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