Pro baseball's four-year history of the birth of Ssang million, the grounds for hope to captivate fans
Jan 01, 2025
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It wasn't. Rather, it got better. The final number of spectators in 720 regular league games in the KBO League in 2024 is 10,887,705. The 10 million years of dreams have begun.
Most teams set a new record for the most spectators ever. The LG Twins became the most spectator team this season with 1,397,499 people, surpassing 1.3 million for the first time in team history. Samsung Lions, which made a sensation in second place, surpassed 1 million spectators for the first time, ranking second overall with 1,347,022. Doosan Bears also surpassed 1.3 million for the first time, with KIA recording 1.25 million, Lotte recording 1.23 million, and SSG recording 1.14 million, with six clubs exceeding 1 million. Hanwha, which last used Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon, surpassed 800,000 for the first time in history with 804,204 in 47 sold-out records. It was also a positive part that all 10 teams exceeded the average of 10,000 spectators.
The baseball community, which realized the enthusiasm of baseball by achieving the dream of 10 million people, is reticent about the success of the 2025 season.
The economic situation is not good, and there is no guarantee that many young female spectators, who can be said to be the main players of last year's 1,000 spectators, will visit again this year.
However, there is also a positive opinion that there is enough box office factor to attract fans to the ballpark this year.
First of all, a new stadium will be built in Daejeon. Hanwha Life Eagles Park had no choice but to accommodate 12,000 people, but the new stadium is being built with a capacity of about 20,000 people.
Until last year, no matter how many fans want to go to Daejeon, 12,000 people were the most, but now up to 20,000 people can go. Naturally, the number of Hanwha spectators can increase. Hanwha, which recorded 800,000 people last year, can expect its first 1 million people this year.
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The all-time ranking battle is also predicted. Each team focused on strengthening its power.
The winning KIA Tigers rolled up their sleeves for the second consecutive year. He newly recruited Adam Oler from the Major League and reinforced the bullpen by recruiting Cho Sang-woo from Kiwoom Heroes to fill the gap of Jang Hyun-sik, who left for FA. Samsung recruited Ariel Furado, an inning player who won 10 games in Kiwoom, and signed FA starter Choi Won-tae to build a powerful starting team that led to Denny Reyes, Furado, Won Tae-in and Choi Won-tae.
LG worked hard to strengthen its bullpen, which was a weakness. Despite the pressure of the salary cap, he recruited FA Jang Hyun-sik and Kim Kang-ryul, and brought veteran Shim Chang-min and Choi Chae-heung as compensation players. Doosan, which finished fourth amid sluggish foreign players, focused on recruiting foreign players. Special left-hander Cole Irvin and left-hander Jack Rogue, who played 90 games as starters in the Major League, were brought in as one-two punches, and active big leaguer Jake Cave was recruited as a new foreign hitter.
Hanwha, which is making a fresh start at the new stadium, brought FA starter Um Sang-baek and shortstop Shim Woo-joon to strengthen its power. Cody Ponce, who has Japanese experience as a new foreign pitcher, and Esteban Floral, an outfielder with good baserunning and defense, have been recruited to increase stability.
Most of the new foreign players who will debut in the KBO have a lot of major league experience, making baseball fans excited. Despite the $1 million cap for new foreigners, talented players who want to use the KBO League as a springboard for a big league U-turn are choosing South Korea. SSG Landers' new foreign fastball pitcher Mitch White is a third-generation Korean-born pitcher, and his appearance similar to Park Chan-ho is highly recognized by Korean fans.
Expectations for the rookie this season are also high amid a series of young big stars such as KIA Kim Do-young, Samsung Kim Young-woong and Lee Jae-hyun, KT Park Young-hyun, Hanwha Moon Dong-joo and Kim Seo-hyun. There are many prospects who cheered the draft field, including Chung Hyun-woo (Kium), Chung Woo-joo (Hanwha), Bae Chan-seung (Samsung), Kim Tae-hyun (Lotte), and Kim Tae-hyung (KIA), who was ranked fifth.
2025 Professional Baseball League full of attractions. Will the era of dreams of 10 million people continue for the second consecutive year. The new year of Eulsa, which has higher expectations than worries, has come.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
