Baseball league adjusts starting times for games amid cooler conditions
A Korea Baseball Organization official checks the temperature in the stands at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Aug. 11, prior to a regular-season game between the Hanwha Eagles and the Doosan Bears. Yonhap
The Korean baseball league announced Tuesday starting times for its games will move back to the previous slots with severe heat showing signs of abating nationwide.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said starting next Tuesday, weekday games will begin at 6:30 p.m. again and weekend games will go back to 6 p.m. first pitch.
For games scheduled after August — hence the end of the July-August summer season as designated by the league — weekend games will begin at 5 p.m., while the starting time for weekday games will not change.
On Aug. 6, the KBO decided to push starting times for all games to 7 p.m. until further notice, with the country under siege from a record-breaking heat wave. The league also canceled every game from Aug. 5 to 9, citing safety concerns for fans and players, and the season resumed last Tuesday.
The league said those starting times may be pushed back by as far as 7:30 p.m. depending on weather conditions.
The KBO earlier implemented cooling breaks after the third and seventh innings during the heat wave. Starting Tuesday, those breaks will only take place if the host city is under a heat advisory as of 1 p.m. on the game day.