Padres Schedule: Regular Season Opener Against Dodgers to Be Broadcast on ESPN
The San Diego Padres' 2024 season will be kicking off in South Korea against the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers. The two teams will have a two-game series on March 20 and 21 to open their seasons, as part of the Seoul Series.
The season opener on March 20 is scheduled for 3 a.m. Pacific Time for fans on the West Coast who may want to watch the opener. With the hype surrounding this game, and of course Shohei Ohtani now with the Dodgers, ESPN has announced it will broadcast the game internationally.
"ESPN will televise Shohei Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers debut as part of the Seoul Series on Wednesday, March 20, and Thursday, March 21, at 6 a.m. ET both days. Ohtani, Mookie Betts and the Dodgers take on Manny Machado and the San Diego Padres in the first regular-season MLB games ever played in Korea. The ESPN telecasts will be subject to local blackout restrictions in the Los Angeles and San Diego markets."
Even though the game is blacked out locally, fans outside the Padres' market will be able to watch these two games. This should bring more global viewership to the game of baseball, and the Padres will get a chance to be featured on this global stage.
This rivalry is becoming one of the best in the game today. Soon the entire world will get to see it in action. San Diego would love nothing more than to spoil the debut of Ohtani, and they have the players to make it happen.
For the South Korean audience, native star Ha-Seong Kim is the main attraction. After a strong 2023 season, Kim's presence in the Padres' lineup guaranteed a strong in-person turnout for the first regular-season MLB games in Korea.
ESPN's platform promises a strong international audience of television viewers as well. In its press release, ESPN said the games will be broadcast on various platforms throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Africa and Canada.
The star power for the Seoul Series is going to be insane — especially among Asian fans — and exactly what the MLB wants to showcase to the entire world.
