Baseball is back, just not exactly what you may have expected. ESPN is broadcasting the Korean Baseball Organization games, and although a lot of remnants of MLB are present, the KBO is unique in its own way.
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00:00Baseball is back. ESPN has begun broadcasting Korean baseball organization games, and while
00:07the KBO boasts familiar elements of home runs and rain delays, this is a league of its own.
00:13I'm joined now by SI's Emma Bocciolieri. And Emma, you wrote about the KBO saying it's
00:18not MLB, but the differences between the two can be the basis for celebration rather than
00:23simply for comparison. So how would you describe the biggest differences between these leagues?
00:28Yeah, so KBO can be a lot of fun to watch. Its hallmark are its backflips, which obviously are
00:35a lot of fun to see in MLB and in minor league baseball, but here they're really turned up to
00:4111. Just lots of really cool stuff, lots of big air, just a ton of fun to watch. But aside from
00:48that, it's a pretty fun brand of baseball, even when they're not flipping their backs. There's a
00:54lot of contact, not as much of an emphasis on defense. And yeah, just a pretty high level of
01:02play, higher than the Chinese Professional Baseball League that we've seen playing in Taiwan the last
01:08couple of weeks. And yeah, it'll be on ESPN six nights a week now. And it's a lot of fun if you're
01:14willing to stay up until 1 a.m. East Coast time, which is when it usually starts.
01:19Gotta stay up late and set your DVRs, but those mascots also I think are ridiculously entertaining.
01:25Obviously the cheerleaders that are normally a part of this are not there because there's no
01:29crowds and social distancing due to safety measures, but a lot of fun to watch. Emma
01:33Bachelieri, thanks so much for the insight. Thank you.