MLB Seoul Series

During the week of March 17, Major League Baseball brought their game to the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea for the first leg of the MLB 2024 World Tour. This year, the tour will span three continents, stopping in South Korea, the U.K., Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. The Seoul series featured two official MLB games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, and four exhibition games between the MLB and pro Korean teams including the Kiwoom Heroes, Team Korea, and the LG Twins. 

Star player “Mookie” Betts started the season off strong for the Dodgers in the series finale by hitting their first home run of the 2024 official season, which happened to be the first MLB home run ever on South Korean soil. Ultimately, they beat the Padres in the first game and lost in the second.

International MLB games began in 1996 when the New York Mets and San Diego Padres traveled to Monterrey, Mexico for a three-game series. The tradition honors the MLB’s diversity in drafting, playing in the home countries of many of the sport’s greatest legends such as Luis Tiant of Cuba, Pedro Martínez of the Dominican Republic, and Shohei Ohtani of Japan. Ohtani’s career, unlike the others, is ongoing, and he just signed the biggest contract in MLB history for $700 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers — a fast-growing super team now equipped with him and former American League MVP Betts. The series in Korea was just the beginning for the Dodgers; we can be sure of more to come.

March Madness

Basketball fans haven’t been able to look away from live scores this past week as March Madness rolls on, narrowing down to the final four teams in both the men’s and women’s NCAA championships. The final two women’s teams will be determined Friday, April 5, as North Carolina State faces South Carolina and the University of Connecticut takes on Caitlin Clark and Iowa State. The men will face off on Saturday, April 6, beginning with NC State vs. Purdue, and ending with the University of Alabama vs. the University of Connecticut. 

Fans were not disappointed when fan favorite Caitlin Clark shot through the bracket, but this left other stars like Angel Reese of LSU disappointed after a tough loss to Iowa State in the “Elite Eight” round. 

On the men’s end of the court, fans have been met with perhaps more surprising outcomes, as the 11th-seed NC State Wolfpack pushes on to the Final Four. They have astounded viewers after defeating the second-seed Marquette Golden Eagles and fan-favorite fourth-seed Duke. Could they pull off another miracle and defeat the number one-seed Purdue to continue on to the championship? Only time will tell.