KB News Desk
South Korea’s professional baseball league has extended its suspension of games through the weekend after adopting new measures aimed at protecting players and fans from the country’s record-breaking heat wave.
Following an emergency meeting Thursday involving the Korea Baseball Organization, general managers from all 10 clubs and representatives of the Korea Professional Baseball Players Association, the league announced that all remaining games this week have been canceled. The regular season will resume Tuesday.
The KBO also said all weekday and weekend games will begin at 7 p.m. until further notice, pushing back the usual 6:30 p.m. weekday and 6 p.m. weekend start times in an effort to avoid the hottest part of the day.
The league will introduce mandatory cooling breaks after the third and seventh innings, as well as a brief intermission after the ninth inning if a game goes into extra innings.
An exception will be made for games at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome, the league’s only domed stadium. Saturday games there will continue to start at 6 p.m., while Sunday start times will remain subject to television broadcast schedules.
The latest decision doubles the number of games canceled because of extreme heat this season to 30. Overall weather-related cancellations, including rainouts, have risen to 55.
The KBO announced Wednesday that it would suspend games for two days and convene an emergency meeting to review safety measures after a spectator collapsed during Tuesday’s game between the LG Twins and SSG Landers in Incheon. The 25-year-old man received CPR before being taken to a hospital. Twenty-five other spectators showed signs of heat-related illness during the game, with two requiring urgent medical attention.
Earlier this week, the KBO became the first in league history to cancel regular-season games hours before first pitch because of extreme heat.
