KBO 2021 season includes three-week break for Olympics

The 2021 KBO regular season will start on April 3 and include a three-week break in the summer for the postponed Tokyo Olympics.

The KBO on Tuesday announced the full schedule for the 2021 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO regular season. The season will start on Saturday, April 3, with all 10 teams in action.

The Doosan Bears will take on the Kia Tigers at home in Jamsil, southern Seoul; the KT Wiz will face the Hanwha Eagles at home in Suwon; the Samsung Lions will travel to Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul to face the Kiwoom Heroes; and the NC Dinos will take on the LG Twins at home in Changwon, South Gyeongsang. The as-yet-unnamed Wyverns will also be at home, facing the Lotte Giants.

The KBO will play a full season, with each team playing 144 games. A 22-day break has been added to the schedule from July 19 to Aug. 9, to allow Korean national baseball team members to participate in the Tokyo Olympics. The baseball tournament is currently scheduled to run from July 28 to Aug. 7, assuming the Olympics go ahead as planned.

The KBO regular season schedule will resume on Aug. 9 and end on Oct. 7. The schedule currently only contains 715 of the 720 games, so the remaining five games and any rain cancellations will be rescheduled to take place after Oct. 9. The playoffs will begin once all rescheduled games have been played.

All games have been scheduled this year to minimize travel distance between clubs. Social distancing guidelines and Covid-19 regulations are expected to be implemented as they were last season.

The KBO has already started implementing coronavirus measures during spring training — all 1,723 players, coaches and staff tested negative before training began. All participants will also have their temperature taken at training sites and hotels every day.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]