‘Get Ready to Scream’: How to Be a Baseball Fan in South Korea

In the United States, many Major League Baseball video games characteristic lengthy durations of calm, punctuated by cheering when there’s motion on the sphere or the stadium organ performs a catchy tune.

But in South Korea, a baseball sport is a sustained sensory overload. Each participant has a combat track, and cheering squads — together with drummers and dancers who stand on platforms close to the dugouts dealing with the spectators — guarantee that there’s near-constant chanting. Imagine being at a ballpark the place each participant, even a rookie, will get the star therapy.

“You should get ready to scream,” mentioned Kim Seongjun, 26, a fan who attended an exhibition sport in Seoul over the weekend. “It’s fun to get on your feet and cheer.”

Also, the meals is on one other stage. Think of the ballpark as a large buffet of Korean avenue meals.

All of this awaits the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres after they open the M.L.B. season in Seoul this week. Here’s a information for visiting followers.

Step into any South Korean ballpark and also you’ll be inspired to rise up and take part in cheering routines nearly continuously from first pitch to final out. Fans usually watch their respective crew’s cheering squad and repeat the chants, songs and dances carried out by its cheerleaders, drummers and their chief, the “cheer master.”

The Korea Baseball Organization professionalized cheering squads within the early 2000s, partly to draw new followers. That has helped to make ballparks welcoming areas in a rustic the place many individuals work lengthy hours and face immense societal pressures.

“Our huge cheering culture is part why baseball is such a popular sport here,” mentioned Jung Jihoon, 22, who led the drum part for the Padres’ exhibition sport on Sunday after they beat South Korea’s nationwide crew, 1-0.

“It’s fun to lose yourself in the atmosphere,” Jung mentioned, as he sat along with his drum sticks and bass drum in entrance of the place the Padres cheerleaders danced.

To totally immerse, observe the cheer grasp’s lead. Among different duties, cheer masters write combat songs and chants, and shout them throughout video games, even when their groups are shedding badly.

When the Kiwoom Heroes performed the Dodgers on Sunday, Kim Jung-suk, 39, the South Korean membership’s cheer grasp, yelled, “Home run ball! Home run ball!” Fans repeated that whereas rhythmically hitting empty plastic bottles and toy baseball bats collectively.

Whenever a batter hit the ball, the crack of his bat turned the chanting right into a roar.

“Game-wise, everyone might be interested in the Dodgers,” Kim mentioned of the competition, wherein the American crew trounced his crew 14-3. “But in terms of cheering, the Kiwoom Heroes won’t be left behind.”

Learn the combat songs

Customized combat songs are performed each time a participant steps as much as the plate. They usually characteristic the participant’s title and a brief melody.

Local followers can sing them by coronary heart.

Kim Soowon, 38, who attended the Heroes sport together with her husband and kids, mentioned the crew’s songs have been really easy to study that even her 2-year-old twins knew them.

“Here, baseball games are a great place for office workers to go after work to scream,” she mentioned.

For this week’s video games, cheer masters spent weeks crafting every M.L.B. participant’s combat track, tailored from well known melodies utilized by South Korean groups.

Fight songs are sung when a participant steps as much as the plate. Then, as he squares off in opposition to the opposing pitcher, the cheer grasp leads chants that decision for hits — or, if the crew is down, a house run to show the sport round.

“Ohtani infield! Ohtani infield!” followers chanted in Korean when the beloved Dodger Shohei Ohtani was batting in the course of the exhibition sport on Sunday. He struck out twice.

A dance goes with every track. Don’t fear if you happen to don’t know the strikes. Each crew has a troupe of cheerleaders demonstrating them.

“I love the energy that we send and receive when the fans follow our movements,” mentioned Kim Hana, 25, a Heroes cheerleader. “We’ll help you learn all of the dances.”

The cheering, dancing and signing has attracted younger followers to baseball who may in any other case discover the game boring. “In the age of YouTube and TikTok, it’s hard to sit through a three-hour game,” mentioned Barney Yoo, the director of worldwide operations on the Ok.B.O.

The rituals additionally strengthen the bond between the groups and their devoted crowds, mentioned Bae Soohyun, 39, a cheerleader for South Korea’s nationwide crew on Sunday.

“It’s a ballpark experience that only South Korea can offer,” she mentioned.

Eat one thing new

Baseball right here is usually a full-on eating expertise that options Korean staples like deep-fried spicy rice muffins, braised pig’s trotters and “chimaek,” Korean slang for the pairing of fried hen and beer. Many followers carry multicourse meals to their seats, and a few stadiums have barbecue zones for many who need to grill.

Each South Korean ballpark additionally serves its personal specialty dishes. Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul is understood for its spicy noodles in kimchi broth. In Suwon, south of the capital, followers rave concerning the dumplings and deep-fried complete hen.

And at Gocheok Sky Dome, the place the M.L.B. season openers will probably be performed, a whole bunch line up for crispy fried shrimp coated in a mayonnaise-based sauce. If you’re not afraid of spice, take into account the “mala” sauce model for a tingly zing.

Stay for the tip

There was some concern amongst officers planning this week’s video games that every one the chanting may hassle non-Korean gamers. But the exhibition video games over the weekend have been extra subdued than a normal Korean sport. That might need been as a result of followers weren’t fervently rooting for a specific final result.

After the Dodgers performed on Sunday, the crew’s supervisor, Dave Roberts, informed reporters that his gamers had not discovered the cheering distracting. On the opposite.

“The environment, the atmosphere was great,” he mentioned.

One facet of Korean fan tradition will probably be comforting to the losers within the M.L.B. video games. While American followers may dejectedly file out early if their crew appears too far behind to win, followers right here usually keep put till the final out.