Baseball is nearly ready to return to center stage of the sports world, with pitchers and catchers set to report to training camps in just a few weeks. However, for two MLB teams, the regular season will start a bit sooner than the rest of the league in the form of The Seoul Series.
This early (and overseas) showcase might raise a few questions for fantasy baseball leagues that are trying to figure out the best time to schedule their drafts. Fear not! We've got all the answers you need right here.
What is the Seoul Series?
The Seoul Series is part of the 2024 MLB World Tour - a series of international trips involving MLB teams to help showcase the league to fans outside of the United States and Canada. On March 20-21, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres will play a pair of games at the Gocheok Sky Dome in South Korea, both of which will be televised at 6:05 AM ET/ 3:05 AM PT on ESPN.
Do these games count in fantasy?
These two games will indeed be the first regular-season games of 2024 and will count in the MLB standings. All stats that accrue in these two games will also be included in the first scoring period of ESPN standard leagues, which runs from March 20-31.
All 30 teams are scheduled to play on Thursday March 28 -- baseball's official "Opening Day" -- with all 15 of these opening series extending through Sunday March 31, the end of "Week 1" -- the first scoring period for the 2024 fantasy baseball season.
(Note: 16 teams are scheduled for a four-game series, while 14 teams will play only a three-game series, taking Friday off in what primarily are traditionally cold-weather cities with outdoor stadiums, which allows for the possibility of weather-related rescheduling. Due to their participation in Seoul, both the Dodgers and Padres are on tap to play six games in this scoring period.)
What happens if I schedule my draft for after the Seoul Series is played?
That's perfectly OK. Any head to head points or categories league which completes its draft prior to the first pitch of the final game of the first scoring period (Sunday Night Baseball, which starts at 7 p.m. on March 31) will have all stats retroactively applied to their starting lineups for fantasy baseball's Week 1. For all rotisserie leagues, points will not be retroactively added and scoring will begin the first day with MLB games after the draft has completed.
Any league which finishes their draft after all of Week 1's action has completed will begin their season with 2024's second scoring period (Week 2), which runs from April 1-7.
Can I set my lineup retroactively?
Drafts that are held after one or both of the Seoul games are played will have their lineups locked, as per league rules. That means the starting lineup you leave the draft room with cannot be changed until the next daily or weekly lineup lock, depending on your league settings.
For example, if you draft a Dodgers or Padres player to your bench on March 27th, you would not be able to move him into your starting lineup for either of the Seoul games already played, but in leagues with daily lineup moves, you would be able to insert him into your lineup for any subsequent games yet to be played.
In weekly lineup leagues, only Dodgers or Padres players would be locked in place for the rest of the scoring period in leagues that use the "Lock individually at First Game of the Week" setting. However, your entire roster would be locked in place in leagues using the "Lock at First Game of the Week" setting.
The lineup lock rule also applies to any desired Injury List (IL) moves.
What about the Dominican Series? Do those stats also count?
The Dominican Series is a pair of games between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays, scheduled for March 9-10 at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
While the Dominican Series is indeed included as a part of the 2024 MLB World Tour, these two games are considered to be part of Spring Training. They will not count towards the official MLB standings and, as such, no stats accumulated in these games will be used in ESPN fantasy baseball.
What other games are part of the 2024 MLB World Tour?
We will have the Mexico City Series between the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies on April 27-28 as well as the London Series featuring the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies on June 8-9.
Although all four of the teams involved in these games will get an extra day off for travel and acclimation both before and after their two-game sets, everything else about these games will be treated just like any other regular season game. All stats will count towards the scoring periods during which these games are played.