Seoul's Major League Baseball fever rose a few degrees Friday with the arrival of the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of their two season-opening games on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Padres named two Korean stars on their traveling roster, Gold Glove-winning infielder Kim Ha Seong, and MLB rookie reliever Go Woo Suk, while the Dodgers brought Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani, who is also popular in South Korea.
At the MLB official shop, limited edition hoodies with logos of both teams have been selling out in all sizes.
An employee at the store said, "Ohtani is popular even in South Korea. He's good people."
Shoe and sporting apparel maker New Balance, which signed Ohtani to a new contract in January, was attaching limited edition patches with the logos of both teams to merchandise at a store in a Seoul shopping mall, with 15 people in line before the event started.
Sachi Inoue, a 34-year-old fan, who like Ohtani is from Japan's Iwate Prefecture, was the first to buy a sweatshirt at the shop once the campaign started and is eager to show it off in the city where Ohtani starred in high school.
"I flew over as soon as I saw the news," she said. "I want to walk around Hanamaki wearing it."
