Korean Baseball for Visitors: 10 KBO Teams, 9 Ballparks and One Very Korean Night Out

You don’t need to understand baseball to enjoy a baseball game in Korea. The game itself is only part of the reason to go.

When people plan a trip to Korea, the list usually starts with palaces, markets, cafes, shopping and food. A ballpark rarely makes it onto the itinerary. But Korean baseball for visitors deserves a place on that list, too.

If you read our earlier piece on why baseball became so popular in Korea, think of this as our practical Korean baseball guide for visitors. Here is how the league works, which cities you can see it in, what happens after the regular season, and why three hours at a Korean ballpark can be one of the better evenings of your trip.

The KBO has ten teams. You don’t need their founding years or championship counts. What matters is which ballpark is in the city you are already visiting, and what the evening there feels like.

The SSG BBQ zone and the KT Wiz grass seating are both described on Korea Tourism Organization’s ballpark guide.

There is no need to pick a favorite. For most travelers, the best team is simply the one playing at home in the city where they are already staying. Most travelers don’t need to rearrange an entire trip around the baseball schedule. Checking whether there’s a home game where you already plan to be is usually enough.

The KBO has ten teams but only nine home ballparks. The LG Twins and Doosan Bears both play at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul.

Jamsil is reached from Sports Complex Station, which is served by Lines 2 and 9, and holds about 25,000 people, according to Seoul’s official stadium page. For a visitor, the shared setup is a quiet convenience. If either LG or Doosan is at home during your stay, you can see a game there. Which team to support can wait. Start with what is on at Jamsil on the night you are free.

The league format is simpler than it first appears. Ten teams play in one league, and each plays 144 games. The number to remember is five. Only the top five teams reach the postseason, as set out in the KBO’s official procedures.

They don’t all start from the same place, though. The fourth- and fifth-place teams play a Wild Card round first, and fourth place begins with a one-win head start. The fourth-place team advances with a single win or a tie. Fifth place has to win both games. After that, each higher seed is waiting in the next round.

The higher you finish, the fewer series you have to survive. The first-place team can wait for the Korean Series, while the fifth-place team has the longest road to get there.

If you aren’t a baseball fan, the question is fair. You came all this way, so why spend three hours watching baseball?

Because those three hours are not only about the game.

You take part, rather than just watch. When a team comes up to bat, the cheering section and the crowd come alive. Player-specific chants are common, and thousands of people sing along with set movements. You don’t need to know the words. After a few batters, you can see when everyone claps and when they stand, and you will probably join in. Korea Tourism Organization describes the crowd’s synchronized singing and choreographed cheering as one of the defining features of a KBO game.

Dinner is part of the game. Fried chicken and beer is the classic pairing, but ballparks offer more than that, and some have seating that changes how you watch, such as a BBQ zone in Incheon or a grass picnic area in Suwon. Dinner, a sports event, a cheering culture and an hour of people-watching can all be one outing.

You see a side of Korea the tourist sites don’t show. A palace tells you about Korea’s past. A museum shows you how the country changed. A ballpark on a weeknight shows you something else. People arrive from work or school with friends and a box of chicken, put on team jerseys, and sing the same song with thousands of strangers every time a certain batter steps up.

A palace shows you Korea’s history.
A baseball stadium shows you what thousands of Koreans do on a Friday night.

You are not adding one more landmark. You are stepping, for a few hours, into how people in Korea spend their free time right now.

And no two ballparks feel the same. Jamsil is two Seoul teams sharing one home. Gocheok puts the game under a dome. In Busan, the Giants and Sajik are woven into the city’s baseball culture, and in Daejeon you can see a ballpark that opened as recently as 2025. If your trip already includes one of these cities, a home game is an easy addition.

Don’t look for the best ballpark in Korea. Look for the one that fits your itinerary most naturally.

Foreign visitors can buy tickets at the ballpark or through some online and app options, but the sales channels and sign-up requirements differ from team to team. We will cover that step by step in a separate guide.

Baseball in Korea is popular for reasons that go beyond baseball, and that is just as true for visitors. You don’t need to love the sport to go. The cheering, the food and a Korean city at night are reason enough.