The Dodgers’ Southern California rivalry with the San Diego Padres could soon be going to South Korea.
The two teams are likely to open the 2024 regular season with a series in South Korea, according to a person with knowledge of the situation unauthorized to speak publicly because the decision has not been finalized.
The games would be Major League Baseball’s first in South Korea, and would put the budding rivalry between the Dodgers and Padres under an international spotlight.
The Padres are currently popular in the country, thanks to their signing of South Korean infielder Ha-Seong Kim several seasons ago.
The Dodgers have their own history of South Korean stars, including Chan Ho Park — who in 1994 became the first Korean player to appear in an MLB game — and Hyun-Jin Ryu.
The Dodgers have played regular season games outside of North America only once before, when they opened the 2014 season with a series in Australia against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers and Padres also played a series in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2018.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.