Major League Baseball has canceled the MLB World Tour: Korea Series scheduled for November, both MLB and the Korea Baseball Organization confirmed Friday. MLB cited “ongoing contractual issues with the event promoter” as the reason for the cancellation. The four-game event was announced in August and was going to be the first time MLB sent players to Korea since 1922.
“MLB has had ongoing contractual issues with the event promoter that we have been trying to resolve for some time,” Jim Small, MLB’s senior vice president for international, said in a statement (per the Associated Press). “Regrettably we are at a point where we have to cancel the upcoming tour because the event is unable to meet the high quality our Korean fans deserve.”
“Even though we had expected difficulties in assembling our team because of league schedules and other issues, we decided to cooperate with MLB to help globalize the game of baseball,” the KBO said in a statement (per the Associated Press). “But the event was canceled in the end and we regret the confusion and inconvenience it has caused our fans.”
The four exhibition games were scheduled to take place in Busan and Seoul from Nov. 11-15. The KBO celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2022. Royals catcher Salvador Perez, Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena, Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, and Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim were among the MLB players confirmed for the event.
As part of the new collective bargaining agreement MLB and the MLBPA agreed to play more games (both exhibition and regular season) in other countries in an effort to grow the game. In addition to Korea, games are tentatively scheduled to be played in the Dominican Republic, London, Mexico, Paris and Puerto Rico between now and 2026.