Will the Seoul Series Count Toward Fantasy Baseball? | Dodgers, Padres Open MLB Season

With a lack of clarity on how the games played in South Korea will affect fantasy baseball, we lay out what we know and who to watch in the first two games of the season.

Major League Baseball is beginning its season a week early this year, as the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers will play two regular season games in Seoul, South Korea on March 20 and 21. It’s good to have games that count, but it might be tough to watch: Both games are scheduled to start at 6 a.m. Eastern time, 3 a.m. Pacific time.

Aside from figuring out when/how to watch the games, fantasy owners must navigate the particulars of their league’s settings to determine if the first two games will count in the scoring. Different outlets have varying levels of clarity, so our goal here is to give you as much information as possible about the fantasy implications of the Seoul Series.

The information below is surely not all-inclusive, but we’ll try to at least point you in the right direction if nothing else. This article may be updated if further information becomes available.

ESPN

The Entertainment conglomerate gave a clear breakdown of how their leagues will operate, something no other major outlet felt necessary. The Seoul games will count in ESPN leagues, with a few caveats depending on structure:

• Daily scoring leagues will count the stats from the Seoul games if the player is drafted into your starting lineup. A player drafted to your bench cannot accrue points until he is put into your lineup, which wouldn’t happen until after those games.
• Weekly scoring leagues will count the first scoring period as March 20-31, so also including the Seoul games but only if the player is drafted into your starting lineup. A player drafted to your bench will not be able to be inserted into your lineup until the second week.

So, if you want a player’s stats to count toward your team, draft them into a starting role in your lineup. That shouldn’t cause any problems for guys like Freddie Freeman, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. but a reliever who picks up a save, for instance, must be drafted before you’re out of pitcher slots, or you will not get credit for his stats.

Whether your league drafts before or after the Seoul series, these games will count toward your fantasy scores.

Yahoo

Things aren’t laid out quite as clearly for these leagues, and several Reddit threads have tried working through the issues, but here is what I’ve been able to gather:

Yahoo’s “Important Dates” page lists the start of games as March 20 and the first scoring period as March 20-April 7. That includes the Seoul Series games in the timeframe. Those players would seemingly follow the same rules as ESPN, then, being locked into the lineup or bench depending on where they were drafted.

Other Notes

• CBS Sports, MLB.com and other fantasy outlets didn’t offer any further information that could easily be found. After joining a league (or during the process), they may offer more clarity, but that isn’t clear. These leagues are likely to operate similar to the others mentioned.
• Looking through Reddits and other online forums, some leagues (especially Yahoo) may give the commissioner the ability to set the starting date, meaning they can control if the games are counted in the scoring.
• Others have posited that with some formats, drafting before the Seoul Series means the stats will count, while holding your draft after that time means they will not count. Again, this is something that would be specific to formats and/or commissioner settings and not standard across the board.

Should the Stats Count?

Opinions may differ, but these are regular season games, and as such, I believe they should count in fantasy scoring. While a few games would be known before drafting, every team would have access to those players, and it only represents a small fraction of the season; it would be much different if this were two NFL games.

It is unfair to take away two games of scoring from certain owners, whether you know the results beforehand or not. Every regular season game should be treated the same, including those played a week earlier than the rest.

Players to Watch

Probable Starters

March 20: Tyler Glasnow, LAD vs Yu Darvish, SD

March 21: Joe Musgrove, SD vs Yoshinobu Yamamoto, LAD

Glasnow and Yamamoto are fantasy keepers; you won’t stream them unless something catastrophic happens. Darvish and Musgrove are both a level below, but they are probably players to keep most of the time.

Some owners like to keep the same set of pitchers, and in that case, all four of these guys are worth a roster spot. If you prefer streaming pitchers, you may be inclined to move the San Diego crew in and out of your lineup. It will likely depend on early-season results and how daring you want to be.

Hitters

These teams are loaded with fantasy options, regardless of how they perform in this two-game set. Daily fantasy starters for the Dodgers are:

• C Will Smith
• 1B Freddie Freeman
• 2B/SS/OF Mookie Betts
• DH Shohei Ohtani

Other guys worth drafting, streaming, and/or starting most days include OF Teoscar Hernandez, 3B Max Muncy and 2B/SS Gavin Lux.

LA has one of the best teams in the league. Players who aren’t daily fantasy starters will be worth streaming often because of the copious run and RBI chances offered by the lineup.

The Padres feature several stars of their own worth starting essentially every day:

• 2B/SS Xander Bogaerts
• 3B Manny Machado
• OF Fernando Tatis Jr

Ha-Seong Kim is a viable fantasy option because of his versatility: Kim can slot in at second base, third base and shortstop in most leagues. He isn’t a great hitter, but he can be a functional fill-in, especially against left-handed pitchers. Kim is worth a later-round pick.

Conclusion

The Seoul Series is fun for baseball fans, but it’s a bit of a headache for fantasy players. Many major fantasy sites are vague about how exactly the games will factor into the scoring, and it’s worth checking into your specific outlet and format to see if more information is available.

From most accounts, the best thing to do is draft players into a starting slot on your fantasy team if you want their stats to count. ESPN states that Dodgers and Padres players will be locked into their roster slot until the next scoring period, whether that’s the first day of the season or the next week. Other sites will likely follow a similar structure, so draft guys early if you want the Seoul stats to count.

The beginning of the season is here, a time to rejoice. The fantasy stats are only two games out of 162, so don’t stress too much if they don’t count, even if you lose a few home runs. The fantasy baseball season is long and stressful enough without adding to it.

#seoul-series