MLB cancels exhibition games in S. Korea over ‘contractual issues’

Major League Baseball (MLB) has canceled four exhibition games scheduled for November in South Korea, citing “contractual issues” with a local promoter.

MLB made the announcement while Game 1 of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros was under way in Houston on Friday (local time).

The MLB World Tour Korea Series was to have featured two games in the southeastern city of Busan on Nov. 11 and 12 and two more in Seoul on Nov. 14 and 15. A team of MLB players, including a few South Korean-born players such as Kim Ha-seong of the San Diego Padres and former World Series MVP Salvador Perez, was set to take on Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) players in what would have been MLB’s first games here in 100 years.

“MLB has had ongoing contractual issues with the event promoter that we have been trying to resolve for some time,” said Jim Small, MLB’s senior vice president of international operations, in a statement. “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.”