No double headers or Monday games in plans: KBO

SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Yonhap) -- The top local baseball league isn't considering scheduling double headers or Monday games this year to make up for rained-out games, a senior official said Thursday.
Jeong Geum-jo, head of baseball operations at the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), said the league will respect the opinions of managers and will not force eight KBO teams to play two-a-days or have games on Monday, usually the only off-day of the week.
"There were opinions that Monday games would be better than double headers, and starting the playoffs late would be better than playing on Mondays," Jeong said. "We decided that we don't want to force the issue, even if it means the playoffs will start behind schedule."
The KBO has scheduled 532 games this year, but heavy rains through most of July have canceled 66 of them. Rained-out games will be played after Aug. 30, and the KBO will announce modified schedules in about two weeks, Jeong said.
According to the official, the regular season is set to end on Oct. 3. Jeong said additional cancellations between now and the end of this month may force the KBO to consider double headers or Monday games.
The league wants to end three rounds of the postseason by Nov. 5 at the latest. Since the KBO started in 1982, all but one postseason ended in October.
In 2004, the Hyundai Unicorns beat the Samsung Lions in nine games for the Korean Series title on Nov. 1. The usually best-of-seven series needed extra games because the teams battled to three ties.
In the KBO, a tie is called when teams remain deadlocked after 12 innings in the regular season and 15 innings in the playoffs.
The KBO scrapped double headers in 2004. Managers have balked at playing two games in a day because of thin pitching staffs and risk of injuries.