2024 could be Year of the Blue Dragon for the KBO, too

The dawn of the Year of the Blue Dragon on Monday may appear to be an omen of sorts for the more superstitious KBO fans, the name harkening back to the early days of the league when the LG Twins played as the MBC Chungryong — literally blue dragon

A blue dragon statue is installed in Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on Sunday ahead of the start of the Year of the Blue Dragon on Monday. Inset: The logo of the MBC Chungryong, the former name of the LG Twins literally meaning MBC Blue Dragon. [YONHAP; JOONGANG ILBO]

The dawn of the Year of the Blue Dragon on Monday may appear to be an omen of sorts for the more superstitious KBO fans, the name harkening back to the early days of the Korean baseball league when the LG Twins played as the MBC Chungryong — literally blue dragon.

The founding Seoul club started its life as the MBC Chungryong when the league was launched in 1982, at the time owned by broadcaster MBC with a rather fetching bat-swinging blue dragon as the team’s logo.

MBC eventually sold the Chungryong to LG in 1989, accepting that owning a sports team wasn’t the best way to ensure its journalistic integrity. The team was renamed as the LG Twins and has stayed the same ever since.

And the omen may just be correct.

The Twins arrive in 2024 as the reigning KBO champions, an honor the team has not enjoyed since the start of 1995, and still look to be in a good position ahead of the upcoming 2024 KBO season.

LG have already filled all three of their foreign player spots for the new season, re-signing long-standing pitcher Casey Kelly and outfielder Austin Dean and bringing in a new arm in the form of former big leaguer Dietrich Enns.

The Twins also kept free agent pitcher Ham Deok-ju, despite the MLB requesting a status check on him, as well as retaining Korean Series MVP Oh Ji-hwan and pitcher Im Chan-kyu.

The only real question mark on the horizon for the Twins is closer Go Woo-suk, who has been posted to the majors but is yet to sign a deal.

The 30-day negotiating window for Go ends on Jan. 3 in the United States, or Jan. 4 in Korea, and if no deal has been reached by then the closer will stay put at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul.

With the Twins retaining practically all of their pennant and championship-winning squad, chances remain high that 2024 could prove to be the Year of the Blue Dragon — or at least the former blue dragon — in the KBO as well.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]