''Hot Stove League'' () is a South Korean television series that aired on

SBS TV SBS may refer to: Broadcasting * SBS Broadcasting Group, Belgium, formerly many countries * Talpa TV, formerly SBS Broadcasting B.V., Netherlands ** SBS6, Dutch television channel ** SBS9, Dutch television channel * Special Broadcasting Service ...

from December 13, 2019, to February 14, 2020. The series stars

Namkoong Min Namkoong Min (Hangul: 남궁민, born March 12, 1978) is a South Korean actor, director and screenwriter. He first gained recognition with neo-noir film ''A Dirty Carnival'' (2006), and has since received praise for his performances in '' Rememb ...

Park Eun-bin Park Eun-bin (, born September 4, 1992) is a South Korean actress. A former child actress, she is known for her lead roles in the television series ''Hello, My Twenties!'' (2016–2017), ''Hot Stove League'' (2019–2020), ''Do You Like Brahms? ...

Oh Jung-se Oh Jung-se (born February 26, 1977) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series ''Missing 9'' (2017), ''When the Camellia Blooms'' (2019), ''Hot Stove League'' (2019), and ''It's Okay to Not Be Okay'' (2020) ...

, and

Jo Byeong-kyu Cho Byeong-kyu (born April 23, 1996) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series ''SKY Castle'' (2018–2019), ''Hot Stove League ''Hot Stove League'' () is a South Korean television series that aired on ...

. It revolves around a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

team named Dreams, which has been the worst in the league for four consecutive years. ''Hot Stove League'' received critical acclaim and several awards, including Best Drama at the

56th Baeksang Arts Awards The 56th Baeksang Arts Awards () ceremony, organised by ''Ilgan Sports'' and JTBC Plus, was held on June 5, 2020, at KINTEX, Ilsanseo-gu, Gyeonggi Province, hosted by Shin Dong-yup, Bae Suzy and Park Bo-gum for the third consecutive year. The ...

. Namkoong won his first Grand Prize (Daesang) at the 28th SBS Drama Awards.

Synopsis

The Dreams are a Korean professional baseball team that have placed last in the league for the past four seasons. When their general manager steps down, the team hires Baek Seung-soo, who has managed several championship winning sports teams, as his replacement, despite Seung-soo having zero experience with managing a baseball team. Facing shrinking budgets, infighting between the coaching staff and a team deeply set in their ways, Seung-soo uses his outsider's insight and the help of operations manager Se-young and Jae-hee to upend the Dreams' culture in a bid to create a championship winning team, despite the looming fact that every team he has managed before has folded after winning the championship.

Cast

Main

as Baek Seung-soo :The new general manager of the Dreams who was hired despite having zero experience managing a baseball team. He has a "golden resume", leading wrestling, ice hockey and handball teams to championships, but they all end up folding afterwards due to circumstances outside his control. He doesn't have a particularly nice personality but he is determined to make the team the best in the league. *

as Lee Se-young :The Dreams' operations manager. She is the only female manager in the league and is very passionate about her team despite their poor fortunes. Though she has been working in this field for ten years, she never gives up. *

as Kwon Kyeong-min :The president of the team and a junior managing director with Jaesong Group, which owns the Dreams, and the nephew of its chairman. He plans to shut down the Dreams as it is unprofitable, and hires Baek Seung-soo to help him do so, but soon comes into conflict with him when Seung-soo puts real effort into making the team successful. *

as Han Jae-hee :Se-young's co-worker at the operations team. He got the job through his connections, but as time goes by he shows his passion for the team and works hard. It is suggested that the reason for his change in attitude is because he likes Se-young.

Supporting

Dreams office

* Son Jong-hak as Go Kang-seon, CEO of the Dreams team. * Lee Jun-hyeok as Go Se-hyeok, scout team leader. * Yoon Byung-hee as Yang Won-seop, scout team member. * Kim Do-hyun as Yoo Kyeong-taek, analysis team leader. * Kim Soo-jin as Lim Mi-seon, head of marketing team. * Park Jin-woo as Byeon Chi-hoon, marketing team leader. * Kim Ki-moo as Jang Woo-seok, scout team deputy head.

Dreams players

* Hong Ki-joon as Jang Jin-woo, the oldest

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. *

Chae Jong-hyeop Chae Jong-hyeop (; born May 19, 1993) is a South Korean actor. He is known for his role in television series ''Webtoon Hero - Tundra Show Season 2 '' (2016), ''Hot Stove League'' (2019), '' Sisyphus: The Myth'' and '' Nevertheless'' (2021). In a ...

as Yoo Min-ho, a rising pitcher. *

Jo Han-sun Jo Han-sun (born June 17, 1981) is a South Korean actor. He made his debut in a beer commercial in 2001, then became a household name through the sitcom '' Nonstop 3'' (2002) and the television drama '' April Kiss'' (2004). He is best known for t ...

as Lim Dong-gyu, a cleanup hitter. * Cha Yup as Seo Yeong-joo, the chief catcher. * Kim Dong-won as Kwak Han-young, an infielder.

Dreams coaching staff

* Lee Eol as Yoon Seong-bok, the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

. * Son Kwang-up as Choi Yong-goo, the pitching coach. * Kim Min-sang as Lee Cheol-min, the bench coach. * Seo Ho-chul as Min Tae-seong, the

batting coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decis ...

Baseball officials

Lee Dae-yeon Lee Dae-yeon (born November 13, 1964) is a South Korean actor. Filmography Film Television series Theater Awards and nominations References External links Lee Dae-yeonat JR Entertainment * * * 1964 births Living ...

as Kim Jong-moo, general manager of the Vikings. * Song Young-kyu as Oh Sang-hoon, general manager of the Pelicans. * Park So-jin as Kim Yeong-chae, a

sports announcer In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

. * Ha Do-kwon as Kang Doo-gi, the national team's ace pitcher. * Kim Kang-min as Lee Chang-kwon, Vikings player.

Others

Kim Jung-hwa Kim Jung-hwa (born September 9, 1983)is a South Korean actress. She rose to fame in the 2002 sitcom ''Nonstop (South Korean TV series), Nonstop 3'', and has since played leading roles in the television series ''Something About 1%'' (2003) and ' ...

as Yoo Jeong-in, Seung-soo's ex-wife. * Yoon Sun-woo as Baek Yeong-soo, Seung-soo's little brother. An expert in

sabermetrics Sabermetrics, or originally SABRmetrics, is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Sabermetricians collect and summarize the relevant data from this in-game activity to answer specific ques ...

, he uses a wheelchair due to a baseball injury as a teenager. *

Yoon Bok-in Yoon Bok-in ( born on 16 December 1970) is a South Korean actress. She made her acting debut in 1990 in theater, since then, she has appeared in number of plays, films and television series. She got recognition for her supporting roles in '' Su ...

as Jeong Mi-sook, Se-yeong's mother. * Jun Gook-hwan as Kwon Il-do, Jaesong Group chairman. * Lee Kyu-ho as Cheon Heung-man, a former wrestler who knows Seung-soo. *

Lee Yong-woo Lee Yong-woo (born April 15, 1981) is a South Korean actor and dancer. He graduated from the Korea National University of Arts with a degree in Dance and joined the modern dance company Laboratory Dance Project in 2001. Lee made his acting debut ...

as Gil Chang-joo / Robert Gil, a translator and a disgraced former pitcher. * Moon Won-joo as Kim Ki-beom, retired dreams player

Special appearances

* Lee Je-hoon as Lee Je-hoon, CEO of PF Soft (Ep. 16) *

Pengsoo Pengsoo ( ko, 펭수, ''Pengsu'') is a penguin character that appears on the YouTube channel Giant Peng TV, run by Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) in South Korea. Pengsoo is a ten-year-old trainee at EBS who dreams of being a universal supe ...

as Pengsoo (Ep. 16)

Production

Munhak Baseball Stadium 20150711 SK vs Kia

The series is based on Lee Shin-hwa's screenplay, which was one of the winners in the ''2H 2016 MBC Drama Screenplay Contest'' (Miniseries Category).

and

previously worked together as second leads in ''

Hur Jun, The Original Story ''Hur Jun, The Original Story'' () is a 2013 South Korean television series about the life of Heo Jun, a commoner who rose up the ranks to become a royal physician in Joseon (he used the pen name "Guam"). It aired on MBC from March 18 to Septembe ...

'' (2013). The first script reading took place in September 2019. Munhak Baseball Stadium, home stadium of the South Korean professional baseball team SK Wyverns who gave their support to the series, served as a filming location and was used in one teaser poster. Scenes taking place in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

were filmed in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

. After episodes 10 and 11 were divided into three parts instead of two, viewers expressed their discontent concerning the advertisements on the program's website. Following the success of the drama, the cast and crew went on a four-day reward vacation to Saipan on February 17, 2020.

Original soundtrack

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Viewership

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{HanCinema drama, Stove_League 2019 South Korean television series debuts 2020 South Korean television series endings 2010s workplace drama television series 2020s workplace drama television series Baseball television series Korean-language television shows South Korean sports television series South Korean workplace television series Seoul Broadcasting System television dramas Television shows set in Incheon Television shows set in California