Son Heungmin to Throw Ceremonial First Pitch on August 28
V (real name Kim Taehyung) of the idol group BTS stood on the field at Dodger Stadium.
On August 26 (Korean time), V threw the ceremonial first pitch before the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Group BTS member V is taking a commemorative photo with Dodgers star player Shohei Ohtani before the Los Angeles Dodgers' home game pitch in Major League Baseball (MLB) on the 25th (local time). Photo by AP
V appeared wearing a Dodgers jersey with the number 7 tucked into light blue jeans. Just before the game began, he energetically shouted, "It's time for Dodger baseball!" to signal the start of the Dodgers' game.
After receiving the mound from Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, he gave a slight bow toward him, went through his windup, and threw the ball left-handed. As he walked into the dugout, he waved to the cheering fans in response to their applause.
Before the first pitch, V met Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers) in the dugout, shared a hug, and took a commemorative photo. Major League Baseball's official office shared this photo on its official social media accounts. Upon seeing the released photo, netizens around the world reacted by calling it "a meeting of the best and the best."
On August 17, the Los Angeles Dodgers posted a photo of V on their official social media with the message, "ARMY, are you ready?" announcing that V would be throwing the first pitch that day. News of V's ceremonial pitch caused a temporary outage on the ticket reservation site due to a surge in traffic.
StubHub, a U.S. ticket resale platform, stated, "After V's first pitch was announced, ticket sales on our website surged fivefold overnight. The Dodgers became the most searched team in Major League Baseball this week."
Meanwhile, the Dodgers have recently been inviting Korean stars to throw the ceremonial first pitch. Son Heungmin, a soccer player who recently transferred to Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer (MLS), which is also based in Los Angeles, is scheduled to throw the first pitch at the Dodgers' home game on August 28.
On August 26, Los Angeles FC shared a video of Son Heungmin practicing his pitch on the club's official social media. The club commented, "He's getting better and better at throwing the ball."
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