Hot Stove League (2019)

Damn I Sure Do Wish I Knew Stuff About Baseball

I know nothing about baseball. I'm pretty sure a lot of people you'll ask who've watched this also don't know anything about baseball.

Yet Hot Stove League is so riveting. The baseball premise and terminology might scare you at first, but I mean it when I say the story and characters are enjoyable even if you know literally nothing about baseball. The baseball terms and game itself are kind of unimportant, dare I say, and you aren't losing out if you don't read up on the sport. It's the characters, their relationships, and the story that drives this show!

Baek Seung-Soo is incredibly pragmatic(frankly, to a fault) and his work is his number one priority. Despite his cold and seemingly unwelcoming personality and wit, he's surprisingly charming. Throughout the show, I found myself rooting for him - not that I disliked him, I was curious as to how the show would handle his character - and every time he solved an issue it didn't feel like a cheap one-solution-fixes-all kind of gimmick. Every time Baek Seung-Soo solved an issue(alone or with others), it was believable and it was so...him. He's not perfect, sometimes you can see him genuinely struggle and just like real life, his attitude is not necessarily well-received.

I think that's one selling point too, the fact that the other characters are actually human, responding to Baek Seung-Soo's attitude much like how any viewer would, especially without much knowledge or context regarding his demeanour. They have their own lives, beliefs, and reasons for doing what they do. Mr. Baek may be the focus out of all the characters, but the writing doesn't neglect the development and growth of the staff, main baseball players, and even the higher-ups uninvolved in the nitty-gritty of baseball and the Dreams.

And what does that mean? Why does that matter? Because it shows HSL is more about office politics, uncaring higher-ups, personal development of characters, and how these characters work to solve problems. It's got baseball,

I particularly appreciate the lack of romance in this kdrama as well. Don't get me wrong, I like relationships and comedic couples in shows, but sometimes I just want a kdrama without the need for driving the plot with romance. Sometimes I just don't care about the "chemistry", I want the life stories and the problem-solving. HSL pleases me in that sense, because the characters are work-driven and platonic, focusing on respect and lack thereof. Lee Se-Young is focused on her work and on protecting the people in her workplace, very much like Seung-Soo, and I appreciate that there's no room for romance in their relationship as Operations Manager and General Manager respectively.

ALL the actors have done well, and I loved all their performances throughout this show. The characters you're supposed to dislike, you dislike, the characters you're supposed to root for, you root for. Even the "good guys" do bad things, they're not one-dimensional and neither are the "antagonists". They're all doing their in-show job, they have their reasons, just like the Dreams do.

This is a minor detail, but one I admire just as much as I adore the rest of the aspects of this show - the sound design. Is that the right term? I'm not quite sure. What I'm talking about is the background music that plays during certain moments of note, like tense moments and high-stress situations. When these situations happen, the music kicks in and it makes me feel the emotion the scene is supposed to evoke even MORE strongly. I can't stress enough how the tense moments made me feel even more tense because of the music, or the heartwarming moments that made me feel so happy and almost drive me to tears because of the song choice and/or background music.

Overall, an enjoyable kdrama. It's up there on my list of favourites, and if I recall correctly, episode 1 started off strong with a problem that needed solving. It was what made me want to sit through this drama, and I'm glad I did! Give HSL a try, I think its episodes are compelling enough to keep your attention long enough.

Leer más

Hot Stove League proves that sports dramas can work!

Just like my headline, Hot Stove League really proves that sports dramas can work when done like this! Hot Stove League made me like baseball, a sport that I never liked until now! A really good story and sub-stories mixed in with a really good cast that seemed to have perfect chemistry with one another right from the start in the first episode until the last second. Hour long episodes rarely feel like 30 minute episodes and the story make it such perfect material. A few members of the cast, actually perhaps the majority, I had not been familiar with but now I need to watch more dramas with these actors/actresses in! Well done, Hot Stove League! Bravo! Lets go Dreams! Go Dreams Go! Go Dreams! Dreams Go!

Leer más

excellent corporate drama with no villanization bullshit . it's realistic, it's humane, it makes sense. i couldnt ask for anything better. absolutely in love with how it is written. the acting was supered, i loved the story.

my favorite thing was the fact that nor blatant villianziation occurred neither blatant redemption. it was not about redeeming the characters when it came to antagonists, everything had such a humane resolution by the end it makes u fall in love with the writing and the characters. i just LOVE good writing, personally it took me a good deal of months to finish it bc i kindaa got bored but it defo was not bc of the writing it was probably my own brain. by the end i defo cried a lil bit here and there, ah the writing was so good. i also reaaallyyy loved the logical resolution to the problems encountered by Baek Seung Soo. it's always impressive when a melodrama genre deals with its plot points with logic rather than depending on some bullshit.

so yeah. i am impressed. i love. i recommend. ^_^

Leer más

I regret not watching hot stove league any sooner

All in all, it was sooo good~~~ I watch it with high expectations as it garnered the best tv drama on baeksang but wow hot stove league exceeded my expectations. From the plot, the flow, acting, and the storytelling style, 10/10! I wouldn't ask for more. If I were asked to recommend a drama, this would be on the top of my list. No doubt they won a lot of awards at baeksang; from best tv drama to lead actor, to director, and tv script!

I know nothing about baseball but, it does not hinder the comfortable watch. Yes, it is not mainly baseball-centered drama, instead, it was all about the people, business, politics, workplace, power-struggle, building a real team, underdogs climbing to the top drama. Hot stove league is off to the top-tier scripts in the drama world, and it was carried earnestly with the amazing casting and acting on it! It was quite draggy but I'm not complaining about it. Yes, I'm not. Because the flow was so fantastic. The dragging was turned into a very enjoyable watch.

I'm asking myself where I have been because I am missing out a lot about this gem here. I would have enjoyed watching this while it was ongoing... Overall Great Story! Great Acting! Great delivery! One of the Greatest, at least for me~

Leer más

Homerun

Now the ending upset me as I felt like his position should've been the same yet in life it doesn't always work out that way.
Now Baek was a difficult individual to socialise with due to his rather blunt and cold personality especially whenever he went against his superiors. I felt like he was positively affected by everyone he had to interact with rubbing off him as you could see the subtle changes. His backstory to how he got where he is a massive factor impacting him in that made me cry.
Se young I didn't enjoy her parts much as at times seemed needy of approval from Jae Hee
The baseballer Kang Ki and Jin Won looked too alike sometimes confusing me on the individual story.
This drama adequately illuminated the power dynamic in a company and how power is used on different levels especially if you have inferiors and superiors. It reminded me of a food chain where one disappears making it collapse.

Leer más

love this drama! might be the best kdrama i've seen yet!

I binged this whole show in about 4 days cause it was just so good! My little brother is a baseball player, so I decided to watch it bc it looked pretty interesting. This show is heartfelt and hits on all of the right notes for me. I'm only taking off 0.5 points because there are some scenes where I felt so annoyed at certain things, but overall, the story, the acting, and the character development from ML/FL/every important character was just so on point!

btw, I noticed at the end that there wasn't really a romantic component, and I think I was more than happy to not have that be a thing lol!

Leer más

You don't need to like baseball to enjoy this drama

Although I'd read the synopsis, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect and not being a fan of any sport (except figure skating on occasion), I wondered if I'd get into it. However, being a Namgoong Min fan, I decided to give it a try.
Much of the story centred around the statistics, strategies and personalities within the game, so I was surprised when it nevertheless kept both my attention and interest.
That was due entirely to the excellent cast who all portrayed the many characters in this drama, so well.
Namgoong Min as the hyper intelligent, unflappable, no nonsense new Manager, whose appointment shocked everyone at team Dreams.
Never having been a player, many looked down on him and thought he'd be a pushover ~ he was anything but. I loved his lazy way of talking and poker face.
Park Eun-bin as the only female to be appointed as any team's Operations Manager, was perfect. She balanced being feisty and just the right level of tough (as a female in a male dominated environment), whilst retaining an even temperament. Too often women in important positions are portrayed as hard, cold, bitchy and lacking emotion. She was none of those things and that was honestly a breath of fresh of air.
So many other actors' portrayals of their characters made an impression on me as well. Too many to list!
There are so many stories intertwined into the main one, which is the club striving to turn their dismal record of losses around, and giving them a fighting chance of actually winning the league.
We also get corporate politics, with the conglomerate that owns the club (helmed by an old and manipulative Chairman), having a hidden agenda. There's in-fighting within both the club's staff and players. Jealousies, arrogance, misunderstandings and struggles with both fitness and confidence.
Then there are the personal problems many characters contend with, which are revealed as the drama plays out. Some are quite tragic and shed a new light on what drives some of them.
All in all, there is a lot of story that is so well wrapped up in 16 episodes.
Whilst I will admit that some of the scenes involving the strategies and stats of the game and its players, went over my head, that didn't spoil my overall enjoyment and surprise at how good this drama was. Even the ending was well thought out and realistic.
An intelligent and fulfilling watch for sure!

Leer más

Not a sports drama

I put off watching this show for 2 years until the Christmas break because I'm not interested in sports. However, as other reviewers have stated, you don't need to understand baseball or even like it in order to watch this. In fact, for a baseball show, there's surprisingly few scenes of baseball matches. This show runs along the vein of strategy-based shows where the protagonists use their brains to plot and thwart the plans of villains. It's reminiscent of shows such as Dae Jung Geum, Dong Yi, and Tree with Deep Roots (notice how I'm giving sageuk examples, simply because such shows haven't been written with modern Korea as a backdrop.) which are very machiavellian and leave you marvelling at how they put down the jigsaw pieces and everything falls into place when you least expect it. This show won't leave you warm and fuzzy (e.g., Hospital Playlist, Prison Playbook) but will leave you feeling satisfied. The acting is top rate, even from the relatively young actors. Don't put it off any further, give it a watch!

Leer más

Home run

I'm someone who picked up the drama and dropped it around the first episode, picked it up a few months later, dropped it around episode 5, and then picked it up two days ago, and now can't stop thinking about it. I'm the type that binges a drama. Yet while watching this, I had to pause because I kept on getting chills. After each episode, I had to take a break to appreciate how unique each episode was. While describing a series, I use interesting, thrilling, funny, etc.; however, I think the closest word that comes to mind when I think of this drama is "memorable."

I'm not into baseball. I couldn't care less about it. However, this drama overcomes the sport. More than the sport. The drama centers around the people who work in the industry. It chose to focus on the athletes, the teams supporting the industry, and the bonds formed and broken. Most importantly, it delivered valuable messages. In each episode, I learned something new, my perspectives changed, and the drama did all this while showing heart-wrenching, exciting and intriguing stories.

I'm not going to talk about the acting—the music, or what I disliked. I mean, I'm three years too late. There are more than 50 reviews that have done it. The drama has won baeksangs which shows how much this drama is liked. I think I'm just writing this so I can come back years later and read it to remind myself how much I love this drama. (MDL has become a precious diary that holds my thoughts, haha)

I loved everything, from the slow start to the actors, to the onscreen chemistry, to the plot to the ending. I loved the antagonist (as much as I hated him), the male and female lead, the secondary characters, the athletes, and the banter. I loved the small deadpan comedy moments, and I loved the connections that they portrayed. The script was a masterpiece, and the actors delivered a fantastic performance. The pace was perfect, and it wonderfully wrapped up towards the end.

It's a show for people who love baseball, for people who don't know a thing about it, for people looking for a satisfying and exciting sports drama, for people who want a slice-of-life drama, and for people who are looking for motivation. It's a show that will leave you feeling like you made the right choice. It's a show that you can trust to dedicate your time to.

"While trying to protect the things precious to you, do not stop others from trying to protect you. It's okay to stop and relax if it's too tiring, but if you cannot realize your worth, no one will either."

I will remember this drama fondly for as long as I can, and I hope more people will discover this gem when they need it the most.

Leer más

The most iconic sports drama ever written

"We lost because we didn't have enough money? I didn't go to college as I didn't have tutors. I lost because I was sick. Everyone can't be in same environment. They are fighting with what they have. If we make excuses, we'll lose in same way again." -- Baek Seung Soo

This above paragraph is microcosm of this drama. With a sorta plain story writer, director and actors created a masterpiece. Hot Stove League excels in execution specifically in the parts of strategy.

Even though Dreams (the team for which Baek Seung Soo is GM) played only single baseball match, still you could imagine how well they will play in real game with all the soft improvements they have made in their thinking and planning.

Please go ahead and try it. You won't be dissappointed.

Leer más

Interesting and Inspirational sports- business drama

I had no interest in watching this initially thinking it was fully about sports and I am kind of that lazy person who is not really fan of any sports and has no idea about how Baseball works. Lol But I read some article about it recently and thought to give it a try now (Feb 2024) and I was pleasantly surprised because I really enjoyed it.

STORY:
It is basically an inspiring story about how a sports club which owns a Baseball team is going through bad times and how a new strict manager turns their luck around. He changes the whole system, weeds out corruption, etc etc. Even though it is kind of predictable, the story of how these things are achieved is the highlight of the drama.

Acting is stellar and has many heart warming scenes. I was happy that there was no romantic feelings b/w the leads and it was only a strictly business relationship b/w them as I kinda shipped the 2nd ml with Fl. :)

Overall a good pick me up drama !

Leer más

Top tier sports-politics

99.9% politics, 0.1% gameplay. I expected a sports, gameplay driven drama but it's mostly political. This may sound discouraging but it's actually the strongest part of the show. It's engaging, very well written masterpiece.

You will feel like part of the stove league post season improvement throughout the show. Every episode tackles all the problems (the reasons they keep losing every year) and important part that leads to the overall improvement of the team, not just the baseball team but most especially the internal people that make up the whole dream team. It's something that you will cherish as you near the end.

It's so refreshing to see a show that let us see what happens internally in a sports team. What can I say? it's certainly chaotic!

Nam Goongmin is an excellent actor. His role as the General Manager was very convincing. Everyone did their part harmoniously.

This is an excellently well-written drama that even for people who don't usually like sports (like me) will surely enjoy.

Leer más