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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.
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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!
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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!
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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!Was this review helpful to you?
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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.
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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 SooThis 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.
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A must watch with a brilliant story and first-class acting by all the characters
There are so many things to love in this show.1. It's an almost perfect watch. A well-written story with great acting from the actors. I did not feel disconnected with any of the characters which goes to show that all of them did a great job.
2. The story in itself is pretty good. For someone who does not know baseball other than the fact that Moneyball was an amazing movie, I did not feel lost even once. Yes, there were terms thrown here and there like ERA (or something) but you don't need to understand them to understand the story. I love that I did not have to learn about the sport to enjoy the drama. It was a perfect depiction of sports management, and I loved it.
3. It is one of my favourite genres: politics (internal politics) and business. I loved watching how they did not bring in fancy tropes, try to unnecessarily bring in some romance or just try to throw off the show using some cliche drama. The focus was clear since the first episode: the show was about a sports team that will be disbanded and how will we prevent that. While sticking to their concept and plot, they depicted various beautiful stories through the different characters and it was a very pleasant and easy watch.
4. I actually enjoyed watching the individual stories of most of these people. This show has made me laugh, cry and be in awe - all at the same time. There was no over-the-top reliance on any one character and equal importance was given to all of them to depict how a team works together and what goes on behind the scenes. It was fun watching that.
While all of this was good, I have two problems with the show which made me deduct some points from the rating:
1. I do not like the demonisation of Kyung Min. If it was my team that was causing me only losses and had such grave mismanagement for multiple years, I would pull out my investment as well. I'm running a business, not a charity. If he was unable to sell the team, he is TOTALLY justified in disbanding the team. His only fault was that he was so muddled up in his own prejudice that he employed the wrong means of achieving his goals. So, this entire comments section seems pretty harsh and unrealistic to me where he is being vilified.
2. Towards the end, it got caught up in so much politics that I did not enjoy the last two episodes much. In fact the end was so underwhelming that I was wondering if it had been conceptualised by the same person who wrote the other 14 episodes. I was also thinking about how childish it seems.
It is a brilliant watch and I believe it is quite underrated looking at its rating here. It is a fresh break from usual rom-com kdramas and is very well acted and narrated. Loved almost every second of watching this one!
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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 !
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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.
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Took me by surprise.
It is my first drama with the main lead as Namkoong Min and he nailed it. The acting is superb, at best. I personally like his character. How he deals with everybody and his negotiation skills hooked me till the last episode.The drama is promising to watch with the theme of 'How to manage a professional baseball team which is lagging in every aspect'. YES, you will get disappointed because there are no hard-core baseball matches to watch. The story is deeply focused on the management side. If you are interested in this you can go for it.
you can watch this free on youtube as well on the SBS channel.
Well, I am not disappointed but yeah it does take me by surprise.
NO, rewatch from my side but I will explore more K dramas by Namkoong Min.
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best sports kdrama so far
idk why i'm late t watch naurrr I thought i wouldn't like this drama but i'm WRONG..no wonder this drama won at baeksang award!!! i love how this drama isn't too focused on the sports but rather have many aspects such as friendship and teamwork between the Dream's player and also staffs. we can also see how realistic it is when it comes to a hardship and problems that occured in the baseball team. plus i just love how savage Mr. Baek are to everyone that dislike him loli absolutely love the script. it gaves a lot of lesson and advices. the character?? TOTALLY LOVE IT!! there were some funny scene that made the story more interesting. the acting are realistic and wasn't forced which is another reason to finish the drama. i can say that hot stove league neither a drama that too heavy or too light which is likeable.
i love the friendship between Mrs. Lee and Mr. Baek.. how she always believe in what he did and i think that's beautiful TT PLUS THE MAIN OST IS SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!! I JUST LOVE THE LAST SCENE WHERE DREAM'S TEAM WALKING OUT AND THEN THE OST PLAYED IT SUITED THE SCENE SO WELL BUT ITS ALSO SAD I WANNA CRY ;( AHHHH I MISS THIS TEAM ALREADY WE WANT S2
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Never been in baseball
Many of people said that it was really good kdrama, i did not interest at all until i found out that nam goong min was one of the actor. i tried to watch first eps but just have 6/10 of it. then after eps 2 and where the conflict started is so good. I don't have knowledge at all about baseball, strategic or etc. But once i see this. i feel that i'm the part if drama that think how to maintain the club to have good step. If you seeking simple drama, this not for you. This quite complex but the chemistry is good between the role. (even there no romance in it more like family). But the story is so realistic even for the support role it has they job to have this k drama so good.Was this review helpful to you?
