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.