The Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), the most prestigious league in South Korea, began its postseason on Oct. 2 with the game between Doosan Bears and KT Wiz at the Jamsil Baseball Stadium.
The annual KBO postseason occurs when all 144 games during the regular season are completed, with the top five teams out of 10 competing for the trophy. The matchups climb from the bottom ranking of fifth place to the first-place team during the regular season.
The number of winning matches needed to advance to the next stage aligns with a team’s ranking; the matchup between fifth and fourth place, also called the Wild Card, requires the fifth-place team to win against the fourth-place team twice, whereas the fourth-place team only needs one win against the fifth-place team.
The winner of the Wild Card matches and the third-place team then battle it out in a best-of-five semi-playoff. The semi-playoff winner advances to the playoffs and faces another best-of-five against the second-place team. Finally, the winner of the playoffs reaches the Korean Series, which is a best-of-seven duel against the first-place team.
The final five teams ranked from fifth to first for the 2024 KBO postseason are the KT Wiz, Doosan Bears, LG Twins, Samsung Lions, and KIA Tigers, respectively.
With the 2024 postseason finalized, this year’s season was a historical one: it marked the first fifth-place decision game between the KT Wiz and SSG Landers in KBO history. Because the two teams had the exact same head-to-head game statistics, they had to battle an extra game to decide which team would go up to the postseason.
Due to this event, many fans found the finalized five teams lined up for the 2024 postseason unexpected.
“I was surprised to see the KT Wiz advancing to the postseason,” Dominic Hahm (12), LG Twins fan, said. “In the middle of the season, they even fell all the way down to last place, but they were able to miraculously raise their standings to fifth place to enter the postseason.”
Some expressed flaws within the teams competing for the trophy.
“I believe that the Samsung Lions have too many leaks with players,” Dominic said. “With their key players Koo Ja-wook and Korner being away with injury, it would be unlikely they win the title. Additionally, their level of fatigue after beating the LG Twins in the playoffs this year is much worse than that of KIA Tigers, who have rested for weeks.”
Although the postseason games are still in progress, fans are speculating about which team is most likely to win the first-place title.
“I think the KIA Tigers have a very good chance of winning this year as they have a very strong roster with the young prospect Kim Do-young,” Jason Kang (10), Doosan Bears fan, said. “They just need to stay healthy and I think they can win it all.”
Other fans also chimed in with the prediction as well.
“I personally pick the KIA Tigers as the strongest contender for the title,” Ronald Ko, school store manager and KBO fan, said. “I have been an LG fan for a long time, but the prospects the KIA Tigers hold this year are unbeatable. The new player on their team, Kim Do-young, is a player that would come out once in a hundred years.”
Baseball is an unpredictable sport with a profusion of upsets all the time. Despite having a variety of opinions on which team will take the final trophy, fans will have to wait for all matches to become finalized to find out which team will end up raising the trophy.
