Seoul: With each passing day in the final stretch of the regular season, the postseason picture is becoming clearer in South Korean baseball, with more teams reaching the brink of elimination.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the LG Twins and the Hanwha Eagles have secured the top two spots in the 10-team Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), leaving three postseason spots available. The SSG Landers, holding a 70-62-4 record, are two games ahead of the Samsung Lions, who are at 70-66-2 in third place. The Lions maintain a slim half-game lead over the KT Wiz, who have a 69-66-4 record.
The Lotte Giants, standing at 65-67-6, trail the Wiz by 2 1/2 games, while the NC Dinos are close behind in seventh place with a 64-67-6 record. The Kia Tigers, who claimed the 2024 Korean Series title, are on the verge of being eliminated from postseason contention with their 62-71-4 record. They are six games behind the Wiz with only seven games left.
The Landers are close to securing a postseason berth, needing only three more wins. The Lions and the Wiz both require four more wins to clinch their spots in the October tournament. The KBO postseason will commence with a wild card series involving the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds. The higher-ranked team needs only to tie to advance, while the lower-ranked team must win two consecutive games.
The third-ranked team will receive a bye to the best-of-five first round, where they will face the winner of the wild card series. The victor of the first round will challenge the No. 2 team in the best-of-five second round, with the winner advancing to the Korean Series against the regular-season champion.
The Landers have eight games remaining, including two against the Wiz. The Lions have six games left, all against teams with sub-.500 records, including the Tigers, the Giants, and the last-place Kiwoom Heroes. The Wiz have five remaining games, facing the Eagles once and the Landers twice.
The Giants, whose last postseason appearance was in 2017, have struggled in the latter half of the season. They were in third place at the All-Star break and within four games of first place in early August. However, a 12-game losing streak in August has contributed to their 18-28-3 second-half record, the second-worst in the league.
The Tigers have fared even worse post-All-Star break, with a 17-31-1 record. The absence of MVP Kim Do-yeong, due to hamstring injuries, has impacted the team significantly. Despite being in the top four in June, the Tigers' performance declined over the summer.