SEOUL– South Korean baseball’s postseason will begin next Wednesday with the wild card series, two days after the conclusion of the regular season.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on Thursday unveiled the postseason schedule. The wild card series will be between No. 4 and No. 5 teams from the regular season, and both spots are up for grabs with the regular season scheduled to end next Monday.

The higher-seeded team will be the host. If that team wins or ties the first game, it will advance to the next round. If the lower-seeded team wins next Wednesday, the two clubs will go at it again the following day. The fifth-ranked team must win that game, too, in order to advance to the next stage, while the higher seed will only need a tie.
The best-of-five first round will begin on Oct. 15. The yet-to-be-determined No. 3 team from the regular season will get a bye to that stage.

The second round, also a best-of-five series, will start Oct. 23. The LG Twins, who have locked down No. 2 seed, will await the winner of the first round.

The Korean Series, a best-of-seven affair, will start on Oct. 31. The SSG Landers have earned a bye to the championship round by virtue of clinching the best record in the regular season.

A travel day will be scheduled between Games 2 and 3, and Games 4 and 5 of every series. The final three games of the Korean Series, if necessary, will be played on consecutive days.

In the Korean Series, the Landers will play five home games if the series goes the distance: Games 1 and 2, and then Games 5, 6 and 7.

A tie will be declared after 15 innings, compared to 12 innings during the regular season.

All weekday postseason games will begin at 6:30 p.m., and all weekend games will start at 2 p.m.

The KBO will allow teams to put together a taxi squad of backups and to call up players from there in case of COVID-19 infections within their main roster.

Source: Yonhap News Agency