Seoul: The 2025 regular season in South Korean baseball ended Saturday with plenty of records set on the field and in the stands.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) set a single-season attendance record for the second straight year. In 2024, the league’s 10 clubs drew 10,887,705 fans, and that record was surpassed on September 5, with a month left in the season. The league finished with a total attendance of 12,312,519 fans.
The Samsung Lions set a record for the biggest single-season attendance by a team with 1,640,174, surpassing the previous mark of 1,397,499 set by the LG Twins in 2024. The Twins finished second with their franchise-record 1,542,458 fans.
The Hanwha Eagles, back in the postseason for the first time since 2018, had a record 62 sellouts in their inaugural season at the new Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark, which has a capacity of 17,000. The Eagles held the previous record of 47 sellouts set last year at the old stadium, the 12,000-seat Hanwha Life Eagles Park. Leaguewide, there were a record 331 sellouts, breaking the previous standard of 221 set last year.
With increased attention, players delivered record-breaking performances throughout the season. Eagles ace Cody Ponce captured the Triple Crown with 17 wins, a 1.89 ERA, and a league-record 252 strikeouts. Ponce set another KBO record by winning his first 17 decisions to start the season, ending with a 17-1 record and a league-best .944 winning percentage. Ponce also became the first foreign-born pitcher in KBO history to finish a season with a sub-2.00 ERA. He broke the strikeout record on September 3, surpassing the previous mark of 225 set by Doosan Bears pitcher Ariel Miranda in 2021.
Lewin Diaz of the Samsung Lions set a single-season RBI record with 158 and finished the season with 50 home runs, the most ever in a season by a foreign player in KBO history. Diaz also led the KBO in slugging percentage with .644 and in on-base plus slugging (OPS) with 1.025. Ponce appeared to be a front-runner for the MVP award early on, but Diaz’s strong second-half performance turned it into a competitive race.
Yang Eui-ji of the Bears led the KBO with a .337 batting average and became the first primary catcher to win two batting titles. Yang held off KT Wiz rookie Ahn Hyun-min, who finished with a .334 average. The 22-year-old is poised to win the Rookie of the Year award, as he topped all freshmen in batting average, home runs (22), RBIs (80), slugging percentage (.570), on-base percentage (.448), and OPS (1.018).
Choi Jeong, who became the KBO’s career home run leader last year, became the first player in the league to hit over 500 home runs on May 13 and later hit at least 20 home runs in 10 consecutive seasons. His Landers teammate, Kim Kwang-hyun, became the third pitcher to reach 2,000 career strikeouts on September 7.
The postseason bracket was finalized on the last day of the season as the Dinos secured the final spot with a 7-1 victory over the Landers. The Twins won their second pennant in three seasons with a record of 85-56-3, earning a bye to the Korean Series. The Eagles, finishing 1 1/2 games back at 83-57-4, advanced straight to the second round. The Landers will start their postseason in the first round against the winner of the wild card round between the fourth-seed Samsung Lions (74-68-2) and the fifth-seed Dinos (71-67-6).