The top two teams from the regular season in South Korean baseball will clash in the championship series starting Monday, with one team seeking to maintain its perfect record and the other pursuing its first title in 10 years.

The top-seeded Kia Tigers will host No. 2 seed Samsung Lions in Game 1 of the Korean Series at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, 270 kilometers south of Seoul.

The Tigers earned a bye to the Korean Series, after cruising to the best record in the regular season at 87-55-2 (wins-losses-ties), and they will enjoy the home field advantage. They will host the first two games and then the final three games, if the series goes that far.

The Lions finished nine games behind the Tigers in the regular season at 78-64-2. They had a bye to the second round, and knocked off the defending champions LG Twins in four games. They won the clinching game by 1-0 Saturday.

The Tigers have gone a perfect 11-for-11 in Korean Series, and no team has won more championships in Kore
a Baseball Organization (KBO) history. Their most recent title came in 2017.

The Lions have won seven Korean Series titles, the last one coming in 2014. They also won the league title in 1985 but the KBO decided not to hold the Korean Series that year and simply awarded the Lions the championship after they posted the best record in both the first half and the second half of the season. During that era, the Korean Series featured the best teams from each half of the season.

Three of the Tigers’ titles came at the expense of the Lions: 1986, 1987 and 1993. This is the first Korean Series meeting — and their first postseason meeting, period — since 1993.

During the Korean Series media day in Gwangju on Sunday, Tigers manager Lee Bum-ho said he’d expected the Lions to reach the championship stage all along.

“Our teams have a storied rivalry, and since this is our first meeting in 31 years, we will try to put on a memorable show for fans,” Lee said. “I am getting nervous ahead of such a big series, but I wi
ll try to lead us to our 12th championship.”

Lions skipper Park Jin-man conceded that the Tigers will be the favorite in the series but that doesn’t mean they are invincible.

“I understand pundits will pick the Tigers to win because they’re such a great team, but our players have worked really hard to get to this point,” Park said. “They do have their weaknesses and we will try to exploit them.”

During this past regular season, the Tigers beat the Lions 12 times in their 16 meetings. The 4-12 mark was the worst record for the Lions against any opponent this year.

In those 16 games, the Tigers outscored the Lions 107-79. For the season, the Lions were the best home run-hitting team with 185, 22 more than the Tigers. But in their head-to-head games, the Tigers outhomered the Lions 25-20.

There is no shortage of star power on either side. The Tigers feature the leading MVP candidate Kim Do-yeong, a 21-year-old sensation who hammered 38 home runs and stole 40 bases — falling two homers shy of just the secon
d 40-40 season in KBO history. On the mound, first-year American pitcher James Naile led the KBO with a 2.53 ERA, though his season was cut short in late August when he was struck in the face by a line drive.

Naile has recovered from a broken jaw and will be ready to pitch in the Korean Series. Lee announced Naile as his Game 1 starter.

The Lions may be without their captain and best offensive player, Koo Ja-wook, who hurt his left knee trying to steal second base in Game 2 of the Twins series last Tuesday. He will be available to pinch hit early in the Korean Series but he isn’t yet able to run at full speed.

Park said Koo won’t be able to get the starting lineup and remains “day to day.”

“He is feeling much better than when he first got injured,” the manager added. “He’s a young athlete and he should heal pretty quickly. But we’ll have to keep checking on his status every day.”

The Lions’ homegrown ace Won Tae-in tied for the league lead with 15 wins and led all South Korean pitchers with a 3.66 ERA. H
e will be the Game 1 starter, opposite Naile.

Source: Yonhap News Agency