Kia Tigers players celebrate winning the Korean Series title following a 7-5 win over the Samsung Lions in Game 5 at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul, on Oct. 28, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
GWANGJU, Oct. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — The year 2024 was a record-breaking campaign in South Korean baseball, a season that ended Monday night with a marquee franchise lifting the championship trophy for the first time in seven years.
The Kia Tigers defeated the Samsung Lions 7-5 in Game 5 of the Korean Series on Monday night at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul, to capture their 12th title, and their first since 2017.
No team has won more championships in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) than the Tigers, who are now 12-for-12 in their Korean Series appearances.
The Tigers also became the first team to win a title in five different decades, with five titles in the 1980s, three in the 1990s, and one each in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.
And for the second time in league history, every postseason game was played in front of a packed house. All 16 postseason games this month were sold out, with 353,550 fans attending.
In 2010, all 14 postseason games were played before sellout crowds, totaling 298,000 fans.
The postseason success in the box office did not come as a surprise, as the KBO established a new regular-season attendance record with 10,887,705 fans, shattering the previous mark by about 2.4 million.
Fans were treated to some quality baseball from the beginning to the end of the postseason.
The KT Wiz made history by becoming the first No. 5 seed to win the wild card round, as they defeated the fourth-seed Doosan Bears 4-0 and then 1-0.
In the next stage, the Wiz pushed the defending champions LG Twins to the limit before bowing out in five games.
The Twins then faced the Lions in the next round, which was interrupted by inclement weather. After two games were rained out, the Lions emerged as the winner. These two teams played back-to-back 1-0 games, the first such occurrence in KBO postseason history.
Kia Tigers manager Lee Bum-ho (C) and his players celebrate winning the Korean Series title following a 7-5 win over the Samsung Lions in Game 5 at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul, on Oct. 28, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
It set up a Korean Series showdown between the Tigers and the Lions, whose rivalry dates to the mid-1980s when postseason games were often played against the backdrop of political tensions. This was their first Korean Series meeting — and postseason meeting, period — since 1993.
In a first, the opening game of the Korean Series was suspended in the top of the sixth inning, with the Lions leading 1-0, due to heavy downpours on Oct. 21. It was initially set to resume the following day but even more rainfall prevented that from happening.
The teams were forced to play the remainder of the game on Oct. 23 and then immediately play the second game the same evening — not quite a doubleheader but close to it.
The Tigers rallied to take the first game 5-1 and hours later, won the second game by 8-3.
The Lions pushed back with a 4-2 win in Game 3 but the Tigers responded with a 9-2 win in Game 4, pushing the Lions to the brink.
Then in Game 5, the Tigers erased a 5-1 deficit for a 7-5 win to secure their 12th title.
And for only the second time in franchise history, the Tigers celebrated their title in front of their home fans in Gwangju.
(Yonhap)
