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Ageless wonder looking forward to yet another Korean Series trip with Lions

It has been 11 years since Choi Hyoung-woo last played in a Korean Series with the Samsung Lions. That drought will end Tuesday when the Lions take on the regular-season champions KT Wiz in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) championship showdown. Choi, the oldest player remaining in this postseason at 42, first played for the Lions from 2002 to 2016. He played in every Korean Series from 2010 to 2015, winning four straight titles beginning in 2011. Choi then moved to the Kia Tigers before the 2017 campaign and went on to win two more championship rings during his nine-year tenure that ended in 2025. He rejoined the Lions in December last year. And on Sunday, Choi helped end the season of his former team, driving in the first run of the Lions' 6-1 win over the Tigers in Game 5 of the second round at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu. The Lions pursued Choi in free agency last winter in hopes of winning their first championship since 2014 and they are now four wins away from accomplishing that. "It has been such a long time. Of course, our goal at the start of t

1d agoBy Yonhap
Ageless wonder looking forward to yet another Korean Series trip with Lions
Sports

Lions manager hoping for better defense with team off to Korean Series

Even with his club off to the South Korean baseball championship series, Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man demanded more from his squad Sunday. The Lions booked their ticket to the Korean Series by defeating the Kia Tigers 6-1 in Game 5 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason Sunday. The Lions pounded out 11 hits at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu, but they also committed two errors -- bringing the total to nine errors in five games. In the regular season, the Lions tied for the fewest errors in the KBO with 85 in 144 games. "Our defense has to be better. It was a source of our pride in the regular season but I don't know what has happened in the postseason," said Park, considered among the best defensive shortstops in KBO history during his playing days. "I think some guys are a bit intimidated by the moment. Fielding is no different than hitting. You have to get after it with confidence. And when you become passive, then you won't react to balls as quickly as you normally would. "In the Korean Series, mistakes will be even more

1d agoBy Yonhap
Lions manager hoping for better defense with team off to Korean Series
Sports

Tigers skipper vows to come back stronger in '27 after KBO postseason exit

For the first time in his three-year managerial career in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Kia Tigers manager Lee Bum-ho lost a postseason series. It came Sunday, when the Tigers fell to the Samsung Lions 6-1 in Game 5 of the second round at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu. Lee won the Korean Series title in his first year in charge, as the Tigers advanced directly to the championship series and knocked off the Lions in five games. Then this year, the Tigers began their postseason journey in the best-of-five first round, where they swept the 2025 champions LG Twins. The Tigers won the opener of the second round before dropping the next two games to get to the brink. They forced the deciding Game 5 by winning the fourth game Friday but could not muster another win. "It has been a long postseason and I want to thank my players for their hard work," Lee said. "We did our best in this series. We will try to come back stronger next year so that we can contend for the title." Tigers starter Adam Oller was roughed up for four runs on six hits in only two innings o

1d agoBy Yonhap
Tigers skipper vows to come back stronger in '27 after KBO postseason exit
Sports

Jurado pitches Lions to Korean Series with 2nd straight postseason gem

Entering this year's Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason, Samsung Lions starter Ariel Jurado had not recorded a win in four previous starts. The Panamanian right-hander then won two straight starts against the Kia Tigers in the best-of-five second round, including the series clincher Sunday, as the Lions advanced to the Korean Series. The effort earned Jurado the series MVP award, as he earned 47 out of 79 votes cast by media. Jurado gave up one unearned run on five hits in seven innings to lift the Lions to a 6-1 win in Game 5 of the series at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu. In last week's win, Jurado held the Tigers to two runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings. He was even better Sunday, when he did not give hitters anything straight -- 36 changeups, 26 two-seam fastballs, 10 curveballs and 10 cutters. After a perfect first inning, Jurado erased a leadoff walk in the second inning with a double play ball and a harmless flyout. The Lions scored once in the bottom first and three more runs in the bottom second, providing Jurado with more than enough run s

1d agoBy Yonhap
Jurado pitches Lions to Korean Series with 2nd straight postseason gem
Sports

Lions beat Tigers to reach Korean Series

For the second time in three seasons, the Samsung Lions are headed to the Korean Series. The Lions defeated the Kia Tigers 6-1 in Game 5 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason Sunday at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 230 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Leadoff man Kim Ji-chan had three hits and three RBIs to back starter Ariel Jurado, who tossed seven strong innings to earn his second win of the series. Jurado, who threw 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball in his Game 2 victory last Tuesday, was voted the series MVP. With a sellout crowd of 23,550 fans on hand, the Lions took the best-of-five series in five games to punch their ticket to the Korean Series, where they will face the regular-season champions KT Wiz. The best-of-seven championship battle will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, some 30 kilometers south of Seoul. The Wiz earned a bye to the Korean Series. They have not played since their regular-season finale on Oct. 12. The Wiz are gunning for their second championship. They won it all in 2021 and lost to the LG Twins in the 2

1d agoBy Yonhap
Lions beat Tigers to reach Korean Series
Sports

Tigers manager sticks to same lineup in KBO postseason elimination game

For the first time in the ongoing South Korean baseball postseason series against the Samsung Lions, Kia Tigers manager Lee Bum-ho will use the exact same lineup for the second straight game Sunday. The Tigers and the Lions are knotted at two games apiece in their best-of-five battle in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason, with the winner of Sunday's contest advancing to the Korean Series starting Tuesday against the KT Wiz in Suwon, just south of Seoul. For Game 5 at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu, Lee put out the same batting order that produced 10 hits in a 4-2 victory in Game 4 two days prior. The team's three biggest mashers each moved up a spot for that game in their home in Gwangju, with Kim Do-yeong batting second, Harold Castro batting third and Na Sung-bum hitting in the cleanup spot. It was Lee's way of trying to spark the top of the lineup, with the table setters hitting in front of Kim, who led the regular season with 45 home runs and has hit four more in seven postseason games, struggling to get on base. Kim leads the Tigers with seve

1d agoBy Yonhap
Tigers manager sticks to same lineup in KBO postseason elimination game
Sports

Lions manager tells players to have fun in do-or-die KBO postseason game

Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man tries not to give too many pep talks before big games, lest his players start getting inside their own heads. Ahead of a win-or-go-home South Korean baseball postseason game Sunday against the Kia Tigers, Park saved a simple message. "I always tell them to have fun and play with energy," Park said in his pregame media availability at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu. "I also tell them not to get intimidated by the moment. I think they are already doing so well, and if I give them any other message, they will start thinking too much on the field. In postseason games, you have to keep things simple." The best-of-five series is now tied at two games apiece. The Lions had a chance to close out the Tigers in Game 4 on Friday on the road in the southwestern city of Gwangju. But they blew a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Tigers capitalized on a fielding error by third baseman Kim Young-woong and scored three times en route to a 4-2 victory. Despite Kim's costly error, Park said he had no qualms about putting hi

1d agoBy Yonhap
Lions manager tells players to have fun in do-or-die KBO postseason game
Sports

KBO asks MLB to post All-Star slugger Roh Si-hwan

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Saturday it has asked Major League Baseball (MLB) to post the Korean league slugger Roh Si-hwan. Roh's KBO club, the Hanwha Eagles, asked the KBO earlier in the day to post Roh, and the Korean league office asked MLB to inform its 30 teams of Roh's availability. Under an agreement between the two leagues, once a KBO player is posted, any of the 30 MLB clubs can negotiate a deal with that player within a 30-day window. That negotiating period begins at 8 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) the day after MLB clubs are officially notified, and will close at 5 p.m. ET on the 30th day. Roh, 25, has been among the KBO's top sluggers in the past handful of years. A third overall pick by the Eagles in the 2018 draft, Roh made his KBO debut the following year. In 2023, Roh exploded for his then-career high 31 home runs and 101 RBIs in 131 games to finish as the runner-up in the regular-season MVP voting, after managing just six homers and 59 RBIs in 115 games the previous year. Two years later, Roh blasted 32 homers and matched his career high with 101 RBIs while p

2d agoBy Yonhap
KBO asks MLB to post All-Star slugger Roh Si-hwan
Sports

Right-handers squaring off again with KBO championship series berth at stake

The two right-handed pitchers that went toe-to-toe earlier in the ongoing South Korean baseball postseason will meet again Sunday with much more at stake — a ticket to the championship series. The Samsung Lions will host the Kia Tigers for the deciding Game 5 of their best-of-five second round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason at 2 p.m. Sunday at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 230 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The winner of this game will advance to the Korean Series, which begins Tuesday with the regular-season champions KT Wiz waiting. The Lions will have their Panamanian ace Ariel Jurado on the hill Sunday, while the Tigers will counter with their American starter Adam Oller. These two pitchers also started Game 2 back on Tuesday in Daegu, where the Lions prevailed 8-3. Jurado collected his first career postseason win by holding the Tigers to two runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings. Jurado had faced the Tigers only once in the regular season. On May 15, Jurado gave up three runs on 10 hits in seven innings and struck out a season-high seven batters, but the

2d agoBy Yonhap
Right-handers squaring off again with KBO championship series berth at stake
Sports

Tigers beat Lions to stave off KBO postseason elimination

GWANGJU — The Kia Tigers rallied past the Samsung Lions 4-2 to stave off elimination in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason Friday, taking advantage of subpar defense by their opponents to force a deciding game on the weekend. The Tigers turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 4 before a sellout crowd of 18,900 at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in the southwestern city of Gwangju. They scored all three runs in the inning after a fielding error by third baseman Kim Young-woong, with Han Jun-su delivering the tie-breaking hit as part of his two-RBI night. Closer Jeon Sang-hyun got the final six outs for the save. This best-of-five series is now tied at 2-2, and the final game is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu. The winner of that do-or-die game will advance to the Korean Series against the KT Wiz, starting Tuesday. The two starting pitchers, James Naile for the Tigers and Chris Paddack for the Lions, were going on three days' rest after they had both pitched in Monday's Game 1. After getti

Oct 30, 2026By Yonhap
Tigers beat Lions to stave off KBO postseason elimination
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