Top 2 regular-season clubs to clash in Korean Series

LG Twins players celebrate after clinching the pennant in the Korea Baseball Organization at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Oct. 1. Yonhap

One team will try to win its second title in three years and start dynasty talks in South Korean baseball. The other team will go for its first championship since 1999 and reward its famously loyal fan base.

The 2025 Korean Series will pit the LG Twins against the Hanwha Eagles, and the opening game of this best-of-seven battle for Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) supremacy will be 2 p.m. Sunday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, home of the Twins. This will be the first postseason meeting between these two franchises.

The Twins won the 2023 Korean Series title, which was their first championship in 29 years, and now they're back for another shot at glory. The Eagles, on the other hand, will play in their first Korean Series since 2006 and will chase their first title in the 21st century.

The Twins and the Eagles were the two best teams in the regular season, with the Twins finishing at 85-56-3 (wins-losses-ties) and the Eagles ending up 1 1/2 games back at 83-57-4. The Twins will have the home field advantage and will host the first two games and, if necessary, Games 6 and 7.

The Eagles will have Games 3 and 4, plus Game 5, if necessary, at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in Daejeon.

The Twins won the season series 8-7-1, earning seven of those eight wins at Jamsil. The Eagles were also much better at home, going 5-1-1.

The Twins earned a bye to the Korean Series and have not played since their regular-season finale, Oct. 1. The Eagles, who advanced directly to the best-of-five second round, eliminated the fourth-seed Samsung Lions in five games to set up their Korean Series date with the Twins.

The Eagles won the series clincher 11-2 on Friday at home and will have just one day of rest before beginning the Korean Series.

They relied on their top two starting pitchers, Cody Ponce and Ryan Weiss, to cover five innings and four innings, respectively, in Friday's victory, and it ruled both of them out for at least the first two games of the Korean Series, Sunday and Monday.

They were the most dominant one-two rotation punch this year. Ponce won the Triple Crown by leading the KBO in wins (17), ERA (1.89) and strikeouts (252). Weiss won 16 games while pitching to a 2.87 ERA and striking out 207. They became the first pair of teammates in KBO history to each strike out over 200 batters in a season.

In the early going, the Eagles will likely turn to their two remaining starters from the regular rotation, left-hander Ryu Hyun-jin and right-hander Moon Dong-ju, who was voted the MVP of the series against the Lions after tossing six shutout innings and striking out 10 batters in relief.

Ryu, who first pitched for the Eagles from 2006 to 2012 before taking his talent to Major League Baseball, made two starts and one relief appearance in the Eagles' last Korean Series in 2006. He was the losing pitcher in Game 1 and did not earn a victory in his next two games, as the Eagles fell to the Lions in six.

The Twins will be able to set their rotation as they please. Yonny Chirinos, Anders Tolhurst, Im Chan-kyu, Son Ju-young and Song Seung-ki were their five main starters in the regular season, though they are unlikely to keep all five in the Korean Series rotation. Son excelled in a relief role in last year's postseason and is a candidate to serve as a swingman again thanks to his pure stuff.

On the other side of the ball, the Twins were the top offensive team by several metrics. They led the regular season in batting average (.278), runs (788), hits (1,366), walks (604) and on-base percentage (.361). They also had the fewest strikeouts with 975, the only club to strike out fewer than 1,000 times in 144 games. They can score a bunch of runs with a combination of patience, contact ability and power.

The Eagles had a middling offense, but the heart of their lineup came to life in Friday's win. Moon Hyun-bin, Roh Si-hwan and Chae Eun-seong, their Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters, batted 10-for-12 with a home run, nine RBIs and seven runs scored.

The Eagles lack the lineup depth that the Twins boast, but the aforementioned trio is as dangerous as any in the KBO.