2019 KBO League season

2019 KBO League
2019 KBO League
League	KBO League
Sport	Baseball
Duration	March 23 – October 1
Number of games	144 per team
Number of teams	10
Total attendance	7,286,008
Regular Season
Season champions	Doosan Bears
Season MVP	Josh Lindblom (Doosan)
Postseason
Wild Card champions	LG Twins
Wild Card runners-up	NC Dinos
Semi-playoffs champions	Kiwoom Heroes
Semi-playoffs runners-up	LG Twins
Playoffs champions	Kiwoom Heroes
Playoffs runners-up	SK Wyverns
Korean Series
Champions	Doosan Bears
Runners-up	Kiwoom Heroes
Finals MVP	Oh Jae-il (Doosan)
KBO League seasons
	← 2018 2020 →

The 2019 KBO League season was the 38th season in the history of the KBO League. The regular season began on March 23 and ended on October 1.^[1] The All-Star break was extended from four days to seven.^[2]

Standings

Rank	Team	P	W	L	D	Pct.	GB	Postseason
1	Doosan Bears	144	88	55	1	.615	–	Korean Series
2	SK Wyverns	144	88	55	1	.615	0.0	Playoff
3	Kiwoom Heroes	144	86	57	1	.601	2.0	Semi-playoff
4	LG Twins	144	79	64	1	.552	9.0	Wild Card
5	NC Dinos	144	73	69	2	.514	14.5	Wild Card
6	kt Wiz	144	71	71	2	.500	16.5	Did not qualify
7	KIA Tigers	144	62	80	2	.437	25.5
8	Samsung Lions	144	60	83	1	.420	28.0
9	Hanwha Eagles	144	58	86	0	.403	30.5
10	Lotte Giants	144	48	93	3	.340	39.0

Doosan Bears ranked ahead of SK Wyverns due to winning their head-to-head season series 9-7.^[3]

League Leaders

Batting leaders^[4]
Stat	Player	Team	Total
Batting Average	Yang Eui-ji	NC Dinos	.354
Home Runs	Park Byung-ho	Kiwoom Heroes	33
Runs Batted In	Jerry Sands	Kiwoom Heroes	113
Runs	Kim Ha-seong	Kiwoom Heroes	112
Hits	Jose Fernandez	Doosan Bears	197
Stolen Bases	Park Chan-Ho	Kia Tigers	39
On Base Percentage	Yang Eui-ji	NC Dinos	.438
Slugging Percentage	Yang Eui-ji	NC Dinos	.574

Pitching leaders^[5]
Stat	Player	Team	Total
Earned run average	Yang Hyeon-jong	Kia Tigers	2.29
Wins	Josh Lindblom	Doosan Bears	20
Saves	Ha Jae-hoon	SK Wyverns	36
Holds	Kim Sang-su	Kiwoom Heroes	40
Innings Pitched	Josh Lindblom	Doosan Bears	194.2
Winning percentage	Josh Lindblom	Doosan Bears	.870
Strikeouts	Josh Lindblom	Doosan Bears	189
WHIP	Josh Lindblom	Doosan Bears	1.00

Foreign players

Each team could sign up to three foreign players, one of whom must be a hitter. In 2019, the KBO League capped salaries for new foreign players at US$1 million.^[6]

Team	Player	Position	In KBO Since	Salary
Samsung Lions	Justin Haley	Pitcher	2019	$900,000
	Deck McGuire	Pitcher	2019	$950,000
	Darin Ruf	Infielder	2017	$1,700,000
NC Dinos	Eddie Butler	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
	Drew Rucinski	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
	Christian Bethancourt	Catcher	2019	$1,000,000
	Jake Smolinski	Outfielder	2019	TK
Doosan Bears	Seth Frankoff	Pitcher	2018	$1,230,000
	Josh Lindblom	Pitcher	2015	$1,920,000
	José Miguel Fernández	Infielder	2019	$700,000
Kiwoom Heroes	Jake Brigham	Pitcher	2017	$900,000
	Eric Jokisch	Pitcher	2019	$500,000
	Jerry Sands	Outfielder	2018	$500,000
SK Wyverns	Brock Dykxhoorn	Pitcher	2019	$700,000
	Jamie Romak	Outfielder	2017	$1,300,000
	Ángel Sánchez	Pitcher	2018	$1,200,000
Hanwha Eagles	Chad Bell	Pitcher	2019	$600,000
	Jared Hoying	Outfielder	2018	$1,400,000
	Warwick Saupold	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
Kia Tigers	Jeremy Hazelbaker	Outfielder	2019	$700,000
	Preston Tucker	Outfielder	2019	$270,000
	Jacob Turner	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
	Joe Wieland	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
Lotte Giants	Carlos Asuaje	Infielder	2019	$550,000
	Jacob Wilson	Infielder	2019	$400,000
	Brooks Raley	Pitcher	2015	$1,170,000
	Jake Thompson	Pitcher	2019	$900,000
LG Twins	Casey Kelly	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
	Tommy Joseph	Infielder	2019	$1,000,000
	Tyler Wilson	Pitcher	2018	$1,500,000
KT Wiz	Raúl Alcántara	Pitcher	2019	$670,000
	William Cuevas	Pitcher	2019	$650,000
	Mel Rojas Jr.	Outfielder	2017	$1,600,000

Foreign hitters

Team	Player	Batting Average	Home Runs	RBI	Notes
Doosan Bears	José Miguel Fernández	.344	15	88	KBO hits leader; Golden Glove Award
Hanwha Eagles	Jared Hoying	.284	18	73
Kia Tigers	Jeremy Hazelbaker	.146	2	5	Released by the team
Kia Tigers	Preston Tucker	.311	9	50	Signed to replace Jeremy Hazelbaker
KT Wiz	Mel Rojas Jr.	.322	24	104	Golden Glove Award
LG Twins	Tommy Joseph	.274	9	36
Lotte Giants	Carlos Asuaje	.252	2	21	Released by the team
Lotte Giants	Jacob Wilson	.251	9	37	Signed to replace Carlos Asuaje
NC Dinos	Christian Bethancourt	.246	8	29	Released by the team
NC Dinos	Jake Smolinski	.229	9	42	Signed to replace Christian Bethancourt
Nexen Heroes	Jerry Sands	.305	28	113	KBO RBI leader; Golden Glove Award
Samsung Lions	Darin Ruf	.291	22	101
SK Wyverns	Jamie Romak	.276	29	95

Postseason


Wild Card			Semi-playoff			Playoff			Korean Series



									1	Doosan Bears	4

						2	SK Wyverns	0	3	Kiwoom Heroes	0

			3	Kiwoom Heroes	3	3	Kiwoom Heroes	3

4	LG Twins	2	4	LG Twins	1

5	NC Dinos	0

Wild Card

The series started with a 1–0 advantage for the fourth-placed team.

LG Twins (2) vs. NC Dinos (0)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 3	NC Dinos – 1, LG Twins – 3	Jamsil Baseball Stadium	3:00	23,757

Semi-playoff

Kiwoom Heroes (3) vs. LG Twins (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 6	LG Twins – 0, Kiwoom Heroes – 1	Gocheok Sky Dome	2:49	16,300
2	October 7	LG Twins – 4, Kiwoom Heroes – 5 (10 inn.)	Gocheok Sky Dome	-	14,589
3	October 9	Kiwoom Heroes – 2, LG Twins – 4	Jamsil Baseball Stadium	-	25,000
4	October 10	Kiwoom Heroes – 10, LG Twins – 5	Jamsil Baseball Stadium	-	21,600

Playoff

SK Wyverns (0) vs. Kiwoom Heroes (3)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 14	Kiwoom Heroes – 3, SK Wyverns – 0 (11 inn.)	Munhak Baseball Stadium	-	19,356
2	October 15	Kiwoom Heroes – 8, SK Wyverns – 7	Munhak Baseball Stadium	-	17,546
3	October 17	SK Wyverns – 1, Kiwoom Heroes – 10	Gocheok Sky Dome	-	14,051

Korean Series

Doosan Bears (4) vs. Kiwoom Heroes (0)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 22	Kiwoom Heroes – 6, Doosan Bears – 7	Jamsil Baseball Stadium	-	25,000
2	October 23	Kiwoom Heroes – 5, Doosan Bears – 6	Jamsil Baseball Stadium	-	25,000
3	October 25	Doosan Bears – 5, Kiwoom Heroes – 0	Gocheok Sky Dome	-	16,300
4	October 26	Doosan Bears – 11, Kiwoom Heroes – 9	Gocheok Sky Dome	-	-

Attendances

Team	Total attendance	Home average	Change vs. 2018
LG Twins	1,000,400	13,894	-10%
Doosan Bears	983,474	13,659	-12%
SK Wyverns	982,962	13,652	-5%
NC Dinos	710,274	9,865	+60%
KIA Tigers	692,163	9,613	-20%
Samsung Lions	691,681	9,607	-8%
Lotte Giants	679,208	9,33	-25%
Hanwha Eagles	555,225	7,711	-24%
KT Wiz	536,735	7,455	-20%
Kiwoom Heroes	453,886	6,304	-0%
Total	7,286,008	10,119	-10%

References

^ "2019 KBO season opener on March 23 will be earliest ever-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily". Korea JoongAng Daily. 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
^ 유, 지호 (2018-05-16). "Baseball league extends midseason break for 2019". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
^ "KBO". KBO.
^ "Batting Leaders". KBO.
^ "Pitching Leaders". KBO.
^ "KBO's final foreign player signed-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily". Korea JoongAng Daily. 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2019-02-16.

[1] "2019 KBO season opener on March 23 will be earliest ever-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily". Korea JoongAng Daily. 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2019-02-16.

[2] 유, 지호 (2018-05-16). "Baseball league extends midseason break for 2019". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 2019-05-19.

[3] "KBO". KBO.

[4] "Batting Leaders". KBO.

[5] "Pitching Leaders". KBO.

[6] "KBO's final foreign player signed-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily". Korea JoongAng Daily. 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2019-02-16.

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v t e KBO League
Korea Baseball Organization
Teams	Doosan Bears Hanwha Eagles Kia Tigers Kiwoom Heroes KT Wiz LG Twins Lotte Giants NC Dinos Samsung Lions SSG Landers
Defunct teams	Ssangbangwool Raiders Hyundai Unicorns
Postseason	Korean Series
Awards	KBO League Most Valuable Player Award KBO League Rookie of the Year Award Choi Dong-won Award Golden Glove Awards Korean Series Most Valuable Player Award
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