▲ KIA Tigers' Kim Do-young hits his 45th home run of the season in the bottom of the 8th inning with a runner on first and nobody out during the professional baseball game against the LG Twins at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field on the 12th.
The professional baseball team KIA Tigers have advanced directly to the semi-playoffs (best-of-five) by securing the third spot.
KIA defeated the LG Twins 4-2 in their final regular-season game of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League held at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field today (October 12).
In the third-place showdown with the semi-playoff ticket on the line, KIA took an early lead in the 1st inning when Park Jae-hyun launched a sudden solo shot over the right-field wall.
After LG tied the game 1-1 in the 2nd inning on Park Dong-won's solo home run, KIA pulled ahead 2-1 in the 4th inning with runners on first and third and one out following a hit-by-pitch and a single, courtesy of Kim Sun-bin's exquisite safety squeeze bunt.
LG then leveled the score once more in the 6th inning when Moon Jung-bin hit a solo shot to deep center field off KIA's second pitcher, Cho Sang-woo.
The fate of the two teams was decided in the 8th inning by superstar Kim Do-young's dramatic blast.
As leadoff batter Park Jae-hyun reached base with a surprise drag bunt toward third base, Kim Do-young scooped up a slider from LG left-handed reliever Jon Kennedy and smashed a game-winning two-run homer over the center-field fence.
It was Kim's 45th home run of the season and the 100th of his career.
With this thrilling game-winning home run that propelled his team to third place, Kim edged out KT Wiz's Hilliard by a single home run to claim the season's home run title.
With KIA confirmed in third place and LG in fourth, the postseason matchups were finally completed on the very last day of the regular league.
Fourth-place LG will open the postseason with the wild-card game against fifth-place Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul at 6:30 p.m. the day after tomorrow (October 14).
The "same-roof rivals" of Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which is set to be demolished after this year, are meeting early in the postseason.
To advance to the semi-playoffs, Doosan must win both games of the wild-card series, which can last up to two games, while LG needs only a tie in either game to move on to the semi-playoffs.
KIA will host the winner of the wild-card series at their home turf, Gwangju-KIA Champions Field, at 2 p.m. on October 17 and 18 to play Games 1 and 2 of the semi-playoffs.
The playoffs (best-of-five) between the second-place Samsung Lions and the winner of the semi-playoffs will kick off on October 25 at Daegu Samsung Lions Park.
The Korean Series (best-of-seven) between regular-season leader KT Wiz and the playoff winner will open at 6:30 p.m. on November 2 at Suwon KT Wiz Park.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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