Ulsan Reaches Futures Championship Semifinals in Debut Year

Professional baseball's citizen club Ulsan Whales have secured a spot in the semifinals of the Futures (farm team) League Championship in their very first year since foundation.

Ulsan defeated the KT Wiz 6-0 in a home game held at Ulsan Munsu Baseball Stadium yesterday (September 13), maintaining their lead in the Southern League with a season record of 56 wins, 1 tie, and 37 losses.

With this win, Ulsan has secured one of the semifinal berths for the Futures League Championship.

The championship features the top two teams from both the Northern and Southern Leagues playing in the semifinals, followed by a single-match final between the winners. Given the current standings, the third-place team in the Southern League, the NC Dinos (54 wins and 43 losses), can no longer surpass Ulsan.

Even if NC wins all of their remaining 6 games and Ulsan loses both of their remaining 2 games, Ulsan still holds a higher winning percentage.

Having secured at least second place, Ulsan will now challenge to clinch their first-ever Southern League title in the final two regular-season games against the KIA Tigers in Hampyeong on September 19 and 20.

The game marked their final home game of the regular season, drawing an attendance of 7,310.

This surpassed the previous KBO Futures League single-game attendance record of 7,299 set during the game against the Lotte Giants on March 20.

Cumulative home attendance for this season reached 71,113.

Ulsan manager Jang Won-jin said, "I am proud of the players for never giving up and producing good results right from our inaugural year," adding, "We will prepare steadily to achieve our goals one by one. We will do our absolute best until the end along with the players to achieve great results and bring joy to the citizens of Ulsan."

(Photo courtesy of Ulsan Whales, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.