[Anchor]

On the final day of the 2026 professional baseball regular season, KIA and LG are locked in a high-stakes battle for third place, with a direct ticket to the semi-playoffs on the line.

Reporter Lee Seonghun has the latest from the scene.

[Reporter]

Even on this final day (October 12) of a regular season that has spanned over six months, the owner of the direct semi-playoffs ticket has yet to be decided.

Third-place KIA and fourth-place LG, separated by just half a game, are engaged in a fierce contest down to the very end.

After KIA's Park Jae-hyun launched a leadoff solo home run in the first inning, LG responded in the second with Park Dong-won's solo homer to left to tie the game.

When KIA extended its lead in the fourth with runners on first and third with one out thanks to Kim Sun-bin's well-executed squeeze bunt, LG brought in its "sure-win card," Koh Woo-suk, early to extinguish the threat with back-to-back strikeouts.

In the top of the fifth, KIA first baseman Castro made a stellar defensive play to rob LG's Park Hae-min of a hit. LG fired right back in the bottom of the fifth when center fielder Park Hae-min made a diving catch to rob KIA's Kim Do-young of an RBI-style hit.

In the sixth, LG leveled the score once again at 2–2 with Moon Jung-bin's solo home run.

KIA's Kim Do-young and KT's Hilliard, who are currently tied with 44 home runs each, have yet to clear the fence.

The race for the most hits between KT's Choi Won-jun and Lotte's Reyes also remains shrouded in fog.

After Choi Won-jun, who sparked a "manner controversy" yesterday, picked up three hits through the sixth inning against Samsung to reach 208 hits for the season, Reyes added three hits—including a solo homer in the sixth against Doosan—to reach 210 hits, staying two ahead of Choi.

(Video by Park Gi-deok)