The long-awaited KBO postseason will be held from the 19th to the 15th of next month. While the regular season schedule was delayed due to many rain cancellation games this year, the “Early Winter Korean Series” led to a reality.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) confirmed and officially announced the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO postseason schedule on the 13th. This KBO postseason will begin with the first round of wild cards on the 19th.
The 2023 KBO postseason will be held in the order of semi-playoffs, playoffs, and Korean Series, starting with the wild card game in which the 4th and 5th place teams in the regular season face off. First, the wild card game will be played up to two games. The fourth-place team in the regular season will advance to the semi-playoffs if they win or draw one of the two games. On the other hand, the fifth-place team must record two wins to reach the semi-playoff. All wild card games will be held at the home stadium of the fourth-place team.
The semi-playoffs and playoffs will be held in a best-of-five series, respectively. The first round of the semi-playoff will be held on October 22 at the home stadium of the third-place team in the regular season. Games 1, 2, and 5 of the semi-playoffs will be held at the home stadium of the third-place team, and Games 3 and 4 of the semi-playoffs will be held at the home stadium of the wild card winning team, respectively. The first round of the playoffs will then begin at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on the 30th. Like the semi-playoffs, the first, second, and fifth games are played at the home of the second-place team, and the third and fourth games are played at the home of the semi-playoff winning team.
The long-awaited Korean Series will be held in a best-of-seven series. Game 1 of the Korean Series will open on Nov. 7 at Jamsil Stadium, the home of the regular-season champion LG Twins. Games 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 of the Korean Series will be held at Jamsil Stadium, the home of the LG Twins, and Games 3 and 4 will be held at the home of the playoff winning team. At least one moving day between all series. Postseason games will be held at 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and 2 p.m. on weekends, respectively, and may be changed due to broadcasting schedules. If the postseason game cannot be held due to rain, it will be postponed to the next day. If the game is delayed but does not affect the set game schedule, it will proceed as scheduled.
The extra-time matches will be played up to 15 times. If the victory or defeat cannot be determined even after the end of the 15th inning, it will be a draw. If the match ends in a draw, the match will be played in a series without moving days at the stadium where the draw occurred after the final match of each series. If there is a draw of more than two games in a series, it will be held in a row with a day to move.
In addition, if the suspended game is established, if the next day is the same match, it will be held before the game. If the next day is the moving day, the game will be held on the moving day and the entire schedule will be postponed by one day. If the next day is the final game of the series, the entire schedule will be postponed by one day after the next day or on the moving day. Video reading can be applied up to two times per team based on regular innings. If both are reversed in the regular inning, the club will be given one additional opportunity, and if it enters extra time, each club will be given one more opportunity.
The KBO league is currently in a very fierce ranking battle. The LG Twins have already confirmed their pennant race title for the first time in 29 years since 1994, and have succeeded in going straight to the Korean Series. LG ranks first in the league with 85 wins, 54 losses and two draws (as of the morning of the 13th). Now, LG has three games left this season. After playing two consecutive games against the NC Dinos in Changwon on the 13th, they will play “Seoul Rivalry” against the Doosan Bears on the 14th and 15th at Jamsil Stadium. With both NC and Doosan ranking at stake, LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop also expressed his intention to do his best in the rest of the games to avoid misunderstanding.
The main character who went straight to the playoffs is KT Wiz, who wrote a miracle like a drama this season. KT finished its regular season schedule the fastest among the 10 KBO league teams. He recorded 79 wins, 62 losses and three draws this season, confirming the second place regardless of the results of the rest of the teams’ games. The first playoff game will be held at KT Wiz Park, KT Wiz’s home stadium, on the 30th. KT, which began to rest after the game on the 10th, bought about 20 days to rest and conduct its own training. In the past, he has earned almost the same amount of time as the team that advanced to the Korean Series. The battle for third, fourth and fifth place is even more of a mixed battle. With SSG Landers, NC Dinos and Doosan Bears in third, fourth and fifth place by half a game, respectively, the KIA Tigers are aiming for a miraculous reversal.
In the 2023 season, the KBO League had no choice but to delay its regular season schedule due to many rain cancellation games. Ipdong (冬), which is said to start winter, is on November 8 this year. Therefore, players and baseball fans are expected to enjoy the baseball festival in the cold weather for the first time in a long time. A stove is expected to appear in the dugout. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration’s long-term forecast, the average weekly temperature from November 6 to 12 is 50% more likely than the average year (9.1 to 10.7℃). In addition, on November 15 last year, the highest temperature in the Seoul area was 12.3℃, and the lowest temperature fell to 4.0℃. The latest season for the Korean Series in the KBO League was 2020, when NC beat Doosan in Game 6 of the Korean Series at Gocheok Dome on November 24 of that year. On top of that, the APBC (Asian Professional Baseball Championship) 2023 tournament is scheduled for November 16th at Tokyo Dome in Japan. Starting with the first match against Australia at noon on November 16, they will face the Japanese national team at 7 p.m. on the 17th and face Taiwan at 7 p.m. on the 18th. After playing the full league for three days, they will play the “third-place match” or the “final match” on the 19th, the last day of the tournament, depending on the results of the preliminary round.
Meanwhile, KBO said, “If the regular season rain postponement game is a game between teams that is not related to the postseason or the series, it can be held during the postseason.” “A game between teams that are not related to the participating team in the wild card game can be held on the moving day between the final day of the regular season and the first round of the wild card game,” he added.