The 2018 Korean Series is the championship series of the

2018 KBO League season The 2018 KBO League season was the 37th season in the history of the KBO League The KBO League () is a professional baseball league in South Korea. The league comprises ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is t ...

. The

Doosan Bears The Doosan Bears () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. Founded in 1982, they are a member of the KBO League. The Bears have won six Korean Series titles (1982, 1995, 2001, 2015, 2016, and 2019) and play their home game ...

, as the regular season champions, automatically advanced to the Korean Series, where they faced the

SK Wyverns SSG Landers () are a South Korean professional baseball, professional baseball team. The team was originally established as the SK Wyverns but was renamed as the SSG Landers in 2021 after Shinsegae acquired the team from SK Group. They are a membe ...

. The series ran from November 4 to November 12. The Wyverns defeated Doosan, four games to two. Han Dong-min won the

Korean Series Most Valuable Player Award The Korean Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the Korean Series, which is the final round of the KBO League postseason. The award was first presented in 1982. ...

Background

The

won the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2016 Korean Series The 2016 Korean Series was the championship series of the 2016 KBO League season. The Doosan Bears, as the regular season champions, automatically advanced to the Korean Series. They played against the winner of the playoff series, the NC Dinos, ...

. They lost the 2017 Korean Series to the

Kia Tigers The Kia Tigers () are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982 and based in the southwestern city of Gwangju. Until 2001, they were known as the Haitai Tigers. The Tigers are members of the KBO League and are the most successful ...

. Doosan had the best

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage or Copeland score is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the to ...

during the

, advancing directly to the Korean Series. The team with the regular season's best record has won 15 of the previous 16 Korean Series. The Bears faced the

, who last won the Korean Series in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. The Wyverns finished the regular season with the second-best record in the league, games behind Doosan. They advanced to the playoff round. The Wyverns defeated the

Nexen Heroes The Kiwoom Heroes () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. They are a member of the KBO League. The Heroes play their home games at Gocheok Sky Dome in Gocheok-dong, a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of Se ...

in the KBO League playoffs to reach the Korean Series.

Summary

Matchups

Game 1

Josh Lindblom Joshua William Lindblom (born June 15, 1987) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, ...

started Game 1 for Doosan, while Park Jong-hoon started for the Wyverns. For the Wyverns, Han Dong-min hit a two-run

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

in the first inning, and Park Jung-kwon hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning.

Choi Joo-hwan Choi Joo-hwan (; born February 28, 1988) is a South Korean second baseman who plays for the Kiwoom Heroes in the KBO League. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed. Amateur career While attending Dongsung High School in Gwangju, Choi was ...

had all three

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

for Doosan. Ángel Sánchez earned the win in relief for the Wyverns while Lindblom took the loss for Doosan.

Game 2

Seth Frankoff James Seth Frankoff (born August 27, 1988) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks and in the KBO League for the Doosan Bears. ...

started Game 2 for Doosan. He had ten

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s in innings, earning the win. Moon Seung-won started for the Wyverns. Doosan's

hit a two-run home run and recorded a third RBI in the eighth inning. Kim Kang-min drove in all three runs for the Wyverns.

Game 3

The series continued with the first of three games at

Munhak Baseball Stadium The Incheon SSG Landers Field () is a baseball stadium located in Incheon, South Korea. Formerly named the Munhak Baseball Stadium, it is the home of the KBO League team SSG Landers. The stadium has been remodeled with Shinsegae affiliate brands, ...

Jamie Romak James Robert Romak (born September 30, 1985) is a Canadian former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yokohama D ...

hit two home runs for the Wyverns, and Lee Jae-won also hit a home run.

Merrill Kelly Kenneth Merrill Kelly (born October 14, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut on April 1, 2019. Kelly formerly played for the SK Wyverns of the KBO Le ...

pitched seven innings allowing two runs to earn the win.

Game 4

The Wyverns scored first when Kim Kang-min hit an RBI single to score

Kim Sung-hyun Kim Sung-hyun (; born 25 June 1993) is a South Korean footballer who plays as defender for Seoul E-Land FC in K-League. Career He was selected by Gyeongnam FC in 2012 K-League Draft. He made his K-League debut match against Jeju Jeju may ...

in the third inning. In the eighth inning, Jung Soo-bin hit a two-run home run to give Doosan the lead, which they hung on to win and tie the series at two all.

Game 5

Doosan scored their only run in Game 5 with a solo home run by Jung Jin-ho in the third inning. In the seventh inning,

tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

, and Kim Kang-min hit an RBI

sacrifice fly In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d): "Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...

to give the Wyverns a 2-1 lead. The next inning, Park Jung-kwon had an RBI single and

drew a walk with the bases-loaded to expand the lead to 4-1.

Game 6

Lee Yong-chan Lee Yong-chan (; born January 2, 1989) is a South Korean relief pitcher for the NC Dinos of the KBO League. He bats and throws right-handed. Amateur career Lee attended Jangchung High School in Seoul, South Korea. In 2006, he was selected for ...

, Doosan's starting pitcher, walked the first three Wyverns batters to load the bases. The Wyverns scored one run in the first inning with an RBI groundout by

. Kang Seung-ho hit a two-run home run for the Wyverns in the fourth inning to give them a 3-0 lead. Wyverns' starting pitcher

did not allow a hit for the first innings, but Doosan scored three runs in the sixth inning on an RBI double by

and a two RBI single by Yang Eui-ji. Yang added a third RBI with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to give Doosan a 4-3 lead. In the top of the ninth inning,

Choi Jeong Choi Jeong (; born February 28, 1987) is a third baseman who has played his whole career for the SK Wyverns (known as the SSG Landers beginning in 2021) in the Korea Baseball Organization. He bats and throws right-handed. Choi is the only memb ...

hit a game-tying home run for the Wyverns, and the game went into extra innings. Han Dong-min hit a home run for the Wyverns in the top of the thirteenth inning, and

Kim Kwang-hyun Kwang-hyun Kim (; born July 22, 1988) is a South Korean professional baseball pitcher for the SSG Landers of the KBO League. He has also played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals. Amateur career Kim attended Ansan Tec ...

, the Wyverns'

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

starting pitcher, earned the save by pitching a scoreless inning in the bottom of the thirteenth to win the title for the Wyverns. The final out was made by strike out, which gave Park Kun Woo

golden sombrero In baseball, a golden sombrero is when a batter strikes out four times in a game. Etymology The term derives from "hat trick," and since four is bigger than three, the rationale was that a four-strikeout performance should be represented by a ...

. Han won the

Composite line score

2018 Korean Series (4–2):

beat

References

{{SK Wyverns Korean Series Doosan Bears postseason SSG Landers postseason

Korean Series The Korean Series () is the final championship series of the KBO League. It has been held since the KBO League's first season in and is the final series of the post-season play-offs. From to 2013, the winner of the Korean Series went on to play ...