Managers of the two South Korean baseball clubs set up for a win-or-go-home postseason game Sunday said they will take an all-hands-on-deck approach to the final showdown. The LG Twins and the Doosan Bears are knotted at 1-1 in the best-of-three opening round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason. Game 3 is at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, where LG manager Ryu Ji-hyun will have usual starter Andrew Suarez ready to come in at any moment. "Suarez will be in the bullpen, an

Before ex-major leaguer Choo Shin-soo signed with the SSG Landers this year and became an instant star in South Korean baseball, left-hander Kim Kwang-hyun had been the icon for the franchise once called the SK Wyverns. The lanky left-hander has spent the past two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, while Choo played in the Korea Baseball Organization for the first time in 2021. With Kim now a free agent, the two could potentially become teammates in 2022. Choo said Saturday he would love t

The South Korean baseball club Lotte Giants announced Saturday they've hired former New York Mets assistant pitching coach Ricky Meinhold as their director of pitching. The Korea Baseball Organization club said the arrival of the 35-year-old completes their staff on the pitching side for 2022. The Giants said Meinhold will oversee operations and development of their pitching staff at all levels of the organization, from the KBO down to the minors. Meinhold was not drafted coming out of Drury

Son Heung-min has scored in his new head coach's Tottenham Hotspur debut, helping the English club to a continental win in the process. Son opened the scoring for Spurs in the 15th minute of their 3-2 victory over Vitesse in a Group G match of the UEFA Europa Conference League at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Thursday (local time). This was Tottenham's first game since the arrival of their new Italian boss Antonio Conte on Tuesday. Conte, who won the Italian league title with Inter Mi

Universities sign support letters for Chungcheong region in efforts to host 2027 World University Games

From the topsy-turvy regular season to the bitter, early ending to the postseason, things have been all too familiar for the Kiwoom Heroes this year. The Heroes lost to the Doosan Bears 16-8 in the second wild card game Tuesday night to take an exit from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason. They also fell in the wild card stage last year. As the lower seed at No. 5, the Heroes had to win two straight games to advance. They took care of the first part of business Monday, when they

National health authorities on Tuesday called on baseball fans to refrain from chanting at stadiums, pointing to risks of spreading COVID-19 even among masked individuals. In a press briefing, Son Young-rae, a senior health ministry official, reminded fans that vocal cheering is still prohibited at Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) games, despite stadiums being fully open again. Starting this month, the KBO decided to operate all stadiums at 100 percent capacity for the postseason, provided th

The offseason for non-playoff teams in South Korean baseball is barely under way, and one of those five teams caught outside looking in has let go of its manager. Will other clubs follow suit? Given the contract situations for the remaining skippers, it doesn't seem likely at the moment. The Kia Tigers, which finished ninth among 10 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) clubs at 58-76-10 (wins-losses-ties), mutually agreed to part ways with Matt Williams on Monday. The American skipper had one yea

Following multiple stints on the injured list (IL) in 2021, Tampa Bay Rays' South Korean first baseman Choi Ji-man can't wait for a fresh, not to mention healthy, start to a new season. Choi returned home early Tuesday after completing his sixth major league campaign, and his third full season with the Rays. He was limited to 83 out of 162 games in the regular season. Choi was sidelined at the start of the campaign after knee surgery, and landed on the IL on two separate occasions with groin a

When Paulo Bento, head coach of the South Korean men's national football team, scouts strikers, he doesn't just look at their goal totals. After making a surprising choice at the forward position Monday ahead of two World Cup qualifiers this month, Bento said a player's adaptability and tactical fit are just as important as goals. That's how he explained his call-up of Kim Gun-hee, a 26-year-old striker for Suwon Samsung Bluewings in the K League 1. Kim has scored six goals in 20 matches for

The seven-year wait is over. The KT Wiz, once a perennial doormat in South Korean baseball, are now headed to the championship series for the first time. The Wiz shut out the Samsung Lions 1-0 in a tiebreaker game on Sunday to capture the regular season crown in the Korea Baseball Organization. As the pennant winners, the Wiz earned a bye to the best-of-seven Korean Series, which begins on Nov. 14. Starter William Cuevas tossed seven shutout innings and struck out eight on two days' rest, and

Jamie Romak, one of the most successful foreign hitters in South Korean baseball history, has announced his retirement after spending his final five seasons here. The SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said Sunday the Canadian slugger decided to call it a career following the end of the 2021 season the previous evening. Romak, 36, batted .273 with 155 home runs and 409 RBIs in 626 games for the Landers, formerly known as the SK Wyverns under the previous ownership during Roma

Two Seoul-based rivals will square off on Monday in the first postseason game in South Korean baseball this year. The Doosan Bears will host the Kiwoom Heroes for the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) wild card game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, with the first pitch at 6:30 p.m. Monday. The Bears finished fourth in the regular season at 71-65-8 (wins-losses-ties), and the Heroes ended 1.5 games back in fifth place at 70-67-7. As the higher seed, the Bears will advance to the next stage

As South Korea tries to take baby steps back to normal life during the coronavirus pandemic, fan experience in baseball and football, two of the country's biggest sports, is about to change for the better, too. For one, you can now have the ballpark staple of chicken and beer, colloquially called "chimaek," starting next week, if you're fully vaccinated. The government on Friday unveiled plans for a phased return to normalcy amid the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those measur

South Korean baseball's postseason will begin next Monday, two days after the end of the regular season. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced its postseason schedule Thursday. It will begin with the wild card game between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds Monday. The higher seed will advance to the next round with a win or a tie, while the lower seed must win two straight games to move on. The wild card winner will then face the No. 3 team from the regular season in the best-of-three first