The 2025 Korea Baseball Organization regular season began on Saturday, March 22. All 10 teams took the field for the earliest Opening Day in league history.
Each team will play 144 regular-season games, and the organization that finishes with the best record in pre-postseason play qualifies for the Korean Series. For those new to the highest level of professional baseball in South Korea, the KBO played its first season in 1982 and is considered the most popular sports league in the country.
Meet the Teams – The 10 teams in the KBO are the Doosan Bears, Hanwha Eagles, Kia Tigers, Kiwoom Heroes, KT Wiz, LG Twins, Lotte Giants, NC Dinos, Samsung Lions, and SSG Landers.
Playoff Format – Five teams qualify for the postseason. The fifth and fourth-place teams meet in the Wild Card Game. The fourth-place team starts the series with a 1-0 advantage and advances with a win or tie. The fifth-place team must win two games in a row to advance.
The winner of the Wild Card plays a best-of-five Semi-Playoff series against the third-place team, with the winner advancing to the best-of-five Playoff Series against the second-place team. The Playoff Series winner takes on the first-place team in the best-of-seven Korean Series.
2025 All-Star Game – The newly opened Daejeon Baseball Dream Park in Daejeon, South Korea, will host the KBO’s 2025 All-Star Game. The 20,000-seat stadium is the new home field of the Hanwha Eagles. The festivities will occur on Saturday, July 12.
Foreign Players – Three import players are allowed on each team’s roster. Notable players born outside of South Korea participating in the KBO in 2025 include former Major League Baseball stars and veterans like outfielder Yasiel Puig of the Kiwoom Heroes, third baseman Patrick Wisdom of the Kia Tigers, left-handed pitcher Cole Irvin of the Doosan Bears, and right-handed pitcher Yonny Chirinos of the LG Twins, among others.
Rules and Regulations – Starting in 2025, the league will adjust extra innings during the regular season. Games needing extra innings will be completed after the bottom of the 11th inning, whereas in previous seasons, the game would automatically end in a tie after the 12th inning. The main reasons for the change could be the KBO’s introduction of the pitch clock next season and to help keep pitchers healthy. Dan Kurtz of MyKBO Stats reports that 46 of the 59 extra-inning games ended by the 11th inning in 2024.
Next, the KBO made adjustments to the postseason. Starting in 2025, the league will change the Korean Series format to 2-3-2. Games one, two, six, and seven of the KBO’s equivalent of the World Series will be played at the higher seed’s home field. Games three through five of the Korean Series will be played at the lower seed’s home field. MLB introduced an identical format for the World Series in 1924.
Lastly, the KBO will use a pitch clock and an automated ball-strike system (ABS). Pitchers will have 20 seconds to throw a pitch with empty bases and 25 seconds with runners on base.
Farm League – The KBO Futures League is the KBO’s farm league for minor league-level players. For the first time in 2025, the KBO Futures League will feature a championship game between the two teams with the best regular season records in the Northern and Southern Leagues.
Opening Day Final Scores
LG Twins 12, Lotte Giants 2
SSG Landers 5, Doosan Bears 5
Samsung Lions 13, Kiwoom Heroes 5
Hanwha Eagles 4, KT Wiz 3
Kia Tigers 9, NC Dinos 2
Where to Watch – Fans can watch the 2025 KBO season on the streaming service SOOP. The KBO’s official Youtube page also posts game highlights and clips of other events, like the All-Star Game and Golden Glove awards. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoVz66yWHzVsXAFG8WhJK9g
Photo: Former Major League Baseball outfielder Yasiel Puig of Kiwoom Heroes warms up before the opening game of the 2022 regular season for the Korea Baseball Organization between Lotte Giants and Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, April 2, 2022. Puig is back with Kiwoom this year after playing in Mexico in 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
