KBO Roundup: Tigers Superstar Continues MVP Push, Korean Baseball Legend Passes Away

As the Korean Baseball Organization reaches mid-August, all teams have just over 40 games remaining in the regular season as they jockey for

playoff positioning. Teams are looking to avoid the fourth or fifth seed for a smoother path to the Korean Series.

The roster deadline to acquire foreign talent was Saturday, Aug. 15. All players acquired by the deadline are eligible for the postseason.

LG Twins add former minor league arm

With the LG Twins needing a boost to a pitching staff that has been middle of the pack since July, the team made a move to strengthen its postseason hopes.

After previously having Australian pitcher Lachlan Wells in the rotation, LG once again brought in a left-hander from Australia. Saturday, the Twins signed former Atlanta Braves minor league pitcher and current Australian national team pitcher Jon Kennedy.

The 6-foot-8 left-hander has both started and relieved during his career and can fill either role for the Twins. He spent 11 seasons in the Australian Baseball League with Melbourne before playing the past two seasons for the Canberra Cavalry and Brisbane Bandits, respectively.

This past winter with Brisbane, Kennedy threw 52 1/3 innings with a 3.78 ERA and 44 strikeouts. Both totals were career highs in the ABL.

He will play a significant role on a pitching staff looking to put things together down the stretch for an LG Twins squad that is just 10-18-1 since July 1, including a home series loss to ninth-place SSG over the weekend.

On Sunday, the KIA Tigers and Doosan Bears met in a pivotal matchup with the Bears holding a half-game lead over the Tigers for fourth place. Both teams currently hold playoff spots, but each hopes to avoid finishing as the fifth seed.

Since the current playoff format was adopted, no team that has finished fifth has ever made the Korean Series.

It was also one of the premier pitching matchups of the season. The two front-runners for the Choi Dong-won Award, given to the KBO’s top pitcher, Been Gwak and Adam Oller, faced off, and the matchup did not disappoint.

Oller went seven innings with six strikeouts, allowing four hits and one run to earn the win. Been Gwak also went seven innings with five strikeouts. He allowed a third-inning home run to Jae-hyun Park and an unearned run on a throwing error to take the loss.

This could very well be a matchup in the first series of the postseason. For now, the KIA Tigers would have home-field advantage.

Former Cleveland Guardians and San Diego Padres pitcher Pedro Ávila has been one of the best pitchers in the KBO since signing with the SSG Landers in July.

In his latest outing, Ávila faced former longtime MLB pitcher and countryman Carlos Carrasco and dominated the LG Twins, throwing seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 1.54 across 35 innings while recording 40 strikeouts.

His strong season in a limited sample could make him one of the most sought-after pitchers in the KBO and NPB this offseason.

Ariel Jurado made his return from injury with Samsung’s farm team in the KBO Futures League. After being out since July 15 with a shoulder injury, he pitched one inning against Hanwha over the weekend and recorded two strikeouts.

Samsung’s ace has a 3.11 ERA in 107 innings with 69 strikeouts. His presence was sorely missed. His injury replacement, former big-league pitcher Austin Voth, has struggled to fill in for him. Voth has a 9.00 ERA in 12 innings across three starts.

Samsung is also tied for last in the KBO in ERA among starting pitchers in August. With Samsung trailing first-place KT Wiz by just one game, Jurado’s return could be a huge difference-maker for the Lions.

Do-yeong Kim continued his pursuit of the single-season home run record for third basemen in the KBO. He hit his 36th home run of the season in the seventh inning of the KIA Tigers’ 4-3 win over Hanwha.

The win kept the Tigers just one game behind the Twins for third place. Kim now has 36 home runs and needs just three more for a new career high. He is 10 behind Choi Jeong for the KBO record for third basemen.

The only thing that could stand in the way of a record-breaking season could be his participation in the Asian Games in Japan this September.

On Saturday, Korean baseball legend In-chun Baek died at 83.

Baek was born in China before moving to Korea. After attending high school in Seoul, he became the first Korean raised in Korea to play professional baseball in Japan, as no professional baseball league existed in South Korea at the time.

He debuted in June 1963 for the Toei Flyers, who eventually became the Nippon-Ham Fighters. Baek played there from 1963-74. He joined the Taiheiyo Club Lions, now the Seibu Lions, in 1975 and won the Pacific League batting title with a .319 average.

He also played for the Lotte Orions and Kintetsu Buffaloes before finishing his NPB career in 1981.

After the KBO was officially launched in 1982, Baek returned home as the player-manager of MBC Chungyong. He hit .412 and remains the only player in KBO history to hit .400 in a season.

Baek eventually became the first manager of the LG Twins in 1990 following the acquisition of MBC. He led the Twins to a Korean Series championship in their first season as the LG Twins and was named manager of the year.

He would also go on to manage the Samsung Lions and Lotte Giants.

KBO standings

1. KT Wiz — 62-40-2

2. Samsung Lions — 62-42-2

3. LG Twins — 59-48-1

4. KIA Tigers — 57-48-2

5. Doosan Bears — 56-48-4

6. Hanwha Eagles — 48-54-3

7. NC Dinos — 46-53-2

8. Lotte Giants — 47-57-2

9. SSG Landers — 44-62-4

10. Kiwoom Heroes — 40-69-2

Photo: Jon Kennedy pitching for Australia at the 2026 World Baseball Classic. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)