Korea Baseball Organization Season Preview 2026: Meet the League’s 10 Clubs and Their Notable Offseason Transactions

Opening Day of the 2026 Korea Baseball Organization in South Korea is this Saturday, March 28. All 10 clubs in the league will be in action.   

Most of Korea’s roster in the World Baseball Classic was made up of players from the KBO, finishing with a 2-2 record in pool play and losing to the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals.   

Each KBO club plays 144 regular-season games – 16 against each of the nine other teams. Five out of the 10 teams qualify for the postseason, culminating in the best-of-seven Korean Series.  

LG Twins (2025 Record: 85-56-3, Won Korean Series Over Hanwha Eagles)  

Notable Additions – Re-Sign SP Yonny Chirinos, OF Austin Dean  

Notable Losses – OF Kim Hyun-soo  

Last year’s KBO title was the Twins’ second in the past three years, winning their first championship since 1990 in 2023. They were rather inactive during the offseason, making minimal roster changes.  

Hanwha Eagles (2025 Record: 83-57-4, Lost Korean Series to LG Twins)  

Notable Additions – 1B Kang Baek-ho, SP Owen White  

Notable Losses – RP Kim Beom-su, Cody Ponce  

Kim and Ponce’s departure in free agency significantly hurts the Eagles’ pitching depth, but this remains a talented club. It’s borderline impossible to replace a starter like Ponce, who won the pitching Triple Crown before signing a contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.  

SSG Landers (2025 Record: 75-65-4, Lost to Samsung Lions in Semi-Playoff Round)  

Notable Additions – SP Shota Takeda, Re-Sign OF Guillermo Heredia  

Notable Losses – SP Drew Anderson  

Anderson signed with the Detroit Tigers, but in comes Takeda, a 32-year-old with 12 years of Nippon Professional Baseball experience. The Landers’ pitching staff’s 3.63 ERA was the second lowest in the KBO last year, right behind the Eagles’ 3.55 mark.  

Samsung Lions (2025 Record: 74-68-2, Lost to Hanwha Eagles in Playoff Round)  

Notable Additions – SP Matt Manning, SP Jack O’Loughlin  

Notable Losses – DH/1B Park Byung-ho, RP Oh Seung-hwan  

Clearly focused on pitching depth, the Lions brought in two starters with Major League experience in Manning and O’Loughlin. However, the former will undergo Tommy John Surgery and miss the entire season.  

NC Dinos (2025 Record: 71-67-6, Lost to Samsung Lions in Wild Card Round)  

Notable Additions – Re-Signed 1B/DH Matt Davidson, RP Curtis Taylor  

Notable Losses – OF Choi Won-jun  

The Dinos would love another power-filled season from Davidson, who’s hit 82 combined home runs the past two seasons. In early March, they played exhibition games against the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, losing both contests.  

KT Wiz (2025 Record: 71-68-5, Missed Postseason)  

Notable Additions – OF Sam Hilliard, RP Kikuo Sugimoto  

Notable Losses – INF Hwang Jae-gyun, SP Emmanuel De Jesus  

The Wiz missed the postseason for the first time in five years in 2025. Left-handed hitter Hilliard could help tremendously in the slugging department after the club connected for just 104 homers in 2025.  

Lotte Giants (2025 Record: 66-72-6, Missed Postseason)  

Notable Additions – Re-Sign OF Victor Reyes, SP Elvin Rodriguez  

Notable Losses – SP Alec Gamboa  

Re-signing Reyes had to be a priority after the 31-year-old from Venezuela hit .326 with an .860 OPS in his second season with the Giants. The pitching staff must do a better job of run prevention in 2026, or else they’ll end up back in seventh place for a second consecutive season.  

Kia Tigers (2025 Record: 65-75-4, Missed Postseason)  

Notable Additions – INF Jarryd Dale, UTIL Harold Castro  

Notable Losses – INF Park Chan-ho, OF Choi Hyeong-woo  

Ace James Naile is back in the mix, and Castro brings an ability to play all over the field, excluding catcher. Third baseman Kim Do-yeong may be the best position player in the KBO, but the 2024 MVP was limited to 30 games due to multiple hamstring strains last season.  

Doosan Bears (2025 Record: 61-77-6, Missed Postseason)  

Notable Additions – INF Park Chan-ho, Re-Sign OF Jo Soo-haeng  

Notable Losses – INF Heo Kyoung-min, INF Kim Jae-ho  

The Bears will look to keep their head above water during the early months of the regular season. They are not the same club as the organization that made a KBO record seven consecutive Korean Series appearances from 2015 to 2021.  

Kiwoom Heroes (2025 Record: 47-93-4, Missed Postseason)  

Notable Additions – Re-Sign An Woo-jin, OF Trenton Brooks  

Notable Losses – OF Kim Jae-hwan  

Simply put, a competitive season would be a step in the right direction for the Heroes, whose 93 losses were 16 more than the ninth-place Bears. Brooks, who can also play first base, hit 15 home runs with a .879 OPS in 90 games last season at Triple-A El Paso in the San Diego Padres organization.  

Where to Watch – Fans can stream the 2026 KBO season on the SOOP service. The KBO’s official YouTube page also posts game highlights and clips of other events, such as the All-Star Game and Golden Glove awards.  

Photo: The LG Twins celebrate a win during the 2025 Korea Series. (Courtesy of the WBSC)