Ongoing professional baseball season in South Korea
Sports season
The 2025 KBO League season, officially known as the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League (Korean: 2025 ì‹ í•œ SOL Bank KBO 리그)[1] for sponsorship reasons, is an ongoing professional baseball season based in South Korea; the 44th in the history of the KBO League. The league’s format and makeup did not change in the 2025 season from the previous season, with the same ten teams competing; the Kia Tigers, Doosan Bears, Lotte Giants, NC Dinos, LG Twins, Hanwha Eagles, KT Wiz, Samsung Lions, SSG Landers, and the Kiwoom Heroes.
The Eagles and Bears changed their branding and cap insignia prior to the season. The Eagles also moved to a new stadium, Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark.
The Tigers entered the season as the defending champions from the 2024 season.
The Korea Baseball Organization announced rule changes for the 2025 season, including the pitch clock and the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS). The KBO will implement the pitch clock starting in the regular season, with pitchers starting their delivery within 20 seconds with the bases empty and 25 seconds with runners on. The league will also have a 33-second limit between trips to the plate for batters, with only two timeouts per plate appearance. The KBO will not have a limit on the number of disengagements for pitchers, a departure from the MLB’s two-pickoffs rule. The ABS was readjusted in 2025, with the top and bottom units lowered without changes to the size of the zone.[2]
On January 3, 2025, Hye-seong Kim (2B) of the Heroes signed a three-year, $12.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball. The contract has an option for the 2028-29 season that could increase the amount to $22 million.[3] He was optioned to the Dodgers’ AAA affiliate, the Oklahoma City Comets, as he struggled in spring training. On May 3, Kim was called up to the MLB and made his debut as a pinch runner against the Braves.
Changwon NC Park incident
[edit]
On March 30, a game between the Twins and the Dinos at Changwon NC Park was postponed due to a small collapse of the stadium’s structure. A few fans lining up for the game were injured.[4] The next day, a young woman who was treated for a concussion died.[5] The KBO canceled all April 1 league games to mourn. They resumed four games on April 2, but several future games at NC Park were postponed further for stadium repair.[6]
On April 9, the NC Dinos announced a general meeting with the joint task force on the incident. Changwon City and Changwon Facilities Management Corporation were involved.
These are the final preseason standings.
The preseason started on March 8 and ended on March 18.[7]
The 2025 regular season started on March 22 and will end on September 30. Each team will play 144 games, facing every other team 16 times. Regular season games are played every day except Mondays.
| Rank | Team | GP | W | L | D | PCT | GB | STRK | Home | Road | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LG Twins | 141 | 85 | 53 | 3 | 0.616 | — | W1 | 41–1–27 | 44–2–26 | |
| 2 | Hanwha Eagles | 140 | 81 | 56 | 3 | 0.591 | 3.5 | L1 | 42–2–27 | 39–1–29 | |
| 3 | SSG Landers | 139 | 72 | 63 | 4 | 0.533 | 11.5 | W2 | 36–4–31 | 36–0–32 | |
| 4 | Samsung Lions | 141 | 72 | 67 | 2 | 0.518 | 13.5 | L1 | 40–0–30 | 32–2–37 | |
| 5 | KT Wiz | 141 | 70 | 67 | 4 | 0.511 | 14.5 | L1 | 36–1–35 | 34–3–32 | |
| 6 | NC Dinos | 140 | 67 | 67 | 6 | 0.500 | 16 | W5 | 34–1–34 | 33–5–33 | |
| 7 | Lotte Giants | 141 | 66 | 69 | 6 | 0.489 | 17.5 | W1 | 35–4–34 | 31–2–35 | |
| 8 | Kia Tigers | 139 | 63 | 72 | 4 | 0.467 | 20.5 | L1 | 33–2–32 | 30–2–40 | Did not qualify |
| 9 | Doosan Bears | 142 | 59 | 77 | 6 | 0.434 | 25 | L2 | 28–4–40 | 31–2–37 | |
| 10 | Kiwoom Heroes | 142 | 47 | 91 | 4 | 0.341 | 38 | L3 | 23–2–44 | 24–2–47 | |
Up to date as of September 27. Standings will be updated regularly.
Note: Draw results are ignored by the league when calculating win percentage and games behind.
Like in previous all-star games, the ten KBO teams are divided into two All-Star teams: the Nanum All-Stars (나눔) and the Dream All-Stars (드림). The game will be hosted at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark, the Eagles’ new home stadium. The all-star game will be on July 12, and the Futures All-Star Game will be on the 11th.
The starting players (candidates) from each team are voted by fans and KBO players, which leads to a score. The players with the highest score are selected.
The most voted infielders and pitchers within their position group play in the game. The top 3 outfielders play in available positions, regardless if they are all on the same team.
The teams who appeared in the previous year’s Korean Series provide their manager respectively for their all-star team.
Other players in the all-star vote may also appear later in the all-star game.
Projected Dream All-Stars Lineup
[edit]
Manager: Park Jin-man (Samsung Lions)
| # | Player | No. | Pos. | Team | BA | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | HBP | Votes | PV | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Koo Ja-wook | 5 | LF | Samsung | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1,546,925 | 160 | 44.32 | |
| Park Yeong-hyun | 60 | P | KT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | ||||
| 2 | VÃctor Reyes | 29 | RF | Lotte | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1,273,504 | 180 | 40.60 | |
| Jang Sung-woo | 22 | PH, LF | KT | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | ||||
| 3 | Choi Jeong | 14 | 3B | SSG | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1,301,246 | 162 | 39.62 | |
| Bae Jung-dae | 27 | PH, CF | KT | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | ||||
| 4 | Lewin DÃaz | 0 | 1B | Samsung | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,485,508 | 241 | 50.00 | |
| 5 | Jeon Jun-woo | 8 | DH | Lotte | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1,482,247 | 71 | 35.45 | |
| Oh Myeong-jin | 6 | PH, DH, 3B | Doosan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | ||||
| 6 | Ahn Hyun-min | 23 | CF, RF | KT | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
| 7 | Ryu Ji-hyuk | 16 | 2B | Samsung | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
| Kwon Dong-jin | 52 | PH, 2B | KT | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | ||||
| 8 | Kang Min-ho | 47 | C | Samsung | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,591,268 | 139 | 43.41 | |
| Cho Hyeong-woo | 20 | C | SSG | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | ||||
| 9 | Jeon Min-jae | 13 | SS | Lotte | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,579,413 | 178 | 46.50 | |
| Player | No. | Pos. | Team | ERA | IP | NP | ER | HR | SO | BB | HB | Votes | PV | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Park Se-woong | 21 | SP | Lotte | 36.00 | 1.0 | 29 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | – | ||
| Bae Chan-seung | 55 | RP | Samsung | 0.00 | 1.0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1,102,268 | 129 | 32.86 |
| Kim Won-jung | 34 | CP | Lotte | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 1,514,509 | 63 | 35.41 |
Projected Nanum All-Stars Lineup
[edit]
Manager: Lee Bum-ho (Kia Tigers)
| # | Player | No. | Pos. | Team | BA | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | HBP | Votes | PV | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moon Hyun-bin | 51 | DH | Hanwha | – | |||||||||||
| Kim Tae-gun | 42 | PH, DH | Kia | – | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Park Min-woo | 2 | 2B | NC | 1,215,838 | 171 | 38.69 | |||||||||
| Lee Do-yun | 7 | PH, 2B | Hanwha | – | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Park Kun-woo | 37 | OF | NC | 1,408,171 | 165 | 41.99 | |||||||||
| Kim Hyun-soo | 22 | PH, RF | LG | – | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Song Sung-mun | 24 | 3B | Kiwoom | – | |||||||||||
| 5 | Chae Eun-seong | 22 | 1B | Hanwha | – | |||||||||||
| Kim Ju-won | 7 | 1B | NC | – | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Park Dong-won | 27 | C | LG | 1,314,038 | 206 | 43.62 | |||||||||
| Kim Hyung-jun | 25 | C | NC | – | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Lee Ju-hyoung | 2 | LF | Kiwoom | – | |||||||||||
| 8 | Park Hae-min | 17 | CF | LG | 1,123,682 | 164 | 36.26 | |||||||||
| Kim Ho Ryung | 27 | CF | Kia | – | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Park Chan-ho | 1 | SS | Kia | 937,896 | 141 | 30.62 | |||||||||
| Player | No. | Pos. | Team | ERA | IP | NP | R | HR | SO | BB | HB | Votes | PV | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cody Ponce | 30 | SP | Hanwha | 1,625,259 | 234 | 52.18 | ||||||||
| Park Sang-won | 58 | RP | 1,340,968 | 74 | 32.90 | |||||||||
| Kim Seo-hyeon | 44 | CP | 1,786,837 | 220 | 54.19 |
Statistics last updated on June 25, 2025.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dream All-Stars | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nanum All-Stars | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | – | 8 | 14 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Starting pitchers: Dream: Park Se-woong (Lotte) Nanum: Cody Ponce (Hanwha) WP: Cody Ponce  LP: Park Se-woong  Sv: Kim Seo-hyeon Home runs: Dream: Ahn Hyun-min (Top 8th, solo off Park Sang-won) Nanum: Park Dong-won (Bottom 2nd, 2 run Park Se-woong) & Kim Tae-gun (Bottom 8th, solo off Park Yeong-hyun) Attendance: 16,850 Umpires: Yoon Tae-soo, Kim Ik-soo, Oh Hoon-gyu, Koo Myeong-hwan, Ham Ji-woong, Cha Jeong-gu |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2025 KBO postseason will start in the fall. The top five teams in the regular season standings qualify.
| Wild Card | Semi-playoff | Playoff | Korean Series | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | 1st place | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | 2nd place | — | PO | Playoff Winner | — | |||||||||||||
| 3 | 3rd place | — | SPO | Semi-playoff Winner | — | |||||||||||||
| 4 | 4th place | — | WC | Wild Card Winner | — | |||||||||||||
| 5 | 5th place | — | ||||||||||||||||
Legend • WC: Wild Card winner • SPO: Semi-playoff winner • PO: Playoff winner—-Note: All dates and times are in KST (Korean Standard Time). All statistics will be updated daily whenever possible.
Statistics and scores
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Quarterfinals – best of 5 series.
Semi-finals – best of 5 series.
Finals – best of 7 series.
