LG Twins aim for back-to-back Korean Series as KBO season opens March 28

The 45th Korea Baseball Organisation (KBO) league will open on Saturday, March 28 with all the teams taking the field on Opening Day.

The 144-game regular season will end on September 6. The Pennant winner will advance directly to the Korean Series.

Opening Day Schedule

Kia Tigers @ SSG Landers
KT Wiz @ LG Twins
Lotte Giants @ Samsung Lions
Doosan Bears @ NC Dinos
Kiwoom Heroes @ Hanwha Eagles

KBO confirmed the so-called Ladder System for the postseason. It will consist of three rounds.

In the best-of-three Wild Card series, the fifth-place finisher will face the fourth-place finisher. The fourth-place team will have a one-game advantage and host all the games.

The winner will advance to the best-of-five Semi-Playoff series and face the third-place finisher. The third-place team will host Games One, Two, and, if necessary, Game Five.

The winner will advance to the best-of-five Playoff series and face the second-place finisher. The second-place team will host Games One, Two, and, if necessary, Game Five.

The winner will play the best-of-seven Korean Series against the regular season winner. The Pennant winners will host Games One and Two, and, if necessary, Games Six and Seven.

KBO announced that the All-Star Game is scheduled for July 11 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, the home of the Kiwoom Heroes and one of the venues of the WBSC Premier12 2019. The league won't announce the postseason dates, including the Korean Series dates, until midsummer.

LG Twins are the 2026 favourites

The 2025 Korean Series winners, the LG Twins, are the 2026 favourites. They lost the 2025 Korean Series MVP and 2015 WBSC Premier12 winner Hyun-Soo Kim, who signed with the KT Wiz. Still, the core of the team is returning, including World Baseball Classic and WBSC Premier12 star Bo-Gyeong Moon and the three import players: pitchers Yonny Chirinos and Anders Tolhurst and first baseman Austin Dean. The Twins used the roster spot reserved for players from Asia or Australia to sign Aussie left-hander Lachlan Wells and add depth to their pitching staff.

The Samsung Lions had a busy off-season. They signed legendary slugger Hyoung-Woo Choi to a two-year contract worth US$ 1.8 million. The left-handed batter has 2,586 career hits, including 419 home runs. At 42 years and three months, when he starts his first game in 2026, he will become the oldest player to appear in a KBO game, surpassing former MLB All-Star Shin-soo Choo, who played at 42 years, two months and 17 days and also holds the record for the oldest player to get a hit (42 years, one month and 26 days) and hit a home run (42 years and 22 days). Choi can take both records.

The Lions added Major League Baseball (MLB) starter Matt Manning to have another ace besides Ariel Jurado at the top of the rotation. They used the roster spot reserved for Asian and Australian players to sign hard-throwing Japanese reliever Yura Miyaji. Unfortunately, the Lions lost Manning and setup man Ho-Sung Lee to season-ending injuries during the preseason.

The 2025 finalists, the Hanwha Eagles, lost their pitching stars, Cody Ponce, a WBSC Premier12 2019 alum (Toronto Blue Jays), and Ryan Weiss (Houston Astros), to MLB contracts. They replaced them with Wilkel Hernandez, a 26-year-old right-hander from Venezuela who pitched at the Triple-A level for the Texas Rangers in 2025, and Owen White, also a 26-year-old right-hander who pitched at the Triple-A and MLB levels for the Chicago White Sox last year.

After signing Hyun-Soo Kim, and adding power to their lineup with Sam Hilliard, a veteran of 332 MLB games with the Colorado Rockies, the KT Wiz made a pair of import moves to improve their pitching staff, adding right-handers Matt Sauer, who in 2025 started 17 games at Triple-A for the Los Angeles Dodgers and pitched out of the bullpen at the MLB level, and Caleb Boushley, who pitched 25 games out MLB's Texas Rangers bullpen in 2025.

The Kiwoom Heroes lost Sung-mun Song, Korea's captain at the WBSC Premier12 2024, to MLB's San Diego Padres. The left-handed-hitting third baseman signed a four-year contract worth US$15 million.
In August 2025, Song had signed a six-year deal with Kiwoom worth US$8.7 million. According to the Heroes, it was the most lucrative contract ever signed by a non-free-agent position player in KBO history.

Yonhap News Agency reported that the 2026 season will introduce new rules

"The pitch clock will be reduced by two seconds -- 18 ticks with the bases empty and 23 seconds with runners on.

The KBO imposed a ban on infield shifts two years ago and added a new wrinkle this year. If a fielder in an illegal spot touches a ball in play, then the batting team can choose one of the following options: have the batter take first base, have a runner advance a base, or make the play on the field stand. In this case, the fielder will be charged with an error.

Pitchers will be subject to mandatory checks for foreign substances on their hands -- twice for starting pitchers and once for relievers during a game -- and violators will face a 10-game ban."

KBO, a story of success

In 2024, the league surpassed the 10 million-spectator limit for the first time, setting an all-time record with 10,887,705 spectators. The 2025 season set a new record with 12,312,519 spectators. After the 2026 preseason drew a record 440,247 spectators across 60 matches, a 36.8% increase from 2025, expectations are that the season will surpass the 13 million limit.