2019 KBO League season

The 2019 KBO League season was the 38th season in the history of the KBO League. The regular season began on March 23 and ended on October 1.^[1] The All-Star break was extended from four days to seven.^[2]

This article is about the 2019 KBO League season only. For the previous season, see 2018 KBO League season. For information on all of baseball, see 2019 in baseball.

2019 KBO League
League	KBO League
Sport	Baseball
Duration	March 23 – October 1
Number of games	144 per team
Number of teams	10
Total attendance	7,286,008
Regular Season
Season champions	Doosan Bears
Season MVP	Josh Lindblom (Doosan)
Postseason
Wild Card champions	LG Twins
Wild Card runners-up	NC Dinos
Semi-playoffs champions	Kiwoom Heroes
Semi-playoffs runners-up	LG Twins
Playoffs champions	Kiwoom Heroes
Playoffs runners-up	SK Wyverns
Korean Series
Champions	Doosan Bears
Runners-up	Kiwoom Heroes
Finals MVP	Oh Jae-il (Doosan)

Standings

Rank	Team	P	W	L	D	Pct.	GB	Postseason
1	Doosan Bears	144	88	55	1	.615	–	Korean Series
2	SK Wyverns	144	88	55	1	.615	0.0	Playoff
3	Kiwoom Heroes	144	86	57	1	.601	2.0	Semi-playoff
4	LG Twins	144	79	64	1	.552	9.0	Wild Card
5	NC Dinos	144	73	69	2	.514	14.5
6	kt Wiz	144	71	71	2	.500	16.5	Did not qualify
7	KIA Tigers	144	62	80	2	.437	25.5
8	Samsung Lions	144	60	83	1	.420	28.0
9	Hanwha Eagles	144	58	86	0	.403	30.5
10	Lotte Giants	144	48	93	3	.340	39.0

Doosan Bears ranked ahead of SK Wyverns due to winning their head-to-head season series 9-7.^[3]

League Leaders

Batting leaders[4] Stat Player Team Total Batting Average Yang Eui-ji NC Dinos .354 Home Runs Park Byung-ho Kiwoom Heroes 33 Runs Batted In Jerry Sands Kiwoom Heroes 113 Runs Kim Ha-seong Kiwoom Heroes 112 Hits Jose Fernandez Doosan Bears 197 Stolen Bases Park Chan-Ho Kia Tigers 39 On Base Percentage Yang Eui-ji NC Dinos .438 Slugging Percentage Yang Eui-ji NC Dinos .574

Pitching leaders[5] Stat Player Team Total Earned run average Yang Hyeon-jong Kia Tigers 2.29 Wins Josh Lindblom Doosan Bears 20 Saves Ha Jae-hoon SK Wyverns 36 Holds Kim Sang-su Kiwoom Heroes 40 Innings Pitched Josh Lindblom Doosan Bears 194.2 Winning percentage Josh Lindblom Doosan Bears .870 Strikeouts Josh Lindblom Doosan Bears 189 WHIP Josh Lindblom Doosan Bears 1.00

Foreign players

Each team could sign up to three foreign players, one of whom must be a hitter. In 2019, the KBO League capped salaries for new foreign players at US$1 million.^[6]

Team	Player	Position	In KBO Since	Salary
Samsung Lions	Justin Haley	Pitcher	2019	$900,000
	Deck McGuire	Pitcher	2019	$950,000
	Darin Ruf	Infielder	2017	$1,700,000
NC Dinos	Eddie Butler	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
	Drew Rucinski	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
	Christian Bethancourt	Catcher	2019	$1,000,000
	Jake Smolinski	Outfielder	2019	TK
Doosan Bears	Seth Frankoff	Pitcher	2018	$1,230,000
	Josh Lindblom	Pitcher	2015	$1,920,000
	José Miguel Fernández	Infielder	2019	$700,000
Kiwoom Heroes	Jake Brigham	Pitcher	2017	$900,000
	Eric Jokisch	Pitcher	2019	$500,000
	Jerry Sands	Outfielder	2018	$500,000
SK Wyverns	Brock Dykxhoorn	Pitcher	2019	$700,000
	Jamie Romak	Outfielder	2017	$1,300,000
	Ángel Sánchez	Pitcher	2018	$1,200,000
Hanwha Eagles	Chad Bell	Pitcher	2019	$600,000
	Jared Hoying	Outfielder	2018	$1,400,000
	Warwick Saupold	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
Kia Tigers	Jeremy Hazelbaker	Outfielder	2019	$700,000
	Preston Tucker	Outfielder	2019	$270,000
	Jacob Turner	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
	Joe Wieland	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
Lotte Giants	Carlos Asuaje	Infielder	2019	$550,000
	Jacob Wilson	Infielder	2019	$400,000
	Brooks Raley	Pitcher	2015	$1,170,000
	Jake Thompson	Pitcher	2019	$900,000
LG Twins	Casey Kelly	Pitcher	2019	$1,000,000
	Tommy Joseph	Infielder	2019	$1,000,000
	Tyler Wilson	Pitcher	2018	$1,500,000
KT Wiz	Raúl Alcántara	Pitcher	2019	$670,000
	William Cuevas	Pitcher	2019	$650,000
	Mel Rojas Jr.	Outfielder	2017	$1,600,000

Foreign hitters

Team	Player	Batting Average	Home Runs	RBI	Notes
Doosan Bears	José Miguel Fernández	.344	15	88	KBO hits leader; Golden Glove Award
Hanwha Eagles	Jared Hoying	.284	18	73
Kia Tigers	Jeremy Hazelbaker	.146	2	5	Released by the team
	Preston Tucker	.311	9	50	Signed to replace Jeremy Hazelbaker
KT Wiz	Mel Rojas Jr.	.322	24	104	Golden Glove Award
LG Twins	Tommy Joseph	.274	9	36
Lotte Giants	Carlos Asuaje	.252	2	21	Released by the team
	Jacob Wilson	.251	9	37	Signed to replace Carlos Asuaje
NC Dinos	Christian Bethancourt	.246	8	29	Released by the team
	Jake Smolinski	.229	9	42	Signed to replace Christian Bethancourt
Nexen Heroes	Jerry Sands	.305	28	113	KBO RBI leader; Golden Glove Award
Samsung Lions	Darin Ruf	.291	22	101
SK Wyverns	Jamie Romak	.276	29	95

Postseason

	Wild Card					Semi-playoff					Playoff					Korean Series
																1	Doosan Bears	4
											2	SK Wyverns	0			3	Kiwoom Heroes	0
						3	Kiwoom Heroes	3			3	Kiwoom Heroes	3
	4	LG Twins	2			4	LG Twins	1
	5	NC Dinos	0

Wild Card

The series started with a 1–0 advantage for the fourth-placed team.

LG Twins (2) vs. NC Dinos (0)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 3	NC Dinos – 1, LG Twins – 3	Jamsil Baseball Stadium	3:00	23,757

Semi-playoff

Kiwoom Heroes (3) vs. LG Twins (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 6	LG Twins – 0, Kiwoom Heroes – 1	Gocheok Sky Dome	2:49	16,300
2	October 7	LG Twins – 4, Kiwoom Heroes – 5 (10 inn.)	Gocheok Sky Dome	-	14,589
3	October 9	Kiwoom Heroes – 2, LG Twins – 4	Jamsil Baseball Stadium	-	25,000
4	October 10	Kiwoom Heroes – 10, LG Twins – 5	Jamsil Baseball Stadium	-	21,600

Playoff

SK Wyverns (0) vs. Kiwoom Heroes (3)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 14	Kiwoom Heroes – 3, SK Wyverns – 0 (11 inn.)	Munhak Baseball Stadium	-	19,356
2	October 15	Kiwoom Heroes – 8, SK Wyverns – 7	Munhak Baseball Stadium	-	17,546
3	October 17	SK Wyverns – 1, Kiwoom Heroes – 10	Gocheok Sky Dome	-	14,051

Korean Series

Main article: 2019 Korean Series

Doosan Bears (4) vs. Kiwoom Heroes (0)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 22	Kiwoom Heroes – 6, Doosan Bears – 7	Jamsil Baseball Stadium	-	25,000
2	October 23	Kiwoom Heroes – 5, Doosan Bears – 6	Jamsil Baseball Stadium	-	25,000
3	October 25	Doosan Bears – 5, Kiwoom Heroes – 0	Gocheok Sky Dome	-	16,300
4	October 26	Doosan Bears – 11, Kiwoom Heroes – 9	Gocheok Sky Dome	-	-

Attendances

Team	Total attendance	Home average	Change vs. 2018
LG Twins	1,000,400	13,894	-10%
Doosan Bears	983,474	13,659	-12%
SK Wyverns	982,962	13,652	-5%
NC Dinos	710,274	9,865	+60%
KIA Tigers	692,163	9,613	-20%
Samsung Lions	691,681	9,607	-8%
Lotte Giants	679,208	9,33	-25%
Hanwha Eagles	555,225	7,711	-24%
KT Wiz	536,735	7,455	-20%
Kiwoom Heroes	453,886	6,304	-0%
Total	7,286,008	10,119	-10%

See also

• 2019 Major League Baseball season
• 2019 Nippon Professional Baseball season