KBO postseason to begin Oct. 2

The postseason in South Korean baseball will begin next Wednesday with the wild card game between the bottom two entrants. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) released the 2024 postseason schedule on Wednesday. The fourth seed and the fifth seed will collide in the wild card game, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. next Wednesday. All weekday games start at 6:30 p.m. and all weekend games begin at 2 p.m. The higher seed will have a built-in advantage, and will only need a win or a tie to advance to the next round, and will get two cracks at doing so. The lower seed must win two straight games to reach the next stage. The higher-seeded team will host both games should there be a second game. This image provided by the Korea Baseball Organization on Sept. 25, 2024, shows the official emblem for the 2024 postseason. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) This image provided by the Korea Baseball Organization on Sept. 25, 2024, shows the official emblem for the 2024 postseason. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) The wild card ga me was introduced in 2015 and the No. 4-ranked team has advanced every year. The wild card winner will go on to meet the No. 3 team in the first round. The LG Twins, the defending Korean Series champions, grabbed the third seed Tuesday night, and will have the home field advantage in the best-of-five series. The winner of that round will move on to the second round, also best-of-five, against No. 2-ranked Samsung Lions. The Kia Tigers, the regular season champions, will await the winner of the second round in the best-of-seven Korean Series, scheduled to begin on Oct. 21 in the Tigers' home city of Gwangju, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul. The top three spots have been determined. The Doosan Bears have secured a postseason berth and will finish either fourth or fifth, with two games remaining. The KT Wiz and the SSG Landers are also battling to get into the postseason. There will be at least one travel day between the end of one series and the start of another series. Within a best-of-five series, te ams will play two games and then have an offday before playing two more games. There will be a travel day before the fifth game, if necessary. For the Korean Series, the Tigers will host the first two games and then go on the road for two games after an offday. If the championship series goes longer than four games, the Tigers will host Games 5, 6 and 7. A tie will be called after 15 innings, compared to 12 innings during the regular season. Rained-out regular-season games may be made up during the postseason if such games are between teams not in the postseason or not in the ongoing postseason series. Teams will each have two opportunities to ask for a replay review during regulation, and if they can successfully overturn a call twice, they will be awarded an additional challenge. Teams will also have one additional opportunity each in extra innings. Source: Yonhap News Agency