The 2018 Korean Series is the

championship series In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

of the 2018 KBO League season. The

Doosan Bears The Doosan Bears ( ko, 두산 베어스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. Founded in 1982, they are a member of the KBO League. The Bears have won six Korean Series titles (1982, 1995, 2001, 2015, 2016, and 2019) and ...

, as the regular season champions, automatically advanced to the Korean Series, where they faced the

SK Wyverns SSG Landers () are a South Korean professional baseball team. The team was originally established as the SK Wyverns but was renamed as the SSG Landers in 2021 after Shinsegae acquired the team from SK Group. They are a member of the KBO League. B ...

. The series ran from November 4 to November 12. The Wyverns defeated Doosan, four games to two. Han Dong-min won the

Korean Series Most Valuable Player Award The Korean Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the Korean Series, which is the final round of the KBO League postseason. The award was first presented in 1982. ...

Background

The

won the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and 2016 Korean Series. They lost the 2017 Korean Series to the

Kia Tigers Kia Tigers ( ko, KIA 타이거즈) are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982 and based in the southwestern city of Gwangju. Until 2001, they were known as the Haitai Tigers. The Tigers are a members of the KBO League and are ...

. Doosan had the best

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

during the 2018 KBO League season, advancing directly to the Korean Series. The team with the regular season's best record has won 15 of the previous 16 Korean Series. The Bears faced the

, who last won the Korean Series in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. The Wyverns finished the regular season with the second-best record in the league, games behind Doosan. They advanced to the playoff round. The Wyverns defeated the

Nexen Heroes The Kiwoom Heroes () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. They are a member of the KBO League. The Heroes play their home games at Gocheok Sky Dome in Gocheok-dong, a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of Se ...

in the KBO League playoffs to reach the Korean Series.

Summary

Matchups

Game 1

Josh Lindblom Joshua William Lindblom (born June 15, 1987) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, ...

started Game 1 for Doosan, while Park Jong-hoon started for the Wyverns. For the Wyverns, Han Dong-min hit a two-run

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

in the first inning, and Park Jung-kwon hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning. Choi Joo-hwan had all three

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

for Doosan. Ángel Sánchez earned the win in relief for the Wyverns while Lindblom took the loss for Doosan.

Game 2

Seth_Frankoff_2016_(2)_(33824239252)_(cropped)

Seth Frankoff James Seth Frankoff (born August 27, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Seattle Marin ...

started Game 2 for Doosan. He had ten

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s in innings, earning the win.

Moon Seung-won The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

started for the Wyverns. Doosan's Choi Joo-hwan hit a two-run home run and recorded a third RBI in the eighth inning. Kim Kang-min drove in all three runs for the Wyverns.

Game 3

The series continued with the first of three games at Munhak Baseball Stadium.

Jamie Romak James Robert Romak (born September 30, 1985) is a Canadian former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yokohama D ...

hit two home runs for the Wyverns, and Lee Jae-won also hit a home run.

Merrill Kelly Kenneth Merrill Kelly (born October 14, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut on April 1, 2019. Kelly formerly played for the SK Wyverns of the KBO ...

pitched seven innings allowing two runs to earn the win.

Game 4

The Wyverns scored first when Kim Kang-min hit an RBI single to score Kim Sung-hyun in the third inning. In the eighth inning,

Jung Soo-bin Jung Soo-bin (Hangul: 정수빈; born October 7, 1990) is a South Korean outfielder for the Doosan Bears of the KBO League. He bats and throws left-handed. Amateur career While attending Yu-shin High School in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, Jung was a hi ...

hit a two-run home run to give Doosan the lead, which they hung on to win and tie the series at two all.

Game 5

Doosan scored their only run in Game 5 with a solo home run by Jung Jin-ho in the third inning. In the seventh inning, Kim Sung-hyun tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

, and Kim Kang-min hit an RBI

sacrifice fly In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d): "Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...

to give the Wyverns a 2-1 lead. The next inning, Park Jung-kwon had an RBI single and Kim Sung-hyun drew a walk with the bases-loaded to expand the lead to 4-1.

Game 6

Lee Yong-chan, Doosan's starting pitcher, walked the first three Wyverns batters to load the bases. The Wyverns scored one run in the first inning with an RBI groundout by

. Kang Seung-ho hit a two-run home run for the Wyverns in the fourth inning to give them a 3-0 lead. Wyverns' starting pitcher

did not allow a hit for the first innings, but Doosan scored three runs in the sixth inning on an RBI double by Choi Joo-hwan and a two RBI single by

Yang Eui-ji Yang Eui-ji (; born June 5, 1987) is a South Korean professional baseball catcher currently playing for the Doosan Bears of the KBO League. He has won the KBO League Golden Glove Award at catcher five times; three consecutive years from 2014 to ...

. Yang added a third RBI with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to give Doosan a 4-3 lead. In the top of the ninth inning,

Choi Jeong Choi Jeong (Hangul: 최정; born February 28, 1987 in Icheon, South Korea) is a third baseman who has played his whole career for the SK Wyverns (known as the SSG Landers beginning in 2021) in the Korea Baseball Organization. He bats and thro ...

hit a game-tying home run for the Wyverns, and the game went into extra innings. Han Dong-min hit a home run for the Wyverns in the top of the thirteenth inning, and

Kim Kwang-hyun Kwang-hyun Kim (Hangul: 김광현; born July 22, 1988) is a South Korean left-handed pitcher for the SSG Landers of KBO League. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and in KBO for the SK Wyverns. Amateur c ...

, the Wyverns'

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...

starting pitcher, earned the save by pitching a scoreless inning in the bottom of the thirteenth to win the title for the Wyverns. The final out was made by strike out, which gave Park Kun Woo

golden sombrero In baseball, a golden sombrero is a player's inglorious feat of striking out four times in a single game. Etymology The term derives from ''hat trick'', and since four is bigger than three, the rationale was that a four-strikeout performance s ...

. Han won the

Composite line score

2018 Korean Series (4–2):

beat

References

{{SK Wyverns Korean Series Doosan Bears

Korean Series The Korean Series is the final championship series of the KBO League. It has been held since the KBO League's first season in and is the final series of the post-season play-offs. From to 2013, the winner of the Korean Series went on to play in ...