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Kia Tigers roar their way to 12th Korean Series title with win over Samsung Lions

Published: 29 Oct. 2024, 13:34 Updated: 29 Oct. 2024, 16:55

PAIK JI-HWAN
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JIM BULLEY
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The Kia Tigers celebrate winning the 2024 Korean Series after beating the Samsung Lions 7-5 at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Monday. [NEWS1]

The Kia Tigers’ 7-5 win over the Samsung Lions in Game 5 of the 2024 Korean Series at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Monday sealed the Gwangju club's 12th series title and extended their unbeaten streak in the series.

By winning the best-of-seven series 4-1, the Tigers bagged their first series title since 2017 and stretched their dominance in the series, which they have reached the most times at 12 and won every time.

This year’s title came after an impressive run throughout the 2024 KBO season during which the Tigers also won the regular season title with seven games to go.

The Tigers saw huge success under rookie manager Lee Bum-ho, who was unexpectedly promoted from hitting coach to the hot seat when former manager Kim Jong-kook was fired amid a bribery scandal in January.

The Kia Tigers toss manager Lee Bum-ho into the air after beating the Samsung Lions 7-5 at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Monday. [NEWS1]

Lee oversaw a squad that included veteran starter and former Major Leaguer Yang Hyeon-jong, who this season broke the KBO’s all-time strikeout record with 2,049, as well as 20-year-old leading MVP candidate Kim Do-yeong.

"I took over the team because I was confident I could win a title within the first two seasons," Lee told Yonhap News Agency after Monday’s game. "And I wanted to accomplish that goal as soon as possible. And we have a lot of talented young players and veterans who can still play. I want to mold this group into a team that can keep improving.

“There is parity in our league, and we have to be detail-oriented. Our goal next year is to stay humble and take it one step at a time."

As for the Lions, Monday’s loss marks their 11th runner-up finish in the series, the most by any KBO team. The Lions are still the second most successful team in Korean Series history, having made it to the series 19 times, with eight wins. Their last victory came in 2014.

Seven of the Lions’ titles came after 2000, with the Daegu team dominating much of the late 2000s and early 2010s. Samsung also won the league in 1985, but no Korean Series was held that year, so they took the championship title, too.

Had the Lions won Monday’s game and won the series 4-3, it would have been the 2013 Korean Series once again, when the Daegu club overcame a 3-1 series deficit against the Doosan Bears to win 4-3.

“Although we came in second place, our players did their absolute best all season long," Lions manager Park Jin-man told Yonhap. "From spring training, a lot of people regarded us as a non-playoff team. So our players were determined to prove them wrong.

“I think we had a pretty good balance between the older group and the younger guys. But as was the case last year, we need to bolster our bullpen. We will try to regroup and return to the postseason next year."

The Lions still pulled off a strong performance in the beginning of Monday’s game, ending the first inning up 3-1. The Daegu club pulled further ahead by two runs in the top third on a home run from Lewin Diaz, taking the score to 5-2 by the end of the third inning.

But the Tigers bounced back from the bottom of the fifth, with Choi Hyoung-woo hitting a solo home run that made him the oldest player to homer in the KBO postseason at 40 years, 10 months and 12 days.

The Kia Tigers' Choi Hyoung-woo hits a home run during Game 5 of the 2024 Korean Series against the Samsung Lions at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Monday. [NEWS1]

The Tigers then took the score to 5-5 with two runners in the fifth scoring and turned things around in the sixth when Kim Tae-gun hit an infield single and Socrates Brito came home to make it 6-5.

And shortstop Park Chan-ho got an RBI double in the eighth, before Jung Hai-young retired the side in the ninth to end the game 7-5.

The Tigers’ Kim Sun-bin, who was voted the Korean Series MVP, was also key to the team’s 4-1 series win. He batted 10-for-17 with three doubles and a triple and got a hit in all five games.

The Kia Tigers' Kim Sun-bin lifts the MVP award after his side's 7-5 win over the Samsung Lions in Game 5 of the Korean Series at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Monday. [NEWS1]

"I've had so many people tell me I couldn't succeed as a pro because I was too short," Kim told Yonhap. "I think I beat those stereotypes with this MVP award.

“In 2009, when we won the title, I threw my remote control at the TV screen. I was so upset. Then in 2017, I was part of the championship team a year after my military service ended. But this one is so much better because I am older now.”

Kim Do-yeong was also a key player during the 2024 regular season. The third baseman became the second-youngest player ever to join the KBO 20-20 club in June and the youngest to join the 30-30 club in August. He failed to join the 40-40 club by finishing with 38 home runs and 40 steals.

On top of that, Kim became the first player in KBO history to record at least 10 home runs and 10 steals in a single month in April, and capped off one of the best offensive seasons in KBO history by hitting for the cycle in July, and even then he went the extra mile, hitting a natural cycle — a single, double, triple and home run in that order — in four at-bats for the first time in league history.

This year was the first time the Korean Series took place entirely outside of Seoul since 2012, when the Lions beat the SK Wyverns, now the SSG Landers, and the first time outside of the greater Seoul area, which includes Incheon and Gyeonggi, since 2006, when the Lions beat the Hanwha Eagles.

With the Tigers claiming the KBO crown, the title has gone to a different team for eight straight seasons, with the last back-to-back titles won by Bears from 2015 to 2016.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN, JIM BULLEY [[email protected]]