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Twins manager grateful after grabbing 2nd KBO pennant in 3 years

Published: 02 Oct. 2025, 08:46

LG Twins players celebrate after clinching the pennant in the Korea Baseball Organization at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 1. [YONHAP]

The LG Twins took a rather circuitous route to the top of the Korean baseball standings this year, but manager Youm Kyoung-youb will take it however he gets it.

They blew their third straight chance to clinch the KBO pennant with a win Wednesday night, losing to the NC Dinos 7-3 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. They finished the season at 85-56-3 (wins-losses-ties), the best record at the moment, but the second-place Hanwha Eagles still had a chance to pull into a tie with the Twins by the end of the season.

The Eagles took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning against the SSG Landers in Incheon. By winning this game and then their season finale on Friday, the Eagles would have forced a tiebreaker game against the Twins with the top spot at stake.

Then some unlikely drama unfolded, as the Landers launched a pair of two-run home runs to win the game 6-5. It ensured the Eagles won't be able to catch the Twins, who received a bye to the Korean Series starting Oct. 21.

Youm, who was watching the late moments of that game in his office, jokingly thanked the Landers manager Lee Sung-yong, his former teammate in the early 1990s.

"He's one of my best friends in baseball," Youm said with a smile.

More seriously, though, Youm thanked his players, coaching staff and front office for their collective effort.

"It would have been nice if we'd clinched this on our own with a win, especially here at home," Youm said. "Over the course of the season, we've had so many ups and downs, but the players took ownership of their performances and accomplished our goal of winning the pennant. I am really grateful.

"Now that we've taken care of our first objective, we will rest up and get ready for the Korean Series," said Youm, who led the Twins to the Korean Series title in 2023.

The Twins went off to a blazing start to the season, winning their first seven straight games and 11 of their first dozen overall to seize first place in the early weeks.

The Eagles zipped past the Twins on the strength of a 12-game winning streak in early May. The two rivals traded places, but the Eagles were back on top by mid-June. And the Eagles held a 4 1/2-game lead over the Twins entering the All-Star break in mid-July.

The Twins came out of the break on fire, enjoying a six-game winning streak in late July. They took over the top spot on Aug. 5, only to come back down the next day, but then regained their position at the top on Aug. 7.

The Twins have not relinquished that place since.

They came fairly close in September, though. After going a KBO-best 18-6-1 in August, the Twins only had a 9-9-0 mark in September, fifth in the league.

The Eagles went the other way, following an 11-14-0 month of August with the league-best record of 13-5-0 in September.

It once seemed inevitable that the Twins would secure the pennant in late September, but it was only after the calendar flipped to October that they were able to accomplish that.

The Twins cut their magic number for the pennant to one Saturday after beating the Eagles 9-2. Their next game against each other was postponed by a day to Monday due to rain, and the Eagles won that showdown 7-3 to stay in the race for the top.

The Twins had a chance to celebrate their pennant at home Tuesday night but lost to the Doosan Bears 6-0. They could still have clinched the best record if the Eagles had lost to or ended up in a tie against the Lotte Giants. But only moments after the Twins' loss, the Eagles walked off the Giants in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 1-0 win.

On Wednesday, the Twins had to contend with the Dinos, the hottest team in the KBO riding a seven-game winning streak that had catapulted them into the fifth and final postseason spot with two games left.

With the Eagles sending their top starter Cody Ponce against the SSG Landers on Wednesday, the Twins couldn't afford to count on the Eagles to lose. That the Landers had clinched the third seed Tuesday night and thus had little to play for the following night added some intriguing backdrop to the battle for the top spot.

The Dinos stayed hot by beating the Twins convincingly, but then there was much more drama in Incheon with the Landers' walk-off win.

Youm admitted he was worried that the Twins wouldn't be able to beat the Eagles if they ended up in the tiebreaker game, given his team's recent struggles.

"Obviously, you can't play well the whole season," he said. "At least we gave ourselves enough breathing room earlier in the year and we were able to hold on. But we played some really bad games in September."

Twins captain Park Hae-min said he and a few other teammates had started filing out of the stadium, after giving up hopes of an Eagles loss when their game went into the ninth inning.

But then they all had to turn back on a dime, prompting Park to quote Yogi Berra's famous saying: It ain't over till it's over.

"I thought maybe we weren't going to be that happy if we didn't clinch it on our own, but it wasn't the case at all," Park said with a smile. "I feel like there are some good forces working in our favor, and I can't wait for the Korean Series."

Historically, top seeds have won the Korean Series about 85 percent of the time.

Game 1 of the Korean Series is scheduled for Oct. 24, giving the Twins more than three weeks off to rest and reset.

Yonhap