Battle of American aces highlights pivotal series opener

The Samsung Lions will send their American right-hander Chris Paddack to the mound to begin their KBO postseason Sunday. The Kia Tigers said they will counter with their own American ace, James Naile.

Game 1 of the best-of-five second round series between the Lions and Kia Tigers kicks off Sunday with the first pitch at 2 p.m. at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu.

The winner of this round will reach the Korean Series, where the regular-season champions KT Wiz are waiting.

The Lions had a bye to this stage after posting the second-best record in the regular season at 83-58-3 (wins-losses-ties). The Tigers, after finishing third at 79-63-2, had a bye to the first round, where they swept the 2025 Korean Series champions LG Twins.

On the 35 previous occasions when this round was played in a best-of-five format, Game 1 winners have gone on to take the series 27 times, or about 77 percent of the time.

Paddack went 7-3 with a 2.95 ERA in 13 starts after joining the Lions in July. He had a worse ERA against the Tigers than any other opponent in the regular season, with a 5.25 mark and a 0-2 record in two meetings. He struck out 16 in 12 innings.

Those two games were Paddack's back-to-back starts. He gave up six runs on six hits in five innings on July 30 and allowed three runs, though only one earned run, on three hits in seven frames on Aug. 11.

Among the Tigers' regulars, Kim Do-yeong and Kim Tae-gun each hit a home run off Paddack.

Kim Do-yeong has been the biggest star of this postseason so far, launching three home runs, including a massive grand slam, against the Twins to earn the series MVP honor.

Naile has been a strong performer in these high-stakes games. He went 1-0 and posted a 2.53 ERA in two starts during the Tigers' run to the Korean Series title over the Lions in 2024. Then last Saturday, Naile held the Twins to a run on four hits in seven strong innings for the Tigers' 5-1 victory in Game 1 in the previous series.

Naile went 2-0 and had a 3.24 ERA in four regular-season meetings against the Lions this year, with 19 strikeouts against five walks in 25 innings.

Kim Seong-yoon, a pesky slap hitter who will likely bat second in the Lions' lineup, has enjoyed the most success against Naile, batting 8-for-10 with a walk. Koo Ja-wook, the Lions' captain and the regular-season batting champion, had three hits, including a double, against Naile this year.

Yonhap