Kim Do-yeong of the Kia Tigers hits a double in the bottom of the sixth inning against the KT Wiz at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Sept. 30.YONHAP
With all five postseason berths determined in Korean baseball, several individual statistical races are going down to the wire.
All teams in the KBO have between two to six games remaining in the regular season, which is scheduled to end Monday.
The battle for the home run title is down to a trio of sluggers. Kim Do-yeong of the Kia Tigers leads the way with 42 dingers in 129 games through Monday — despite missing about two weeks in September to participate in the Asian Games in Japan.
But Kim is trying to hold off two Americans — Sam Hilliard of the KT Wiz with 41 homers, and Austin Dean of the LG Twins at 40.
Hilliard caught fire in September by launching 10 home runs, and Dean recently ended an 11-game homerless drought. Kim homered in his first game back from the Asian Games last Thursday and went deep again Monday.
The Tigers have six games remaining, two more than the Wiz and one more than the Twins.
Hilliard is the RBI leader with 128, but he is only four ahead of both Dean and Lewin Diaz of the Samsung Lions. Diaz's Lions have five games remaining.
Another close battle is underway for the hits title, where Choi Won-jun of the Wiz and Victor Reyes of the Lotte Giants are tied for the KBO lead at 199.
Reyes has led the league in hits in each of the past two years, and in 2024 set the KBO record of 202.
The Venezuelan hitting machine is trying to become the first player in KBO history with multiple 200-hit seasons. He has six games left in which to get to the milestone. The 32-year-old has played every game since joining the Giants in 2024 — 426 games and counting.
The KT Wiz’s Choi Won-jun celebrates after hitting a three-run home run in the top of the second inning against the LG Twins at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Songpa District, southern Seoul, on July 16.NEWS1
Choi, meanwhile, has a sizable lead in the runs scored category with 120, seven more than Kim Do-yeong of the Kia Tigers.
Lions outfielder Koo Ja-wook seems to have locked down his first career batting title with a .371 mark, with Reyes sitting in distant second at .358. Koo has not played since last Wednesday due to a left hamstring injury and is not expected back in the regular season. Koo has already accumulated enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.
In pitching categories, Gwak Been of the Doosan Bears and Elvin Rodriguez of the Giants are tied at the top in the strikeout leaderboard with 186 each.
Gwak also leads the way in ERA with 2.26, comfortably ahead of his teammate, Choi Min-seok, who has a 2.92 ERA.
Three pitchers share the KBO wins lead with 14 — Choi, Im Chan-kyu of the Twins and Ko Young-pyo of the Wiz. If no one from that trio earns their 15th win, then 14 wins will end up being the lowest total for a KBO leader since 2013.
