By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- LG Twins star Austin Dean could not have planned a better way to celebrate his 33rd birthday Wednesday.
The American slugger launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to help the Twins defeat the Doosan Bears 4-1 for the wild card in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul.
Austin Dean of the LG Twins celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the Doosan Bears during the clubs' wild card game in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 14, 2026. (Yonhap)
On the sixth pitch of his first at-bat against starter Gwak Been, Dean got a curveball that hung over the top of the zone, Dean took a violent swing and admired his towering shot that flew deep into the stands in left field.
"For me, it was just trying to find a good pitch to handle," Dean said. "Obviously, if you watched the game today, you know their plan was to not give me anything in the middle or relatively anything good to hit. I feel like that one right there was just good enough for me to be able to put my best swing on it. I think I saw it out of the hand really well as soon as he threw it. I knew automatically, as soon as I hit it, that I got it."
Dean struck out in his next three trips to the plate, but the first-inning dinger was enough to get him named the Player of the Game.
Dean led the Twins with a career-high 41 home runs in the regular season. He had cooled off down the stretch, though, managing just two home runs and a .200 batting average in nine games in October, but he went deep in his very first at-bat of this postseason.
Dean struggled mightily in his recent postseason series. In the 2025 Korean Series, Dean batted only 1-for-20 in five games, a slump conveniently masked by the Twins' 4-1 series win over the Hanwha Eagles. And for the 2024 second round against the Samsung Lions, Dean went 1-for-15 in four games, as the Twins were eliminated early in their title defense.
Austin Dean of the LG Twins celebrates after being named the Player of the Game in a Korea Baseball Organization postseason's wild card game against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 14, 2026. (Yonhap)
While most postseason games are played in October, this was Dean's first postseason action on his birthday since he joined the Twins in 2023.
Dean had also played a regular-season game on Oct. 14, 2023, and homered against the Bears that day, too.
"It's not very often I get to do that," he said. "I don't make a big deal of my birthday. It's just another day of getting older, getting more gray hairs on my head and my beard, but now it is cool. I got to spend the time with my family, with my kids, obviously. And getting the birthday home run is always a bonus."
Next up for the Twins will be the Kia Tigers, featuring their own MVP candidate in Kim Do-yeong.
Kim and Dean engaged in a memorable duel for the home run title, with Kim winning it by four homers, including one on Monday in their two teams' final regular-season meeting that sealed the third seed for the Tigers and sent the Twins to the wild card game.
Asked about another matchup against Kim and his Tigers, Dean said the postseason will be a different animal.
"The regular season is over with," Dean said. "Do-yeong is crowned the home run king. Congratulations to him. It is an awesome achievement, but now we are in the postseason mode. Your stats don't matter, what you did in the regular season. Now it is just trying to be a good team player and do what we can to win ball games.
"That is all that really matters right now."
Austin Dean of the LG Twins flips his bat after hitting a two-run home run against the Doosan Bears during the clubs' wild card game in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 14, 2026. (Yonhap)
jeeho@yna.co.kr
(END)