Tigers, Twins set to renew KBO postseason rivalry

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Yonhap) -- The Kia Tigers and the LG Twins, the two teams that have combined to win the past three South Korean baseball championships, will renew their postseason rivalry starting this weekend.

The two clubs will have their first Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason showdown in 10 years when the first game in their best-of-five semi-final round opens at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Tigers' home, Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul.

The Twins are the defending Korean Series champions and they also won the 2023 title. They are trying to become the first team since the 2015-2016 Doosan Bears to capture back-to-back Korean Series titles.

The Tigers were the 2024 Korean Series champions but missed the postseason in 2025.

The Tigers will host the first two games, with the second game scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Sunday. The series will shift to the Twins' home turf, Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, for Game 3 at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and, if necessary, Game 4 at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

If the series goes the distance, the deciding fifth game will be back in Gwangju at 6:30 p.m. next Friday.

The Tigers on Friday announced James Naile as their Game 1 starter. The right-hander had a 13-7 record and a 3.49 ERA in 31 regular-season starts, while setting his KBO career highs with 183 innings pitched and 156 strikeouts.

The American ace was a key part of the Tigers' run to the 2024 Korean Series title, as he pitched to a 2.53 ERA in two starts against the Samsung Lions.

This year, Naile went 1-1 with a 4.58 ERA in three starts versus the Twins.

The Twins said they will counter with right-hander Anders Tolhurst. In the regular season, he pitched to a 12-11 record and a 4.24 ERA in 30 starts. The American right-hander went 1-3 with a 6.20 ERA in five starts against the Tigers.

He proved his big game mettle during last year's Korean Series, when he won both of his starts, including the deciding Game 5 against the Hanwha Eagles, and allowed only three earned runs in 13 innings combined.

The Tigers and the Twins battled for the No. 3 seed and a bye to the first round until the final day of the regular season. The Tigers defeated the Twins 4-2 on Monday in Gwangju, where All-Star slugger Kim Do-yeong smacked a go-ahead two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure the third seed for the Tigers.

The Twins settled for fourth place and had to beat the Doosan Bears 4-1 on Wednesday in the wild card game to reach this stage.

The Tigers won the season series 9-7-0 (wins-losses-ties), and won the final four meetings against the Twins -- all of them coming in October.

First, they swept the Twins in a three-game series at Jamsil from Oct. 3 to 5 to climb from fourth to third place. Then came the win on the last day of the regular season.

Kim, a strong regular-season MVP candidate after topping the KBO with 45 home runs and ranking among the leaders in several other categories, batted only .208 in 15 games against the Twins this year -- his lowest batting average against any opponent in 2026 -- but he did smack four home runs.

Kim will have plenty of support up and down the lineup. Harold Castro launched 21 home runs despite playing in only 99 games due to injuries. Na Sung-bum finished second to Kim on the Tigers with 31 home runs, his most in five years. Sophomore outfielder Park Jae-hyun broke out to the tune of 19 home runs and 21 steals this year, providing some punch high up in the lineup.

The Tigers posted the KBO's highest slugging percentage with .435.

The Twins have their own 40-homer man in Austin Dean, who battled Kim for the home run title before finishing four homers back of the South Korean star at 41. But no other Twin hit 20, and they were an average team at best at the plate by several metrics.

The Tigers have a deeper bullpen with experienced arms, while the Twins' relief corps has been decimated by injuries. Their closer, Son Ju-young, missed the wild card game with a herniated neck disk but is expected to travel to Gwangju.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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