2025 KBO League season
| 2025 KBO League | |
|---|---|
 2025 신한 SOL Bank KBO 리그 | |
| Association | KBO |
| League | KBO League |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Defending champions | Kia Tigers (2024) |
| Hosts | Shinhan Bank |
| Duration | March 22 – August 31 |
| Number of games | 144 per team |
| Number of teams | 10 |
| Total attendance | 2,353,71 |
| Average attendance | 17,056 |
| TV partner(s) | KBS, MBC, SBS & SPOTV |
| Streaming partner(s) | TVING (South Korea) SOOP Live (International) |
| Regular Season | |
| Preseason | |
| First place | KT Wiz |
| Runners-up | Hanwha Eagles |
| Postseason | |
| Korean Series | |
The 2025 KBO League season, officially known as the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League (Korean: 2025 신한 SOL Bank KBO 리그)[1] for sponsorship reasons, is an ongoing professional baseball season based in South Korea; the 44th in the history of the KBO League. The league's format and makeup did not change in the 2025 season from the previous season, with the same ten teams competing; the Kia Tigers, Doosan Bears, Lotte Giants, NC Dinos, LG Twins, Hanwha Eagles, KT Wiz, Samsung Lions, SSG Landers, and the Kiwoom Heroes.
The Eagles and Bears changed their branding and cap insignia prior to the season. The Eagles also moved to a new stadium, Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark.
The Tigers entered the season as the defending champions from the 2024 season.
Events
[edit]Rules
[edit]The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced rule changes for the 2025 season, including the pitch clock and the automated ball-strike (ABS) system. The KBO will implement the pitch clock starting in the regular season, with pitchers starting their delivery within 20 seconds with the bases empty and 25 seconds with runners on. The league will also have a 33-second limit between trips to the plate for batters, with only two timeouts per plate appearance. The KBO will not have a limit on the number of disengagements for pitchers, a departure from the MLB's two-pickoffs rule. The ABS was readjusted in 2025, with the top and bottom units lowered without changes to the size of the zone.[2]
MLB
[edit]On January 3, 2025, Hye-seong Kim (2B) of the Heroes signed a three-year, $12.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball. The contract has an option for the 2028-29 season that could increase the amount to $22 million.[3] He was optioned to the Dodgers' AAA affiliate, the Oklahoma City Comets, as he struggled in spring training. On May 3, Kim was called up to the MLB and made his debut as a pinch runner against the Braves.
Changwon NC Park incident
[edit]On March 30, a game between the Twins and the Dinos at Changwon NC Park was postponed due to a small collapse of the stadium's structure. A few fans lining up for the game were injured.[4] The next day, a young woman who was treated for a concussion died.[5] The KBO canceled all April 1 league games to mourn. They resumed four games on April 2, but several future games at NC Park were postponed further for stadium repair.[6]
On April 9, the NC Dinos announced a general meeting with the joint task force on the incident. Changwon City and Changwon Facilities Management Corporation were involved.
Preseason
[edit]These are the final preseason standings.
The preseason will start on March 8 and end on March 18.[7]
| Rank | Team | GP | W | L | D | PCT | GB | WS | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KT Wiz | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | .857 | - | W3 | 4–0–1 | 4–0–1 |
| 2 | Hanwha Eagles | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | .714 | 1 | W5 | 1–0–2 | 4–1–0 |
| 3 | Kia Tigers | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | .667 | 1.5 | W4 | 2–0–0 | 2–2–2 |
| Kiwoom Heroes | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | .667 | 1 | W3 | 3–1–0 | 3–0–3 | |
| 5 | LG Twins | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | .444 | 3 | W1 | 1–0–0 | 3–0–5 |
| 6 | Doosan Bears | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | .429 | L4 | 0–1–1 | 3–1–3 | |
| 7 | SSG Landers | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | 3.5 | W1 | 2–0–4 | 1–0–1 |
| 8 | Samsung Lions | 8 | 3 | 6 | 0 | .333 | 4 | L4 | 3–0–3 | 0–0–3 |
| Lotte Giants | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | .333 | 3.5 | L3 | 2–2–2 | 0–0–2 | |
| 10 | NC Dinos | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | .250 | 4.5 | L5 | 2–0–5 | 0–0–1 |
Regular season
[edit]The 2025 regular season started on March 22 and will end on August 31. Each team will play 144 games, facing every other team 16 times. Regular season games are played every day except Mondays.
Standings
[edit]| Rank | Team | GP | W | L | D | PCT | GB | STRK | Home | Road | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LG Twins | 64 | 38 | 25 | 1 | .603 | — | W1 | 20–0–11 | 18–1–14 | N/A |
| 2 | Hanwha Eagles | 64 | 37 | 27 | 0 | .578 | 1.5 | L1 | 19–0–12 | 18–0–15 | |
| 3 | Lotte Giants | 65 | 34 | 28 | 3 | .548 | 3.5 | W2 | 16–2–14 | 18–1–14 | |
| 4 | Samsung Lions | 64 | 34 | 29 | 1 | .540 | 4 | W1 | 22–0–14 | 12–1–15 | |
| 5 | KT Wiz | 65 | 33 | 29 | 3 | .532 | 4.5 | L1 | 19–1–16 | 14–2–13 | |
| 6 | SSG Landers | 63 | 32 | 29 | 2 | .525 | 5 | W1 | 18–2–14 | 14–0–15 | N/A |
| 7 | Kia Tigers | 62 | 31 | 30 | 1 | .508 | 6 | W1 | 18–1–12 | 13–0–18 | |
| 8 | NC Dinos | 60 | 26 | 31 | 3 | .456 | 9 | L1 | 7–0–10 | 19–3–21 | |
| 9 | Doosan Bears | 64 | 25 | 36 | 3 | .410 | 12 | L2 | 12–3–20 | 13–0–16 | |
| 10 | Kiwoom Heroes | 67 | 20 | 46 | 1 | .303 | 19.5 | L1 | 11–0–25 | 9–1–21 | |
Up to date as of June 10. Standings will be updated regularly.
Note: Draw results are ignored by the league when calculating win percentage and games behind.
All-Star Game
[edit]Like in previous all-star games, the ten KBO teams will be divided into two All-Star teams: the Nanum All-Stars (나눔) and the Dream All-Stars (드림). The game will be hosted at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark, the Eagles' new home stadium. The all-star game will preparing on July 11-12.
Postseason
[edit]The 2025 KBO postseason will start in the fall. The top five teams in the regular season standings qualify.
| Wild Card | Semi-playoff | Playoff | Korean Series | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | 1st place | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | 2nd place | — | PO | Playoff Winner | — | |||||||||||||
| 3 | 3rd place | — | SPO | Semi-playoff Winner | — | |||||||||||||
| 4 | 4th place | — | WC | Wild Card Winner | — | |||||||||||||
| 5 | 5th place | — | ||||||||||||||||
Legend • WC: Wild Card winner • SPO: Semi-playoff winner • PO: Playoff winner----Note: All dates and times are in KST (Korean Standard Time). All statistics will be updated daily whenever possible.
See also
[edit]- 2024 KBO League season
- 2025 Major League Baseball season
- 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball season
- 2025 in baseball
References
[edit]- ^ 스포츠투아이. "KBO 홈페이지". koreabaseball.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2025-02-26.
- ^ "KBO announce new rules for the 2025 season". wbsc.org. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
- ^ "Korean standout Hyeseong Kim signs 3-year deal with Dodgers". MLB.com. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
- ^ "LG cancels match against NC Dinos on March 30 due to safety concerns". biz.chosun.com. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
- ^ "Female fan dies from head injure after NC Park structure collapse". biz.chosun.com. Retrieved 2025-03-31.
- ^ "KBO cancels all games and mourns fan death after Changwon NC Park accident". biz.chosun.com. Retrieved 2025-03-31.
- ^ "'한화 신구장 2경기 배치' KBO 시범경기 일정 발표…50경기서 예행연습, 달라진 ABS존도 첫 선". sports.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2025-02-05.
- ^ "KBO 시볌경기 (Exhibition game)". Korea Baseball Organization. Retrieved 2025-03-08.
- ^ "KBO 정규시즌 (Regular Season)". Korea Baseball Organization. Retrieved 2025-03-22.