Four of five contenders decided as KBO playoffs start on Oct. 2

The 2024 KBO postseason will start on Oct. 2 with the Wildcard, with the pennant-winning Kia Tigers set to face the playoffs winner in the Korean Series starting on Oct. 21.

Kia Tigers fans watch a game against the Lotte Giants at Gwangju Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

The 2024 KBO postseason will start on Oct. 2 with the Wildcard, with the pennant-winning Kia Tigers set to face the playoffs winner in the Korean Series starting on Oct. 21.

Four teams have already booked spots in the playoffs this year — the Tigers, Samsung Lions, LG Twins and Doosan Bears. The fifth and final spot is still up for grabs, with the KT Wiz attempting to hold off a late push from the SSG Landers as of press time Thursday.

In the KBO, the top five teams advance to the postseason in a linear ladder format, with the higher ranked teams earning automatic byes to enter the competition later.

As the regular season winners, the Kia Tigers earn a ticket straight to the Korean Series, giving them a full three weeks to prepare after the regular season ends this weekend. The system tends to give the pennant winners a significant advantage — of the last 20 Korean Series, only two have been won by a team that played through the playoffs.

The Tigers, meanwhile, are the winningest team in Korean Series history and hold a perfect 11-for-11 record, meaning they’ve never made it to the championship series without winning it.

The second-place Samsung Lions advance straight to the second round of the playoffs, the five-game series that determines who faces the Tigers in the Korean Series. The Twins head straight to the first round of the playoffs, while the Bears are guaranteed to play in the Wildcard series, although whether they do so as the fourth or fifth place finisher is still to be decided.

That difference between fourth and fifth place is perhaps the most dramatic among the different postseason spots.

The Wildcard series is technically a three-game series, but can only be played over a maximum of two games because the regular season fourth-place finisher enters the series with a one-game lead.

Kia Tigers pitchers celebrate with the KBO regular season trophy at Gwangju Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

That one-game lead has proven unbeatable. Since the Wildcard was introduced in 2015, no fifth-place team has ever advanced to the postseason proper, and only twice has the series been pushed to two games: The Tigers managed one win before falling to the Twins in 2016 and the Kiwoom Heroes managed one win before falling to the Bears in 2021.

This year’s Wildcard will start on Oct. 2 between the Bears and either the Wiz or Landers at the home of the fourth-place team. If it pushes to a second game, that will be played at the same venue on Oct. 3.

The five-game first round of the playoffs will then see the LG Twins face the winner of the Wildcard at the Twins’ Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul. The Twins share the club with the Doosan Bears, meaning that if they win the Wildcard, all five games will be played at Jamsil.

The first round will open over the weekend at Jamsil, before breaking on Oct. 7 and resuming at the home of the opposing team on Oct. 8 and, if needed, Oct. 9. If a fifth game is required, it will be back at Jamsil on Oct. 11.

The winner of that round will advance to face the Samsung Lions in the second round on Oct. 13. Also a five-game series, the second round will start at Daegu Samsung Lions Park for the opening two games, break for a day and then resume at the opposing team’s stadium, heading back to Daegu for a fifth game on Oct. 19 if needed.

Whoever makes it through that will face the Kia Tigers at Gwangju Kia Champions Field on Oct. 21 for the opening game of the 2024 Korean Series. The championship starts in Gwangju for two games on Oct. 21 and 22, moves to the second playoff winner’s stadium on Oct. 24 and 25, and then returns to Gwangju from Oct. 27 until a winner of the seven-game series is determined.

If the Lions make it through the second round of playoffs to face the Tigers in the Korean Series, it will mark the first that the championship has been played entirely out of Seoul since 2012, when the Lions beat the SK Wyverns, now the SSG Landers, and the first time outside of the greater Seoul area (which includes Incheon and Gyeonggi) since 2006, when the Lions beat the Hanwha Eagles.

Before that happens, the 2024 KBO regular season is set to end this weekend, although a handful of rescheduled games will push into the start of next week.

All five teams will be in action Saturday, as the Tigers take on the Giants, the Twins face the Lions, the Bears play the NC Dinos, the Wiz host the Heroes and the Landers visit the Eagles. The Dinos will then face the Eagles on Sunday, the Heroes and Landers and Dinos and Tigers will face on Monday, and the Giants and Dinos play on Tuesday.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]