(LEAD) Lions beat steep odds to capture Korean Series title

DAEGU, Nov. 8 (Yonhap) -- Before their Korean Series began against the KT Wiz last week, the Samsung Lions were widely regarded as a heavy underdog.

The Wiz were the No. 1 seed and the best regular-season record netted them a bye to the Korean Series. Prior to this year, the top seeds had won the Korean Series about 86 percent of the time.

The Lions, as No. 2 seed, had to play the penultimate round of the postseason, and they needed the full five games to knock off the Kia Tigers. All the while, the Wiz were enjoying their three-week layoff.

Between 1989, when the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) ditched the split regular-season format, and 2025, teams that had to go through the penultimate postseason round had won the Korean Series only five times.

And when the Wiz took the first game of the Korean Series 8-7 last Tuesday at their home in Suwon, it appeared as though the battle would play out the way many had predicted. Game 1 winners had won the Korean Series on 31 out of 42 previous occasions, or about 74 percent of the time.

The Lions got a split on the road by taking the second game 3-2 in 12 innings. Back home in the southeastern city of Daegu for the next three games, the Lions claimed Game 3 by 5-1.

History was suddenly on the Lions' side. On 18 previous occasions when the two Korean Series contestants were tied at one game apiece, Game 3 winners had gone on to win the championship 16 times.

The Lions then reached the brink of the title by winning the fourth game 10-5. They scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning en route to grabbing a 3-1 series lead.

Only one team out of 19 previous instances had a team come back from a 3-1 series deficit to win the Korean Series title -- the 2013 Lions against the Doosan Bears.

The Lions were the seventh team to win three straight games after losing the opener in the Korean Series. The half-dozen teams that had done so before them had all won the championship.

The Lions joined that company by routing the Wiz 12-1 in Sunday's Game 5.

The championship meant different things to different veterans.

Catcher Kang Min-ho earned his first title of his 23-year career. Captain Koo Ja-wook, voted the Korean Series MVP, also got his first ring after losing in the 2015 Korean Series and missing the 2024 series, which the Lions lost, due to an injury.

Veteran outfielder Choi Hyoung-woo, at 42, became the oldest Korean Series champion. He had previously won four titles with the Lions from 2011 to 2014, and then captured two more rings with the Kia Tigers in 2017 and 2024. Choi rejoined the Lions before this year and helped put the team back on top in his first season.

Lions manager Park Jin-man won his first Korean Series ring on his second try, after falling to the Kia Tigers in 2024. Prior to Game 4, Park said he had learned a lot from that experience. He decided to become more aggressive with his in-game decision, managing every postseason contest as if it were an elimination game.

Park won six rings as a player. He was voted the MVP of the 2006 Korean Series after helping the Lions win their second straight title.

Park is now just the second former Korean Series MVP to also win a title as manager, joining the Wiz's skipper Lee Kang-chul, the 1996 Korean Series MVP who led the Wiz to the championship in 2021.

"Looking back, we have had so much adversity throughout the year," Park said afterward. "And we had a lot of injured players, but they all had so much drive and determination to get this done."

Park said winning a title as manager is "indescribably more difficult" than doing so as a player.

"While managing this team, I always find it challenging to try to turn the tide and get the momentum back on our side in tough spots," Park said. "Making pitching changes has been particularly difficult. I am so proud of our players for their hard work and dedication."

Park said afterward he was able to take the Lions to the top because he kept his cool and did not let his emotions get in the way of making tough decisions.

"I did a lot of things outside the norm during this postseason," Park said. "In postseason series, I knew I had to ride the hot hand in the bullpen, even if it meant heavy workload on those guys. They responded really well and that led to this championship."

The KBO has not seen a repeat champion since the 2015-2016 Doosan Bears, and Park said he will try to end that drought next year.

"I think we have the lineup to do it," he said. "And we have some key bullpen pitchers coming back from injuries next year. Our pitching will be even stronger next year."