# 2016 KBO League season

The 2016 KBO League season was the 35th season in the history of the Korea Professional Baseball League.

## Season structure
### Stadium changes for 2016 season

* The Nexen Heroes left the 12,500-seat Mokdong Baseball Stadium and began play in the newly built 17,000-seat Gocheok Sky Dome.
* The Samsung Lions left the 10,000-seat Daegu Baseball Stadium and began play in the newly built 24,000-seat Daegu Samsung Lions Park.
* Munhak Baseball Stadium, home of the SK Wyverns, was fitted with a 12,257 square feet scoreboard before the start of the season

### Regular season

Each KBO team played 144 games during the regular season with all teams playing each other 16 times. The 144-game-schedule began in the 2015 season due to the addition of the KT Wiz. During the 2014 season, each team had played 128 games.

### All-Star Game

On July 16, the best players participated in the 2016 KBO All-Star Game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. The participating franchises were divided into two regions, the Dream All-Stars (Samsung Lions, Doosan Bears, Lotte Giants, SK Wyverns, KT Wiz) and Nanum All-Stars (Kia Tigers, Hanwha Eagles, LG Twins, Nexen Heroes, NC Dinos). The Nanum All-Star team emerged victorious with an 8–4 victory over the Dream All-Star Team in front of a sold-out crowd of 16, 300 fans. Doosan Bears outfielder Min Byung-hun, who hit two home runs during the game, was named the MVP of the game. The KBO All-Star Game however does not determine home-field advantage in the Korean Series.

### Postseason

The 2016 KBO League season culminates in its championship series, known as the Korean Series. Before the 2015 season, the Semi-playoff format was tweaked. Previously, the top four teams after the end of the regular season qualified for the postseason, but in 2015, the top five teams qualified for the postseason. The team with the best record gained a direct entry into the Korean Series, while the other four teams competed for the remaining place in a step-ladder playoff system. Starting in 2015, the fourth-place and the fifth-place teams played in a "Wildcard" game/series.

### Procedure to Determine Final Standings

* Champion (first place): Korean Series Winner
* Runner-up (second place): Korean Series Loser
* Third–Tenth place: Regular Season records determine third to tenth place spots in Final Standings

## Standings

| Rank | Team | W | L | D | Pct. | GB | Postseason |
| 1 | Doosan Bears | 93 | 50 | 1 | 0.650 | — | Korean Series |
| 2 | NC Dinos | 83 | 58 | 3 | 0.589 | 9 | Playoff |
| 3 | Nexen Heroes | 77 | 66 | 1 | 0.538 | 16 | Semi-playoff |
| 4 | LG Twins | 71 | 71 | 2 | 0.500 | 21½ | Wild Card |
| 5 | KIA Tigers | 70 | 73 | 1 | 0.490 | 23 | Wild Card |
| 6 | SK Wyverns | 69 | 75 | 0 | 0.479 | 24½ | Did not qualify |
| 7 | Hanwha Eagles | 66 | 75 | 3 | 0.468 | 26 | Did not qualify |
| 8 | Lotte Giants | 66 | 78 | 0 | 0.458 | 27½ | Did not qualify |
| 9 | Samsung Lions | 65 | 78 | 1 | 0.455 | 28 | Did not qualify |
| 10 | KT Wiz | 53 | 89 | 2 | 0.373 | 39½ | Did not qualify |
Source

## Postseason

| Wild Card | Wild Card | Wild Card | Semi-playoff | Semi-playoff | Semi-playoff | Playoff | Playoff | Playoff | Korean Series | Korean Series | Korean Series |
| | | | | | | | | | 1 | Doosan Bears | 4 |
| | | | | | | 2 | NC Dinos | 3 | 2 | NC Dinos | 0 |
| | | | 3 | Nexen Heroes | 1 | 4 | LG Twins | 1 | | | |
| 4 | LG Twins | 2 | 4 | LG Twins | 3 | | | | | | |
| 5 | KIA Tigers | 1 | | | | | | | | | |

### Wild Card

The series started with a 1–0 advantage for the fourth-placed team.
LG won the series, 2–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 10 | KIA Tigers 4 – LG Twins 2 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 2:43 | 25,000 |
| 2 | October 11 | KIA Tigers 0 – LG Twins 1 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3:21 | 25,000 |

### Semi-playoff

LG won the series, 3–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 13 | LG Twins 7 – Nexen Heroes 0 | Gocheok Sky Dome | 3:16 | 16,300 |
| 2 | October 14 | LG Twins 1 – Nexen Heroes 5 | Gocheok Sky Dome | 3:06 | 16,300 |
| 3 | October 16 | Nexen Heroes 1 – LG Twins 4 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3:01 | 25,000 |
| 4 | October 17 | Nexen Heroes 4 – LG Twins 5 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3:33 | 24,352 |

### Playoff

NC won the series, 3–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 21 | LG Twins 2 – NC Dinos 3 | Masan Baseball Stadium | 3:35 | 11,000 |
| 2 | October 22 | LG Twins 0 – NC Dinos 2 | Masan Baseball Stadium | 2:29 | 11,000 |
| 3 | October 24 | NC Dinos 1 – LG Twins 2 (11) | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 4:46 | 25,000 |
| 4 | October 25 | NC Dinos 8 – LG Twins 3 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 4:00 | 25,000 |

### Korean Series

Doosan won the series, 4–0.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 29 | NC Dinos 0 – Doosan Bears 1 (11) | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3:51 | 25,000 |
| 2 | October 30 | NC Dinos 1 – Doosan Bears 5 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3:10 | 25,000 |
| 3 | November 1 | Doosan Bears 6 – NC Dinos 0 | Masan Baseball Stadium | 3:17 | 11,000 |
| 4 | November 2 | Doosan Bears 8 – NC Dinos 1 | Masan Baseball Stadium | 3:24 | 11,000 |

## Foreign players

Each team could have signed up to three foreign players. Due to the high proportion of pitchers signed in previous years, beginning in 2014 the league mandated that at least one of the foreign players must be a position player. Also with the KT Wiz being an expansion team that started play in 2015, they were given an exemption and were allowed to sign four foreign players instead of just the normally allowed three.
| Team | Player | Position | In KBO since | Salary | Notes |
| Samsung Lions | Allen Webster | Pitcher | 2016 | $850,000 | |
| Samsung Lions | Collin Balester | Pitcher | 2016 | $500,000 | Released |
| Samsung Lions | Arnold León | Pitcher | 2016 | $500,000 | Signed to replace Collin Balester |
| Samsung Lions | Aarom Baldiris | Infielder | 2016 | $950,000 | |
| NC Dinos | Zach Stewart | Pitcher | 2015 | $750,000 | |
| NC Dinos | Eric Hacker | Pitcher | 2014 | $900,000 | |
| NC Dinos | Eric Thames | Infielder | 2013 | $1,500,000 | KBO All-Star |
| Doosan Bears | Dustin Nippert | Pitcher | 2011 | $1,200,000 | KBO All-Star, KBO MVP |
| Doosan Bears | Michael Bowden | Pitcher | 2016 | $650,000 | pitched no-hitter on 6/30/16 against NC Dinos |
| Doosan Bears | Nick Evans | First Baseman / Outfielder | 2016 | $550,000 | |
| Nexen Heroes | Ryan Feierabend | Pitcher | 2015 | $580,000 | Released mid-season; picked up by KT Wiz |
| Nexen Heroes | Robert Coello | Pitcher | 2016 | $550,000 | Released |
| Nexen Heroes | Danny Dorn | First Baseman / Outfielder | 2016 | $750,000 | |
| Nexen Heroes | Scott McGregor | Pitcher | 2016 | $150,000 | Signed to replace Robert Coello |
| SK Wyverns | Merrill Kelly | Pitcher | 2015 | $750,000 | KBO All-Star |
| SK Wyverns | Chris Seddon | Pitcher | 2013 | $500,000 | Released |
| SK Wyverns | Héctor Gómez | Infielder | 2016 | $650,000 | |
| SK Wyverns | Braulio Lara | Pitcher | 2016 | $230,000 | Signed to replace Chris Seddon |
| Hanwha Eagles | Esmil Rogers | Pitcher | 2015 | $1,900,000 | Released |
| Hanwha Eagles | Alex Maestri | Pitcher | 2016 | ¥50,000,000 (about $440,000) | Released |
| Hanwha Eagles | Wilin Rosario | Catcher / Infielder | 2016 | $1,300,000 | KBO All-Star |
| Hanwha Eagles | Fabio Castillo | Pitcher | 2016 | $250,000 | Signed to replace Alex Maestri |
| Hanwha Eagles | Eric Surkamp | Pitcher | 2016 | $450,000 | Signed to replace Esmil Rogers |
| Kia Tigers | Héctor Noesí | Pitcher | 2016 | $1,700,000 | KBO All-Star |
| Kia Tigers | Zeke Spruill | Pitcher | 2016 | $700,000 | |
| Kia Tigers | Brett Pill | Infielder | 2014 | $900,000 | |
| Lotte Giants | Josh Lindblom | Pitcher | 2015 | $1,200,000 | |
| Lotte Giants | Brooks Raley | Pitcher | 2015 | $680,000 | |
| Lotte Giants | Jim Adduci | Outfielder | 2015 | $780,000 | Released |
| Lotte Giants | Justin Maxwell | Outfielder | 2016 | $280,000 | Signed to replace Jim Adduci |
| LG Twins | Henry Sosa | Pitcher | 2012 | $900,000 | |
| LG Twins | Luis Jimenez | Infielder | 2015 | $900,000 | KBO All-Star |
| LG Twins | Scott Copeland | Pitcher | 2016 | $750,000 | Released |
| LG Twins | David Huff | Pitcher | 2016 | $550,000 | Signed to replace Scott Copeland |
| KT Wiz | Yohan Pino | Pitcher | 2016 | $500,000 | |
| KT Wiz | Sugar Ray Marimón | Pitcher | 2016 | $600,000 | Released |
| KT Wiz | Travis Banwart | Pitcher | 2014 | $600,000 | |
| KT Wiz | Andy Marte | Infielder | 2015 | $850,000 | |
| KT Wiz | Josh Lowey | Pitcher | 2016 | $220,000 | Signed to replace Sugar Ray Marimón |

### Foreign hitters

| Team | Player | Batting Average | Home runs | RBI | Notes |
| Doosan Bears | Nick Evans | .308 | 24 | 81 | |
| Hanwha Eagles | Wilin Rosario | .321 | 33 | 120 | KBO All-Star |
| Kia Tigers | Brett Pill | .313 | 20 | 86 | |
| KT Wiz | Andy Marte | .265 | 22 | 74 | |
| LG Twins | Luis Jiménez | .308 | 26 | 102 | KBO All-Star |
| Lotte Giants | Jim Adduci | .291 | 7 | 41 | Released by the team |
| Lotte Giants | Justin Maxwell | .288 | 4 | 16 | |
| NC Dinos | Eric Thames | .321 | 40 | 121 | KBO Home run leader, KBO SLG leader, KBO All-Star, Golden Glove Award |
| Nexen Heroes | Danny Dorn | .295 | 16 | 70 | |
| Samsung Lions | Aarom Baldiris | .266 | 8 | 33 | |
| SK Wyverns | Héctor Gómez | .283 | 21 | 62 | |

## Attendances

| Team | Total attendance | Home average |
| Doosan Bears | 1,165,020 | 16,180 |
| LG Twins | 1,157,646 | 16,078 |
| SK Wyverns | 865,194 | 12,016 |
| Lotte Giants | 852,639 | 11,842 |
| Samsung Lions | 851,417 | 11,825 |
| Nexen Heroes | 782,121 | 10,862 |
| KIA Tigers | 773,499 | 10,743 |
| KT Wiz | 682,444 | 9,478 |
| Hanwha Eagles | 660,472 | 9,173 |
| NC Dinos | 549,125 | 7,627 |