# 2019 KBO League season

The 2019 KBO League season was the 38th season in the history of the KBO League. The regular season began on March 23 and ended on October 1. The All-Star break was extended from four days to seven.

## Standings

| Rank | Team | P | W | L | D | Pct. | GB | Postseason |
| 1 | Doosan Bears | 144 | 88 | 55 | 1 | .615 | – | Korean Series |
| 2 | SK Wyverns | 144 | 88 | 55 | 1 | .615 | 0.0 | Playoff |
| 3 | Kiwoom Heroes | 144 | 86 | 57 | 1 | .601 | 2.0 | Semi-playoff |
| 4 | LG Twins | 144 | 79 | 64 | 1 | .552 | 9.0 | Wild Card |
| 5 | NC Dinos | 144 | 73 | 69 | 2 | .514 | 14.5 | Wild Card |
| 6 | kt Wiz | 144 | 71 | 71 | 2 | .500 | 16.5 | Did not qualify |
| 7 | KIA Tigers | 144 | 62 | 80 | 2 | .437 | 25.5 | Did not qualify |
| 8 | Samsung Lions | 144 | 60 | 83 | 1 | .420 | 28.0 | Did not qualify |
| 9 | Hanwha Eagles | 144 | 58 | 86 | 0 | .403 | 30.5 | Did not qualify |
| 10 | Lotte Giants | 144 | 48 | 93 | 3 | .340 | 39.0 | Did not qualify |
Doosan Bears ranked ahead of SK Wyverns due to winning their head-to-head season series 9-7.

## League Leaders

Batting leaders :
| Stat | Player | Team | Total |
| Batting Average | Yang Eui-ji | NC Dinos | .354 |
| Home Runs | Park Byung-ho | Kiwoom Heroes | 33 |
| Runs Batted In | Jerry Sands | Kiwoom Heroes | 113 |
| Runs | Kim Ha-seong | Kiwoom Heroes | 112 |
| Hits | Jose Fernandez | Doosan Bears | 197 |
| Stolen Bases | Park Chan-Ho | Kia Tigers | 39 |
| On Base Percentage | Yang Eui-ji | NC Dinos | .438 |
| Slugging Percentage | Yang Eui-ji | NC Dinos | .574 |
Pitching leaders :
| Stat | Player | Team | Total |
| Earned run average | Yang Hyeon-jong | Kia Tigers | 2.29 |
| Wins | Josh Lindblom | Doosan Bears | 20 |
| Saves | Ha Jae-hoon | SK Wyverns | 36 |
| Holds | Kim Sang-su | Kiwoom Heroes | 40 |
| Innings Pitched | Josh Lindblom | Doosan Bears | 194.2 |
| Winning percentage | Josh Lindblom | Doosan Bears | .870 |
| Strikeouts | Josh Lindblom | Doosan Bears | 189 |
| WHIP | Josh Lindblom | Doosan Bears | 1.00 |

## Foreign players

Each team could sign up to three foreign players, one of whom must be a hitter. In 2019, the KBO League capped salaries for new foreign players at US$1 million.
| Team | Player | Position | In KBO Since | Salary |
| Samsung Lions | Justin Haley | Pitcher | 2019 | $900,000 |
| Samsung Lions | Deck McGuire | Pitcher | 2019 | $950,000 |
| Samsung Lions | Darin Ruf | Infielder | 2017 | $1,700,000 |
| NC Dinos | Eddie Butler | Pitcher | 2019 | $1,000,000 |
| NC Dinos | Drew Rucinski | Pitcher | 2019 | $1,000,000 |
| NC Dinos | Christian Bethancourt | Catcher | 2019 | $1,000,000 |
| NC Dinos | Jake Smolinski | Outfielder | 2019 | TK |
| Doosan Bears | Seth Frankoff | Pitcher | 2018 | $1,230,000 |
| Doosan Bears | Josh Lindblom | Pitcher | 2015 | $1,920,000 |
| Doosan Bears | José Miguel Fernández | Infielder | 2019 | $700,000 |
| Kiwoom Heroes | Jake Brigham | Pitcher | 2017 | $900,000 |
| Kiwoom Heroes | Eric Jokisch | Pitcher | 2019 | $500,000 |
| Kiwoom Heroes | Jerry Sands | Outfielder | 2018 | $500,000 |
| SK Wyverns | Brock Dykxhoorn | Pitcher | 2019 | $700,000 |
| SK Wyverns | Jamie Romak | Outfielder | 2017 | $1,300,000 |
| SK Wyverns | Ángel Sánchez | Pitcher | 2018 | $1,200,000 |
| Hanwha Eagles | Chad Bell | Pitcher | 2019 | $600,000 |
| Hanwha Eagles | Jared Hoying | Outfielder | 2018 | $1,400,000 |
| Hanwha Eagles | Warwick Saupold | Pitcher | 2019 | $1,000,000 |
| Kia Tigers | Jeremy Hazelbaker | Outfielder | 2019 | $700,000 |
| Kia Tigers | Preston Tucker | Outfielder | 2019 | $270,000 |
| Kia Tigers | Jacob Turner | Pitcher | 2019 | $1,000,000 |
| Kia Tigers | Joe Wieland | Pitcher | 2019 | $1,000,000 |
| Lotte Giants | Carlos Asuaje | Infielder | 2019 | $550,000 |
| Lotte Giants | Jacob Wilson | Infielder | 2019 | $400,000 |
| Lotte Giants | Brooks Raley | Pitcher | 2015 | $1,170,000 |
| Lotte Giants | Jake Thompson | Pitcher | 2019 | $900,000 |
| LG Twins | Casey Kelly | Pitcher | 2019 | $1,000,000 |
| LG Twins | Tommy Joseph | Infielder | 2019 | $1,000,000 |
| LG Twins | Tyler Wilson | Pitcher | 2018 | $1,500,000 |
| KT Wiz | Raúl Alcántara | Pitcher | 2019 | $670,000 |
| KT Wiz | William Cuevas | Pitcher | 2019 | $650,000 |
| KT Wiz | Mel Rojas Jr. | Outfielder | 2017 | $1,600,000 |

### Foreign hitters

| Team | Player | Batting Average | Home Runs | RBI | Notes |
| Doosan Bears | José Miguel Fernández | .344 | 15 | 88 | KBO hits leader; Golden Glove Award |
| Hanwha Eagles | Jared Hoying | .284 | 18 | 73 | |
| Kia Tigers | Jeremy Hazelbaker | .146 | 2 | 5 | Released by the team |
| Kia Tigers | Preston Tucker | .311 | 9 | 50 | Signed to replace Jeremy Hazelbaker |
| KT Wiz | Mel Rojas Jr. | .322 | 24 | 104 | Golden Glove Award |
| LG Twins | Tommy Joseph | .274 | 9 | 36 | |
| Lotte Giants | Carlos Asuaje | .252 | 2 | 21 | Released by the team |
| Lotte Giants | Jacob Wilson | .251 | 9 | 37 | Signed to replace Carlos Asuaje |
| NC Dinos | Christian Bethancourt | .246 | 8 | 29 | Released by the team |
| NC Dinos | Jake Smolinski | .229 | 9 | 42 | Signed to replace Christian Bethancourt |
| Nexen Heroes | Jerry Sands | .305 | 28 | 113 | KBO RBI leader; Golden Glove Award |
| Samsung Lions | Darin Ruf | .291 | 22 | 101 | |
| SK Wyverns | Jamie Romak | .276 | 29 | 95 | |

## 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 | SK Wyverns | 0 | 3 | Kiwoom Heroes | 0 |
| | | | 3 | Kiwoom Heroes | 3 | 3 | Kiwoom Heroes | 3 | | | |
| 4 | LG Twins | 2 | 4 | LG Twins | 1 | | | | | | |
| 5 | NC Dinos | 0 | | | | | | | | | |

### Wild Card

The series started with a 1–0 advantage for the fourth-placed team.
LG Twins (2) vs. NC Dinos (0)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 3 | NC Dinos – 1, LG Twins – 3 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3:00 | 23,757 |

### Semi-playoff

Kiwoom Heroes (3) vs. LG Twins (1)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 6 | LG Twins – 0, Kiwoom Heroes – 1 | Gocheok Sky Dome | 2:49 | 16,300 |
| 2 | October 7 | LG Twins – 4, Kiwoom Heroes – 5 (10 inn.) | Gocheok Sky Dome | - | 14,589 |
| 3 | October 9 | Kiwoom Heroes – 2, LG Twins – 4 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | - | 25,000 |
| 4 | October 10 | Kiwoom Heroes – 10, LG Twins – 5 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | - | 21,600 |

### Playoff

SK Wyverns (0) vs. Kiwoom Heroes (3)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 14 | Kiwoom Heroes – 3, SK Wyverns – 0 (11 inn.) | Munhak Baseball Stadium | - | 19,356 |
| 2 | October 15 | Kiwoom Heroes – 8, SK Wyverns – 7 | Munhak Baseball Stadium | - | 17,546 |
| 3 | October 17 | SK Wyverns – 1, Kiwoom Heroes – 10 | Gocheok Sky Dome | - | 14,051 |

### Korean Series

Doosan Bears (4) vs. Kiwoom Heroes (0)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 22 | Kiwoom Heroes – 6, Doosan Bears – 7 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | - | 25,000 |
| 2 | October 23 | Kiwoom Heroes – 5, Doosan Bears – 6 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | - | 25,000 |
| 3 | October 25 | Doosan Bears – 5, Kiwoom Heroes – 0 | Gocheok Sky Dome | - | 16,300 |
| 4 | October 26 | Doosan Bears – 11, Kiwoom Heroes – 9 | Gocheok Sky Dome | - | - |

## Attendances

| Team | Total attendance | Home average | Change vs. 2018 |
| LG Twins | 1,000,400 | 13,894 | -10% |
| Doosan Bears | 983,474 | 13,659 | -12% |
| SK Wyverns | 982,962 | 13,652 | -5% |
| NC Dinos | 710,274 | 9,865 | +60% |
| KIA Tigers | 692,163 | 9,613 | -20% |
| Samsung Lions | 691,681 | 9,607 | -8% |
| Lotte Giants | 679,208 | 9,33 | -25% |
| Hanwha Eagles | 555,225 | 7,711 | -24% |
| KT Wiz | 536,735 | 7,455 | -20% |
| Kiwoom Heroes | 453,886 | 6,304 | -0% |
| Total | 7,286,008 | 10,119 | -10% |