KIA players’ Chuseok was special and rich. KIA fans also received unforgettable and emotional congratulatory gifts for their victory. The KIA Tigers’ team, which went straight to the Korean Series for the first time in seven years, enjoyed double the joy by taking a champagne shower under the grand full moon of the Hangawi in Seoul.
The KIA team, which reached the top of the seventh regular season in seven years, celebrated the Korean Series straight after the away game of the “2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League” at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 17th, and immediately moved to the celebration site of Marina Park on Sebit Island, Seocho-gu, Seoul, prepared in advance by coach Lee Bum-ho and other players, celebrating an emotional regular league victory by bursting golden champagne in a championship commemorative T-shirt and vowing to win the Korean Series.
The victory of the KIA team added joy not only in confirming the first place in a long and long pennant race in seven years, but also in that it gave fans a big gift on Chuseok, the national holiday. KIA lost 0-2 to SSG on the day, but thanks to the second-ranked Samsung Lions’ loss to Doosan Bears, it erased its magic number and confirmed the top spot in the regular league in the 2024 season regardless of the results of the remaining seven games. 먹튀검증
KIA won its seventh regular season title after 1991, 1993, 1996-1997, 2009 and 2017. KIA will also seek its 12th career championship by banking on the leadership of its first head coach Lee Bum-ho, who was born in the 1980s, and its powerful lineup, while the team has been undefeated in all 11 games of the Korean Series.
Coach Lee Bum-ho said, “I would like to thank the front of the team’s executives and staff, as well as the players and coaches who have prepared well since the spring camp,” adding, “I never thought I would be able to win as a coach after winning the title as a player in 2017.”
“I still can’t believe it,” said Kim Do-young, who joined KIA as the first player to win the 2022 rookie draft and won the regular season title for the first time. I’ve never seen them react like that before. I was so happy and overwhelmed. Before the game, everyone thought that we should win regardless of the Doosan and Samsung games, but the game didn’t pan out. After watching the Doosan and Samsung games at the end, everyone was happy as if they hit a home run. (Park) Chan-ho was the most memorable. Even before the game ended, I said, “I was going to cry. I really cried. I thought winning the championship was really difficult.”
Kim showed full potential during the first two seasons, but his injury hampered him, recording a batting average of 277 (156 hits in 564 at-bats), 10 homers, 66 RBIs, 109 runs, 38 steals, and OPS.765. However, he returned to health this year and began to show performances beyond everyone’s imagination.
Kim Do-young, who wowed fans by achieving 10 home runs and 10 steals per month for the first time in KBO League history in April, has since rewritten Korean baseball history by achieving 20 home runs and 20 steals in the first half of his career, the lowest-strike natural cycling hit in history, and the youngest and lowest-ever 30 home runs and 30 steals in games. Kim Do-young, who hit multiple home runs against KT on the 16th and signaled a rebound, is batting .344 (178 hits in 517 at-bats) 37 home runs, 105 RBIs, 134 runs and 39 steals in 134 games this season, recording an OPS of 1.063.
Kia will play an away game against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadium on Wednesday, and then head down to Gwangju to face the NC Dinos on Sunday. KIA, which will play its home game against the Samsung Lions on Sunday to Monday and the Lotte Giants on Saturday, will wrap up its regular season with away games against the Hanwha Eagles on Sunday and the Lotte Giants on Sunday.