2015 KBO League season
Sports season
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The 2015 KBO League season was the 34th season in the history of the Korea Professional Baseball league.
| 2015 Tire Bank KBO League | |
|---|---|
| |
| League | KBO League |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Duration | 28 March – 6 October |
| Games | 144 per team |
| Teams | 10 |
| Regular Season | |
| Season champions | Samsung Lions |
| Season MVP | Eric Thames (NC) |
| Postseason | |
| Wild Card champions | Nexen Heroes |
| Wild Card runners-up | SK Wyverns |
| Semi-playoffs champions | Doosan Bears |
| Semi-playoffs runners-up | Nexen Heroes |
| Playoffs champions | Doosan Bears |
| Playoffs runners-up | NC Dinos |
| Korean Series | |
| Champions | Doosan Bears |
| Runners-up | Samsung Lions |
| Finals MVP | Jung Soo-bin (Doosan) |
Season structure
Regular season
Due to the addition of the KT Wiz into the KBO, the 2015 KBO league schedule was increased to each team playing 144 games during the regular season (each team had played 128 games during the 2014 regular season), with each team playing each other 16 times.[1]
All-Star Game
In July, the best players participated in the 2015 KBO All-Star Game. 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 Korean All-Star Game did not determine home-field advantage in the Korean Series. The All-Star Game was played on 18 July 2015 at the Suwon Baseball Stadium and won by the Dream All-Stars 6–3.
Postseason
2015 KBO League season culminated in its championship series, known as the Korean Series. 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.[2]
- Wildcard (best-of-two)
- Regular-season 4th place vs. regular-season 5th place
- Semi-playoff (best-of-five, added from 3 games starting from 2008)
- Regular-season 3rd place vs. Wild Card winner
- Playoff (best-of-five, reduced from 7 games starting from 2009)
- Regular-season 2nd place vs. semi-playoff winner
- Korean Series (best-of-seven)
- Regular-season 1st place vs. playoff winner
To determine the final standings
- Champion (1st place): Korean Series winner
- Runner-up (2nd place): Korean Series loser
- 3rd–10th place: sort by regular-season record except teams playing in the Korean Series.
Standings
| Rank | Team | GP | W | L | D | Pct. | KBO postseason |
| 1 | Samsung Lions | 144 | 88 | 56 | 0 | 0.611 | KBO Korean Series |
| 2 | NC Dinos | 144 | 84 | 57 | 3 | 0.596 | Playoff |
| 3 | Doosan Bears | 144 | 79 | 65 | 0 | 0.549 | Semi-playoff |
| 4 | Nexen Heroes | 144 | 78 | 65 | 1 | 0.545 | Wildcard 1 |
| 5 | SK Wyverns | 144 | 69 | 73 | 2 | 0.486 | Wildcard 2 |
| 6 | Hanwha Eagles | 144 | 68 | 76 | 0 | 0.472 | Did not qualify |
| 7 | Kia Tigers | 144 | 67 | 77 | 0 | 0.465 | |
| 8 | Lotte Giants | 144 | 66 | 77 | 1 | 0.462 | |
| 9 | LG Twins | 144 | 64 | 78 | 2 | 0.451 | |
| 10 | KT Wiz | 144 | 52 | 91 | 1 | 0.364 | |
Source [3]
Foreign hitters
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.
| Team | Player | Position | In KBO since | Batting Average | Home runs | RBI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doosan Bears | Zach Lutz | 3B | 2015 | .111 | 1 | 3 | Released by the team |
| Deibinson Romero | 3B | 2015 | .253 | 12 | 50 | Replaced Zach Lutz on the roster | |
| Hanwha Eagles | Nyjer Morgan | OF | 2015 | .273 | 0 | 5 | |
| Jake Fox | C/OF | 2015 | .278 | 7 | 25 | ||
| Kia Tigers | Brett Pill | 1B | 2014 | .325 | 22 | 101 | |
| LG Twins | Jack Hannahan | 1B | 2015 | .327 | 4 | 22 | Released by the team due to injury |
| Luis Jiménez | 1B | 2015 | .312 | 11 | 46 | Signed to replace Jack Hannahan on the roster | |
| Lotte Giants | Jim Adduci | 1B | 2014 | .314 | 28 | 106 | |
| NC Dinos | Eric Thames | 1B | 2014 | .381 | 47 | 140 | KBO Most Valuable Player, KBO All-Star, KBO batting champion, KBO OBP leader, KBO SLG leader, KBO Runs leader, Golden Glove Award |
| Nexen Heroes | Brad Snyder | OF | 2015 | .281 | 26 | 71 | |
| Samsung Lions | Yamaico Navarro | 2B | 2014 | .287 | 48 | 137 | KBO All-Star, Golden Glove Award |
| SK Wyverns | Andrew Brown | OF | 2015 | .261 | 28 | 76 | |
Postseason
| Wild Card | Semi-playoff | Playoff | Korean Series | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | Samsung Lions | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | NC Dinos | 2 | 3 | Doosan Bears | 4 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Doosan Bears | 3 | 3 | Doosan Bears | 3 | |||||||||||||
| 4 | Nexen Heroes | 2 | 4 | Nexen Heroes | 1 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | SK Wyverns | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
Wild Card
The series started with a 1–0 advantage for the fourth-placed team.
Nexen won the series, 2–0.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 October | SK Wyverns 4 – 5 Nexen Heroes | Mokdong Baseball Stadium, Seoul | 18:30 | 7,469[4] |
Semi-playoff
Doosan won the series, 3–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 October | Nexen Heroes 3 – 4 Doosan Bears | Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul | 14:00 | 20,833[5] |
| 2 | 11 October | Nexen Heroes 2 – 3 Doosan Bears | Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul | 14:00 | 22,765[6] |
| 3 | 13 October | Doosan Bears 2 – 5 Nexen Heroes | Mokdong Baseball Stadium, Seoul | 18:30 | 9,900[7] |
| 4 | 14 October | Doosan Bears 11 – 9 Nexen Heroes | Mokdong Baseball Stadium, Seoul | 18:30 | 8,227[8] |
Playoff
Doosan won the series, 3–2.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 October | Doosan Bears 7 – 0 NC Dinos | Masan Baseball Stadium, Changwon | 14:00 | 11,000[9] |
| 2 | 19 October | Doosan Bears 1 – 2 NC Dinos | Masan Baseball Stadium, Changwon | 18:30 | 11,000[10] |
| 3 | 21 October | NC Dinos 16 – 2 Doosan Bears | Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul | 18:30 | 24,119[11] |
| 4 | 22 October | NC Dinos 0 – 7 Doosan Bears | Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul | 18:30 | 22,652[12] |
| 5 | 24 October | Doosan Bears 6 – 4 NC Dinos | Masan Baseball Stadium, Changwon | 14:00 | 11,000[13] |
Korean Series
Doosan Bears won the series, 4–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 October | Doosan Bears 8 – 9 Samsung Lions | Daegu Baseball Stadium, Daegu | 3:46 | 10,000[14] |
| 2 | 27 October | Doosan Bears 6 – 1 Samsung Lions | Daegu Baseball Stadium, Daegu | 3:06 | 10,000[15] |
| 3 | 29 October | Samsung Lions 1 – 5 Doosan Bears | Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul | 3:22 | 25,000[16] |
| 4 | 30 October | Samsung Lions 3 – 4 Doosan Bears | Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul | 3:21 | 25,000[17] |
| 5 | 31 October | Samsung Lions 2 – 13 Doosan Bears | Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul | 3:32 | 25,000[18] |
| 2015 Korean Series Champion |
|---|
Doosan Bears (Fourth title) |