2024 KBO League season

The 2024 KBO League season, officially known as the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League season (Korean: 2024 신한 SOL 뱅크 KBO 리그) for sponsorship reasons, is an ongoing professional baseball season based in South Korea; the 43rd in the history of the KBO League. The league's format and makeup were not changed in the 2024 season from the previous season, with the same ten teams competing; the Kia Tigers, Doosan Bears, Lotte Giants, NC Dinos, LG Twins, Hanwha Eagles, KT Wiz, Samsung Lions, SSG Landers, and the Kiwoom Heroes. The Landers updated their team logo and cap insignia before the 2024 season.

The Twins entered the season as the defending champions from the 2023 season.

The preseason started on March 9 and ended on March 19, with the Bears holding the top spot in the standings; finishing with a record of 8-0-1 (W-L-D) and a flawless win percentage of 1.000.

The regular season started on March 23 and will end on September 10, with each team having played 144 games. The games from August 29 to September 10 have not been scheduled yet. Currently, the Tigers are leading the regular season; with a record of 45-30-2 and a win percentage of 0.600.

From July 5-6, it will be all-star weekend, followed by a break from July 7-8.

A postseason will then proceed, with the top 5 teams from the regular season playing against each other for a winning championship title in the Korean Series (한국시리즈).

Sponsorship & Background

The KBO League is the highest level of baseball in South Korea. The Kia Tigers have been the most successful team; winning 11 of the 42 championships.

The league is known for the teams' massive fanbases, with upbeat walk-up and fight songs for each player.

The 2024 season's league sponsor continues to be Shinhan Bank, as it has been since 2018. League names have changed since the sponsorship as follows:

Events

Retirement

Choo Shin-soo (추신수) #17, RF - SSG Landers

In December 2023, it was announced that the 2024 season would be Choo Shin-soo's final season in professional baseball. He will turn 42 on July 13, 2024.

Draft

The 2024 KBO draft took place at Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul at 2 pm on February 14.

Preseason

1st place • Doosan Bears

These are the final 2024 KBO League preseason standings. The preseason began on March 9, and ended on March 19.

Statistics last updated on March 19, 2024.

Regular season

The regular season of the 2024 season began on March 23 and will end on September 10. Each team will play 144 games, facing every other team 16 times. Regular season games are played every day except Mondays usually during the afternoon or evening. The regular season games from August 29 to September 10 have not been scheduled yet.

Attendance

Source:

• April 9 (17 days after regular season began): Total attendance surpassed 1,000,000.
• April 18 (26 days after regular season began): Total attendance surpassed 1,500,000.
• April 28 (36 days after regular season began): Total attendance surpassed 2,000,000.
• May 8 (46 days after regular season began): Total attendance surpassed 2,500,000.
• May 17 (55 days after regular season began): Total attendance surpassed 3,000,000.
• May 25 (63 days after regular season began): Total attendance surpassed 3,500,000.
• June 1 (70 days after regular season began): Total attendance surpassed 4,000,000.
• June 9 (78 days after regular season began): Total attendance surpassed 4,500,000.
• June 16 (85 days after regular season began): Total attendance surpassed 5,000,000.

Statistics

Source:

Offense

Best offensive team: Tigers (1st) • Batting average - 0.293

Worst offensive team: Lions (2nd) • Batting average - 0.266

Defense

Best defensive team: Tigers (1st) • Earned run average - 4.19

Worst defensive team: Wiz (9th) • Earned run average - 5.62

Standings

These are the current 2024 KBO League regular season standings.

Current 1st-place team • Kia Tigers

Standings are correct as of June 25, 2024.

Note: Draw results are ignored by the league when calculating win percentage and games behind.

All-Star Game

On July 6, the KBO will be hosting an all-star game for the 2024 season (July 5 is the Minor League all-star game; with 2 teams named Bukbu and Nambu). After all-star weekend, a break will be observed; from July 7-8. The game will start at 6:00 PM KST. Like previous all-star games, the 10 teams will be divided into two teams: the Nanum All-Stars (나눔) and the Dream All-Stars (드림). The game will be hosted at Incheon SSG Landers Field, the Landers' home stadium. This year, teams are located in the teams as follows:

The best players (candidates) from each team are voted by fans, and the players with the most votes will be playing in the all-star game.

The most voted infielders and pitchers within their position group will play in the all-star game. The top 3 outfielders will play in the all-star game in available positions, regardless if they are all on the same team.

Here is the program for the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO All-Star Game.

The 5 (pitchers & infielders) and 15 (outfielders) candidates and current vote count for this year are shown below. Ranks are provided for each position (by votes).

Nanum All-Star Candidates

Dream All-Star Candidates

Voting concluded on June 16, 2024.

Nanum All-Stars Lineup

Here is the final confirmed lineup and boxscore for the Nanum All-Stars.

Manager: Youm Kyoung-youb (Twins)

Dream All-Stars Lineup

Here is the final confirmed lineup and player statistics for the Dream All-Stars.

Manager: Lee Kang-chul (Wiz)

Results

Here are the results for the 2024 KBO All-Star Game between the Nanum All-Stars and the Dream All-Stars.

Final: Nanum -, Dream -

--- All-Stars WIN 2024 KBO All-Star Game

All Time Record:

Postseason

The 2024 KBO League postseason will begin in the fall. The top 5 teams in the regular season league standings (above) will qualify for the postseason.

There is no guarantee that any of the teams will clinch a postseason spot (top 5) or win the pennant race (1st place) yet.

Magic & Tragic Numbers

Magic and tragic numbers are correct as of June 25, 2024.

Information

• Magic and tragic numbers are provided both for the pennant race (1st place) and postseason (5th place).
• If a team's postseason magic number reaches 0, they are no longer in danger of being eliminated and are guaranteed a spot in the top 5. Conversely, if the team's postseason tragic number reaches (0), they have been decisively eliminated and no longer have any chance of playing in the postseason.
• A team's magic number decreases by one if the team wins, or if the next contending team loses. The next contending team is the team with the best chance of taking the 5th place spot. This is typically the 6th place team, but may not be, depending on how many draws and remaining games the other teams have. This is vice-versa for the tragic number.
• If two teams in contention finish the regular season with an identical W-L-D record, they will play a tiebreaker game with no inning limits on the following day to determine the final standings. The venue will be determined by the teams' performance against each other.
• PR = Pennant Race (1st place) • PS = Postseason (top 5)
• The numbers without parentheses are the magic numbers, whereas the team's tragic number is in parentheses.

Qualification

In order for a team to qualify for the postseason, they must rank 5th or higher in the regular season. 5th and 4th place are guaranteed to play in the Wild Card, 3rd in the semi-playoff, 2nd in the playoff, and 1st in the Korean Series.

In the regular season standings, there is a Postseason column; indicating the status of each team (following are the 2017 KBO League regular season standings; only for demonstration purposes):

Legend • Korean Series: (1st place) Clinched 1st place as regular season champions, guaranteed spot in Korean Series • PS, PO: (2nd place) Clinched runner-up spot for the regular season, guaranteed spot in playoff • PS, SPO: (3rd place) Guaranteed spot in semi-playoff PS, WC or PS, WC: (4th & 5th place) Guaranteed spot in Wild Card game(s) • Did not qualify: (Bottom 5) Did not qualify for the postseason; decisively eliminated from the playoffs • —: Not enough data.

Postseason Bracket

Statistics & Scores

These are the 2024 KBO League postseason statistics. Statistics and scores will be updated daily from when the playoffs begin.

Wild Card

Play-in game - The series will start with a 1-0 advantage for the fourth-placed team. The 5th place team needs to win 2 times to proceed to the next round, whereas the 4th place team can advance with just 1 win (or even a draw).

4th (1) vs 5th (-)

Semi-playoff

Quarterfinals - Best of 5 series.

3rd (-) vs Wild Card winner (-)

Playoff

Semi-finals - Best of 5 series.

2nd (-) vs Semi-playoff winner (-)

2024 Korean Series

Finals - Best of 7 series.

1st (-) vs Playoff winner (-)

Winner is the champion of the 2024 Korean Series.

Legend • WC: Wild Card winner • SPO: Semi-playoff winner • PO: Playoff winner

Note: All dates and times are in KST (Korean Standard Time). All statistics will be updated daily whenever possible.

References

External links

• KBO 공식 웹사이트
• KBO official website