2014 Korea Professional Baseball season

2014 Korea Yakult 7even Pro Baseball
League Korea Professional Baseball
Sport Baseball
Duration 29 March – 12 November 2014
Regular Season
Season champions Samsung Lions
Post Season
Semi-Playoff champions LG Twins
  Semi-Playoff runners-up NC Dinos
Playoff champions Nexen Heroes
  Playoff runners-up LG Twins
Korean Series
Champions Samsung Lions
  Runners-up Nexen Heroes
Korean Series MVP Yamaico Navarro

The 2014 Korea Professional Baseball season is 33rd season in the history of the Korea Professional Baseball.

Season Structure

Regular Season

Starting in season 2013, each team plays 128 games in the regular season, reduced from 133 due to expansion to nine teams. Each team plays every other 16 times.[1]

There will be a third change in four seasons to the tie rule in South Korean professional baseball. In South Korean baseball, ties are called after 12 innings in the regular season and 15 innings in the playoffs. In 2008, the league briefly scrapped ties and forced teams to play until a winner was decided. But managers strongly opposed the change. The KBO went back to the 12-inning tie rule starting in 2009.[2]

Video Replay

Responding to growing calls to address issues in refereeing, presidents of the teams in the country's top baseball league have agreed to expand video replay starting in the second half of the season, officials said on 8 July. Currently, the KBO umpires rely on video replay for disputed home run calls only. The instant replay coverage on home runs was introduced in 2009. Under the present KBO rules, umpires' decisions on safe-out and fair-foul calls are final and managers or coaches may not protest those calls. The league's umpires, though, have been on the hot seat for most of this season with some high-profile missed calls. With every KBO game broadcast live on cable television and available for free streaming online for domestic viewers, and with improved technology breaking down disputed plays from multiple angles, umpires also work under heavier scrutiny than in the past.

Before this season, the KBO brass had said the league would conduct feasibility studies on expanded video review and that it would consider making the move by as early as 2015. At their meeting in May, the league's general managers discussed expanding video replay but decided to put the issue on hold until the end of this season, citing technical difficulties.

With the pressure mounting to make changes, though, the KBO team presidents caved in and agreed to expand the replay in the second half, which begins on 22 July following the All-Star break. The KBO said it will convene its rules committee to revise the rule book, and settle on specifics of the expansion in a meeting of field managers ahead of the All-Star Game on 18 July. Before this season, Major League Baseball (MLB) decided to expand its review process to cover fair-foul calls and force play at bases, among other categories.[3]

All-Star Game

On 18 July, the best players participate in the Korean All-Star Game. The franchises participating are divided into two regions: Eastern League Team (Samsung Lions, Doosan Bears, Lotte Giants, SK Wyverns) and Western League Team (Kia Tigers, Hanwha Eagles, LG Twins, Nexen Heroes, NC Dinos). The titles 'Eastern' and 'Western' do not directly correspond to the geographical regions of the franchises involved, as both SK and Doosan, being from Incheon and Seoul respectively, are clearly based in the Western region of Korea, despite representing the East. Unlike in the MLB, the Korean All-Star Game does not determine home-field advantage in the Korean Series. The most recent Korean All-Star Game was played in Gwangju-Kia Champions Field and won 13-2 by Western League Team on 18 July 2014.

Postseason

Korea Professional Baseball season culminates in its championship series, known as the Korean Series. Currently, the top four teams qualify for the postseason based on win/loss records. The team with the best record gains a direct entry into the Korean Series, while the other three teams compete for the remaining place in a step-ladder playoff system:

To determine the final standings

Standings

Rank Team GP W D L Pct. Postseason
1 Samsung Lions 128 79 3 47 0.624 2014 Korean Series
2 Nexen Heroes 128 78 2 48 0.619 Playoff
3 NC Dinos 128 70 1 57 0.551 Semi-Playoff
4 LG Twins 128 62 2 64 0.492 Semi-Playoff
5 SK Wyverns 128 61 2 65 0.484 Did not qualify
6 Doosan Bears 128 59 1 68 0.465
7 Lotte Giants 128 58 1 69 0.457
8 Kia Tigers 128 54 0 74 0.422
9 Hanwha Eagles 128 49 2 77 0.389

Postseason

  Semi-playoff Playoff Korean Series
                               
    1  Samsung Lions 4
    2  Nexen Heroes 3     2  Nexen Heroes 2
  3  NC Dinos 1     4  LG Twins 1  
  4  LG Twins 3  

Semi-Playoff

LG won the series, 3-1.

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
119 OctoberLG Twins 13–4 NC DinosMasan Baseball Stadium, Changwon14:0013,000 
222 October^LG Twins 4–2 NC DinosMasan Baseball Stadium, Changwon18:308,094 
324 OctoberNC Dinos 4-3 LG TwinsJamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul18:3025,000 
425 OctoberNC Dinos 3-11 LG TwinsJamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul14:0023,728

^: postponed from 20 October due to rain

Playoff

Nexen won the series, 3-1.

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
127 OctoberLG Twins 3-6 Nexen HeroesMokdong Baseball Stadium, Seoul18:3010,500 
228 OctoberLG Twins 9-2 Nexen HeroesMokdong Baseball Stadium, Seoul18:3010,500 
330 OctoberNexen Heroes 6-2 LG TwinsJamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul18:3025,500 
431 OctoberNexen Heroes 12-2 LG TwinsJamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul18:3024,330

Korean Series

Main article: 2014 Korean Series

Samsung Lions won the series, 4-2.

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
14 NovemberNexen Heroes 4-2 Samsung LionsDaegu Baseball Stadium, Daegu18:30- 
25 NovemberNexen Heroes 1-7 Samsung LionsDaegu Baseball Stadium, Daegu18:30- 
37 NovemberSamsung Lions 3-1 Nexen HeroesMokdong Baseball Stadium, Seoul18:30- 
48 NovemberSamsung Lions 3-9 Nexen HeroesMokdong Baseball Stadium, Seoul14:00- 
510 NovemberNexen Heroes 1-2 Samsung LionsJamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul18:30- 
611 NovemberSamsung Lions 11-1 Nexen HeroesJamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul18:30-
2014 Korean Series Champion

Samsung Lions
(Eight title)

References

  1. Korea Baseball Organization (2013). 2013 달라지는점 (Korean). Accessed on 18 March 2013.
  2. Yonhap News S. Korean baseball makes another change to tie rule Accessed on 4 January 2011.
  3. Yonhap News Agency (2014). KBO to expand video replay in second half of season. Accessed on 8 July 2014.

External links

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