The final Jamsil Baseball Stadium Series in South Korea’s professional baseball calendar brings together the LG Twins and the Doosan Bears for a high-stakes postseason clash following a ceremonial farewell to the historic Seoul venue ahead of its scheduled demolition at the end of the year.
Retiring Jamsil Stadium with a Final Postseason Chapter
Doosan Group Chairman Kim Tae-ryong, who began his career with the OB Bears in 1990 and spent 37 years working at the ballpark, pointed to the championship-clinching Korean Series runs in 1995, 2001, and 2015 as his most enduring memories of the ground. Speaking after Doosan’s final regular-season home game on Oct. 12, Kim noted the regret of leaving without facing the team’s shared Jamsil rival, the LG Twins, in a Korean Series matchup before the venue’s closure. Looking ahead to the franchise’s temporary relocation and a future domed stadium, Kim expressed hope that the two rivals would stage countless classic postseason series in the years to come.
How the Regular Season Set the Stage for the Wild Card
The two clubs played their final regular-season “Jamsil Derby” on Oct. 7, meeting while Doosan was already locked into fifth place and LG chased third-place KT Wiz by a razor-thin margin in the standings. Although LG fell short of third and finished the 162-game regular season in fourth place, the standings set up an immediate postseason rematch. Because the KBO postseason operates on a step-ladder format where higher-seeded teams carry distinct advantages, the October wild-card series at Jamsil marked the definitive final postseason meeting between the two clubs at the iconic venue. Under KBO wild-card rules, the fourth-seeded team begins the series with a one-game advantage, requiring the fifth-seeded challenger to win two consecutive games to advance.
Eliminating Doosan in a Postseason Series
LG entered the wild-card round holding an 11-game win, 4-loss, 1-tie advantage over Doosan across their head-to-head regular-season meetings. The matchup offered the Twins their first opportunity of the 21st century to eliminate Doosan in a postseason series. During the 1990s, when Doosan operated under its original OB Bears banner, LG won two playoff meetings against them. However, since the franchise rebranded to the Doosan Bears, LG had dropped four consecutive postseason series against their cross-town rivals.
Pitching Matchups and Rotation Challenges
To force a deciding second game in the wild-card series, Doosan turned to right-hander Gwak Been, who finished the regular season with a league-leading 2.24 earned run average. Gwak surrendered just four earned runs across 18 and one-third innings in three regular-season starts against LG, posting a stellar 1.96 ERA in those outings. With Doosan locking up fifth place early, Gwak enjoyed over a week of rest following his final regular-season tune-up against the Lotte Giants on Oct. 6.
LG countered by leaning on right-hander Albert Suárez, who joined the club on Aug. 1 and turned in a dominant 7-inning scoreless performance against Doosan in his KBO debut. Although Suárez made 10 subsequent regular-season starts, he did not surpass the efficiency of that first outing. Pushed into service down the stretch as LG fought for third place through the final day of the regular season, Suárez took the mound on just four days’ rest following an appearance against Lotte on Oct. 9. Further complicating LG’s pitching depth, closer Son Ju-young—who recorded 31 saves during the regular season—entered the series managing a shoulder injury.
The Open Question at Jamsil
Whether Doosan’s well-rested pitching staff can halt LG’s historical postseason struggles against their rivals remains unanswered as the cross-town adversaries trade the final autumn blows inside a stadium preparing to lower its lights for good.
Worth a look
