WBSC Premier12 star Cody Ponce leads Hanwha Eagles to their first Korean Series in 19 years
WBSC Premier12 star Cody Ponce pitched five strong innings to lead the Hanwha Eagles to an 11-3 win over the Samsung Lions in the rubber match of the best-of-five semifinal series and to their first Korean Series in 19 years. The Eagles will face the regular-season winners, the LG Twins, in a best-of-seven final series, which opens at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul at 14:00 (local time) on Saturday, October 25.
The LG Twins will also host game two (October 26) and eventual games six (Saturday, November 1) and seven (Sunday, November 2).
The Hanwha Eagles will host game three (Tuesday, October 28), four (Wednesday, October 29) and eventually five (Thursday, October 30) at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark.
The pennant winners, LG Twins, have a roster loaded with WBSC Premier12 2024 stars, including starting pitcher Chan-kyu Im, first baseman Bogyeong Moon, everyday catcher Dongwon Park, starting second baseman Minjae Shin and setup man Yeongchan You, who earned 21 saves for the Twins in 2025. The Twins ace will be Venezuelan veteran Yonny Chirinos.
The LG Twins have participated in seven Korean Series and have won three times, most recently in 2023. The Hanwha Eagles have participated six times, the last in 2006, and earned their only win in 1999.
It's been a record season for the Korea Baseball Organisation (KBO) league. Cody Ponce set the new single-season strikeout record with 252. He also led the league in wins (17), earned run average (1.89), and won the pitching Triple Crown.
Lewin Diaz of the Samsung Lions became the first player to combine 50 home runs and 150 RBIs in the same KBO season. Diaz, 28, played at the Major League Baseball (MLB) level for the Miami Marlins and is now the import player with the most home runs in a single KBO season. His teammate Byung-Ho Park, a WBSC Premier12 2015 winner, set the overall record (53) in 2015.
A record 12,312,519 paying spectators attended the KBO 2025 regular season, averaging 17,101 per game. The postseason has so far featured 11 sold-out games, totalling 237,330 spectators and averaging 21,575 per game.