Tigers ride MVP candidate, other hot bats to KBO’s best regular-season record

On a team full of veterans, a 20-year-old with barely two seasons’ worth of prior experience has been the brightest star on the best regular-season team in South Korean baseball in 2024.

The Kia Tigers secured the regular-season title in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on Tuesday, with seven games remaining. The Tigers were blanked by the SSG Landers 2-0 to fall to 83-52-2 (wins-losses-ties), but still clinched the best record in the regular season when second-place Samsung Lions (75-60-2) also lost on Tuesday, 8-4 against the Doosan Bears.

With that, the Tigers have grabbed a direct ticket to the Korean Series, the best-of-seven championship series in the KBO.

During the Tigers’ run to the top, third baseman Kim Do-yeong developed into a legitimate superstar and the leading MVP contender. He has been one of the faces of the league that has enjoyed record-breaking success in attendance in 2024.

Kim, still weeks away from his 21st birthday, went 4-for-26 with 10 strikeouts in his first six games of the season. But then he collected three hits his seventh game and hasn’t looked back since.

In April, Kim hit 10 homers and stole 14 bags to become the first player in KBO history to reach double figures in both home runs and steals in a single month. In July, he became the first player to pull off a natural cycle in four plate appearances — hitting a single, a double, a triple and a home run in order without being retired.

On Aug. 15, Kim became the youngest member of the 30-30 club. Through Tuesday, Kim is batting .344 with 37 home runs, 39 steals, 134 runs scored and 105 RBIs. He is poised to become only the third KBO player ever to finish a season with at least a .300 batting average, 30 home runs, 30 steals, 100 runs and 100 RBIs. In the runs scored department, Kim is two away from a new single-season record.

Before this season, Kim had only 10 homers in 187 games combined in 2022 and 2023.

Kim is surrounded by quality hitters up and down the Tigers’ lineup. Choi Hyoung-woo, the team’s oldest player at 40, has turned back the clock by topping 20 home runs and 100 RBIs for the first time since 2020. Outfielder Na Sung-bum has been his typical productive self after missing the first month of the season with injury. Another outfielder, Socrates Brito, shook off a sluggish start to put together his best KBO season in Year 3.

Shortstop Park Chan-ho, a lifetime .253 hitter before this year, is batting a career-high .307 through Tuesday. Former batting champion Kim Sun-bin is hitting .327, his highest mark in five seasons.

The Tigers are leading the league with a .301 batting average and 818 runs scored. No other team is batting above .300 or has scored more than 800 runs.

The Tigers are also tops in on-base percentage (.370) and slugging percentage (.462), and have struck out the fewest times with 865. They are the only team batting over .300 with runners in scoring position.

Despite injury woes, the Tigers still have the lowest team ERA with 4.39.

Yang Hyeon-jong, a franchise icon and one of the most durable pitchers in league history, has been the one constant in the Tigers’ decimated rotation. The 36-year-old leads the staff with 166 1/3 innings pitched and three complete games. In August, Yang became the KBO’s career leader with his 2,049th strikeout.

Their Opening Day starter, Wil Crowe, only lasted eight starts before going down with elbow problems. His short-term replacement, Cam Alldred, was around for just nine outings before the Tigers waived him. They ended up signing former major leaguer Eric Lauer to fill the hole.

James Naile, who quickly emerged as one of the league’s top starters in his first season, took a line drive off his face on Aug. 24 and suffered a broken jaw that ruled him out for the remainder of the regular season. At the time of his injury, Naile was tied for the league lead with 12 wins and was second with a 2.53 ERA. And by advancing directly to the Korea Series, the Tigers have bought themselves some time as Naile continues to work his way back.

Elsewhere on the pitching staff, All-Star closer Jung Hai-young (shoulder inflammation) and starters Lee Eui-lee (elbow ligament damage) and Yoon Young-cheol (spinal fracture) also hit the sidelines, with Lee undergoing a season-ending operation in June.

But the Tigers kept outscoring whatever pitching woes they experienced. As they celebrate grabbing the direct ticket to the Korean Series, they can thank their young hot shot and his fellow mashers.