KBO regular season extended to Oct. 8 to allow for postponed games

Baseball

Published: 14 Sep. 2022, 15:52 Updated: 15 Sep. 2022, 16:24

KBO regular season extended to Oct. 8 to allow for postponed games

Jamsil Baseball Stadium stands empty on July 31 after heavy rain caused a game between the LG Twins and KT Wiz to be postponed. [YONHAP]

The KBO on Tuesday announced that this year’s regular season will be extended to Oct. 8 to allow for 50 postponed games to be rescheduled before the playoffs begin.

The KBO regular season was originally scheduled to end in one week’s time on Sept. 23, although that date is always changeable due to the annual impact of Korea’s rainy season. Playoff dates have not been announced, but typically start within a couple of days of the completion of all regular season games.

The rescheduled games will begin on Sept. 24 for two weeks, ending on Oct. 8 assuming there are no further delays.

If games are postponed in the remainder of the originally-scheduled regular season, the KBO will attempt to play them as a double header the following day, if a game is scheduled, or a double header the next time the two teams meet. If the two teams are not set to meet again this season, an extra date will have to be added.

If the KBO reaches a point after Oct. 8 when only teams that cannot qualify for the playoffs have games left to play, the league will schedule those final games during the postseason.

As of press time Wednesday, the second-place LG Twins, sixth-place NC Dinos and ninth-place Doosan Bears have the most games left to play, with 22 each. The fifth-place Kia Tigers, eighth-place Samsung Lions and last-place Hanwha Eagles each have 19 games left to play, while the first-place SSG Landers and fourth-place KT Wiz have 18 games left to play.

At the other end of the scale, the seventh-place Lotte Giants only have 16 games left to play and the third-place Kiwoom Heroes have just 15 games left to play.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]