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The 2025 KBO season starts tomorrow. Here's how the teams line up.

Published: 21 Mar. 2025, 13:22

JIM BULLEY
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Fans watch a preseason game between the Kia Tigers and Samsung Lions at Gwangju Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on March 16. [YONHAP]

Kia Tigers

The reigning champions Kia Tigers are set to defend their title with a strong roster. Central to their offense is Kim Do-yeong, the reigning regular-season MVP, who made history in 2024 by becoming the youngest player to join the 30-30 club and set a league record with 143 runs scored. On the mound, ace James Naile returns after leading the KBO with a 2.53 ERA last season.

The Tigers have also bolstered their lineup by signing former Chicago Cubs slugger Patrick Wisdom, a three-time 20-homer hitter in the big leagues. With this blend of returning talent and strategic additions, the Tigers aim to become the first team since the 2015-16 Doosan Bears to secure back-to-back championships.

Samsung Lions

The Samsung Lions returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2021 last year, beating the LG Twins in the playoffs before losing 4-1 to the Kia Tigers as one of the biggest historic rivalries in Korean baseball history was reignited. This year the Lions, a Daegu franchise that dominated the KBO throughout the early 2000s, will look to go one step further.

Despite a 3-6 preseason record, the team remains optimistic, with several standout performances in spring training including from rookies Shim Jae-hoon and Cha Seung-jun. Veteran right-hander Choi Won-tae has joined the starting rotation, adding depth to the pitching lineup. Manager Park Jin-man has focused on strengthening cohesion and strategy. The Lions will open their 2025 campaign against the Kiwoom Heroes at home in Daegu.

LG Twins

With a historic title in 2023 and a runner-up regular season finish in 2024, the LG Twins have proven that they are more than just the perennial “always the bridesmaid, never the bride” of Korean baseball.

The OG Seoul club return this year with a largely unchanged lineup, focusing on enhancing both their offensive and defensive strategies during spring training. Key players, including veteran infielder Kim Min-sung and pitcher Casey Kelly, have shown promising form in the preseason. The addition of Tigers setup man Jang Hyun-sik as a free agent could give the bullpen a boost as the Twins prepare to challenge for the title again.

Doosan Bears

The Doosan Bears return this season with a new look and a new lineup, the retro redesigned logo adorning the jerseys of new foreign pitchers Cole Irvin and Zach Logue and outfielder Jake Cave.

The Bears are perhaps the most reliable team of the last couple of decades, missing the postseason only four times in the last 20 years. But whether that run will continue always seems unclear. What looked like the club’s golden generation have mostly moved on — only Jung Soo-bin and Kim Jae-hwan remain from the dominate lineup of the mid 2010s — but somehow the Bears keep on swinging.

Whether they can do it again this year remains to be seen, but it's best to never entirely discount Doosan.

KT Wiz

The KT Wiz head into the 2025 season with a revamped roster as they look to continue a steady run of postseason appearances. Now 10 years old, the KBO’s youngest team spent their first five years in the bottom half of the table and their second five in the playoffs, taking the title in 2021.

The team’s biggest offseason moves include the return of veteran pitcher William Cuevas, who has been a key part of their pitching staff for several years. They also managed to bring back Mel Rojas Jr., a power-hitting outfielder and former MVP, as well as snapping up former Bears Veteran Heo Kyung-min. To further strengthen their pitching rotation, they signed left-hander Enmanuel De Jesus. The team showed promise in spring training, finishing in first place with a 6-1 line.

The nine KBO stadiums stand ready for the start of the 2025 KBO season. Clockwise from top left: Gwangju Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, home of the Kia Tigers; Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, home of the Samsung Lions; Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul, home of both the Doosan Bears and LG Twins; Incheon SSG Landers Park in Incheon, home of the SSG Landers; Changwon NC Park in Changwon, North Gyeongsang, home of the NC Dinos; Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in Daejeon, the new home of the Hanwha Eagles; Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan, home of the Lotte Giants; Suwon KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi, home of the KT Wiz; and, in the center, Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul, home of the Kiwoom Heroes. [YONHAP]

SSG Landers

The SSG Landers enter the 2025 season on the back of some fairly major adjustments.

Veteran pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun has been appointed team captain, a role traditionally held by position players, underscoring his influence within the team. Despite a challenging 2024 season where he recorded a career-high 4.93 ERA and conceded 24 home runs, Kim is determined to lead the Landers back to postseason contention.

The team faces early challenges, notably the hamstring injury of newly signed former big league Mitch White, expected to sideline him for several weeks, and
Additionally, the retirement of former captain, star outfielder and MLB heavyweight Choo Shin-soo marks the end of an era, prompting the need for emerging talent to step up.

Lotte Giants

The Lotte Giants, the oldest team in the KBO and the one that likes to claim the most committed fan base, head into the 2025 season desperate to bounce back from a rough few years. The Busan club have only reached the playoffs once in the last 12 years and haven’t won the title since 1992.

The Giants are likely to rely heavily on returning pitcher Charlie Barnes, who is set to anchor the starting rotation once again after a solid performance last season and will start on Opening Day. The Giants have also gained reliever Jeong Cheol-won, who was rookie of the year just two years ago, from the Doosan Bears as part of a larger trade.

Despite the reinforced pitching, the Busan club still finished the preseason tied for eighth with the Samsung Lions.

Hanwha Eagles

Returning this year with a shiny new ballpark, the Hanwha Eagles are keen to shake off their reputation as the league’s perennial bottom feeders. That’s proven easier said than done, unfortunately, with the Daejeon club still finishing in the bottom two in five of the last six season. But Hanwha climbed out of that pit slightly last season, making it to eighth and even leading the league for the first time in 10 years at one point. They finished this year’s preseason in second with a 5-2-1 line.

Boasting a deep rotation including big league veteran Ryu Hyun-jin, the Eagles are keen to break their postseason drought this year. Hanwha last made the playoffs in 2018 and last took the Korean Series title in 1999.

The new Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark will play host to this year’s All-Star game.

NC Dinos

The NC Dinos return this year under new management, having appointed former captain Lee Ho-joon to the top chair at the end of a disappointing 2024 season.

Lee has his work cut out for him. The Dinos dropped from the final round of the playoffs in 2023 to the tail end of the table last season, and despite looking OK during spring training, finish the preseason in last place with a 2-6 line.

The Dinos lost starter Kyle Hart, who opted to look for opportunities elsewhere, during the offseason, instead bringing in 27-year-old former big leaguer Logan Allen. The new starter will take the mound on Opening Day as the Dinos head to Jamsil to face the Twins.

The Dinos did manage to bring back reigning home run king Matt Davidson, who set a franchise record with a 22-game hitting streak last season.

Kiwoom Heroes

While it’s unlikely that anybody in the world of Korean baseball has the Kiwoom Heroes anywhere near the top of their 2025 KBO betting slip (were such a thing to exist — betting is illegal in Korea and for Koreans anywhere in the world), the west Seoul club did claw together a solid preseason, ending in third with a 6-3-1 line.

Whether that indicates a change of fortune for the Heroes remains to be seen. After five straight playoff appearances, the Heroes stopped straight to last place in 2023 and stayed there in 2024, winning just 58 of 144 games in either season.

The Heroes have been bleeding talent to the big leagues in recent years; Kim Ha-seong of the Tampa Bay Rays left at the end of the 2020 season, Lee Jung-hoo of the San Francisco Giants left at the end of the 2023 season and Kim Hye-seong of the Los Angeles Dodgers left at the end of the 2024 season. Whether the Heroes can find a way to plug those holes remains to be seen.

BY JIM BULLEY [[email protected]]