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KBO teams set to play 9 straight days for 1st time in 2025

Published: 28 Apr. 2025, 15:31

The Kia Tigers celebrate after a 3-2 win over the LG Twins at the Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on April 27. [YONHAP]

KBO teams will reach a crucial early-season point this week as they embark on a run of nine straight games.

KBO teams usually get Monday off each week. However, with the May 5 Children's Day holiday — often the biggest day during a KBO regular season — falling on a Monday this year, teams will play their three-game midweek series from Monday to Wednesday next week, instead of the usual Tuesday to Thursday window.

This will mean a gauntlet of nine games in nine days, starting Tuesday and running through to May 7, barring inclement weather.

The league-leading LG Twins hit a speed bump last week, losing consecutive series against the NC Dinos and then the Kia Tigers. They still have the best record at 20-9-0 (wins-losses-ties), but their lead over second-place Samsung Lions (17-12-0) is now just three games.

The surging Hanwha Eagles (17-13-0) are a half game back of the Lions in third place, and they will host the Twins for three games to open this week in Daejeon.

When the two teams first met from March 25 to 27, the Twins swept the three-game set while giving up only one run.

The Eagles are a different team now, though. They are batting .263 as a team in April, better than the Twins' mark of .255. Slugger Roh Si-hwan has overcome a slow start and belted six home runs in his past 10 games.

Estevan Florial batted only .143 (4-for-28) in March but is hitting .312 in April, during which he put together a 13-game hit streak. Florial leads the Eagles with 33 hits, a remarkable turnaround for a player once thought to be in danger of getting cut.

The Lotte Giants, the only other team sitting above .500 in winning percentage (16-13-1), will visit last-place Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul to start this week.

Also for the Tuesday-Thursday series this week, KT Wiz third baseman Heo Kyoung-min will visit his old home in southern Seoul, Jamsil Baseball Stadium, for the first time since leaving the Doosan Bears in free agency last winter.

In his first meeting against the Bears last month at the Wiz's home in Suwon, Gyeonggi, Heo batted 5-for-13 in three games as the Wiz went 2-1-0. The all-star third baseman had played for the Bears from 2012 to 2024 before switching teams.

Yonhap