2016 KBO League season
| 2016 Tire Bank KBO League | |
|---|---|
| League | KBO League |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Duration | April 1 – November 2, 2016 |
| Number of games | 144 per one team |
| Number of teams | 10 |
| Regular Season | |
| Season champions | Doosan Bears |
| Season MVP | Dustin Nippert (Doosan) |
| Postseason | |
| Wildcard runners-up | KIA Tigers |
| Semi-playoffs runners-up | Nexen Heroes |
| Playoffs runners-up | LG Twins |
| Korean Series | |
| Champions | Doosan Bears |
| Runners-up | NC Dinos |
| Finals MVP | Yang Eui-ji |
The 2016 KBO League season was the 35th season in the history of the Korea Professional Baseball League.
Season structure
Stadium changes for 2016 season
- The Nexen Heroes left the 12,500-seat Mokdong Baseball Stadium and began play in the newly built 18,000-seat Gocheok Sky Dome.[1]
- The Samsung Lions left the 10,000-seat Daegu Baseball Stadium and began play in the newly built 24,000-seat Daegu Samsung Lions Park.[2]
- Munhak Baseball Stadium, home of the SK Wyverns, was fitted with a 12,257 square feet scoreboard before the start of the season[3]
Regular season
Each KBO team played 144 games during the regular season with all teams playing each other 16 times. The 144-game-schedule began in the 2015 season due to the addition of the KT Wiz. During the 2014 season, each team had played 128 games.
All-Star Game
On July 16, the best players participated in the 2016 KBO All-Star Game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. The participating franchises were divided into two regions, the Dream All-Stars (Samsung Lions, Doosan Bears, Lotte Giants, SK Wyverns, KT Wiz) and Nanum All-Stars (Kia Tigers, Hanwha Eagles, LG Twins, Nexen Heroes, NC Dinos). The Nanum All-Star team emerged victorious with an 8–4 victory over the Dream All-Star Team in front of a sold-out crowd of 16, 300 fans. Doosan Bears outfielder Min Byung-hun, who hit two home runs during the game, was named the MVP of the game. The KBO All-Star Game however does not determine home-field advantage in the Korean Series.[4]
Postseason
The 2016 KBO League season culminates in its championship series, known as the Korean Series. Before the 2015 season, the Semi-playoff format was tweaked. Previously, the top four teams after the end of the regular season qualified for the postseason, but in 2015, the top five teams qualified for the postseason. The team with the best record gained a direct entry into the Korean Series, while the other four teams competed for the remaining place in a step-ladder playoff system. Starting in 2015, the fourth-place and the fifth-place teams played in a "Wildcard" game/series.
Procedure to Determine Final Standings
- Champion (first place): Korean Series Winner
- Runner-up (second place): Korean Series Loser
- Third–Tenth place: Regular Season records determine third to tenth place spots in Final Standings
Standings
| Rank | Team | W | L | D | Pct. | GB | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doosan Bears | 93 | 50 | 1 | 0.650 | — | Korean Series |
| 2 | NC Dinos | 83 | 58 | 3 | 0.589 | 9 | Playoff |
| 3 | Nexen Heroes | 77 | 66 | 1 | 0.538 | 16 | Semi-playoff |
| 4 | LG Twins | 71 | 71 | 2 | 0.500 | 21½ | Wildcard |
| 5 | KIA Tigers | 70 | 73 | 1 | 0.490 | 23 | |
| 6 | SK Wyverns | 69 | 75 | 0 | 0.479 | 24½ | Did not qualify |
| 7 | Hanwha Eagles | 66 | 75 | 3 | 0.468 | 26 | |
| 8 | Lotte Giants | 66 | 78 | 0 | 0.458 | 27½ | |
| 9 | Samsung Lions | 65 | 78 | 1 | 0.455 | 28 | |
| 10 | kt wiz | 53 | 89 | 2 | 0.373 | 39½ |
Postseason
| Wild Card | Semi-playoff | Playoff | Korean Series | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | Doosan Bears | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | NC Dinos | 3 | 2 | NC Dinos | 0 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Nexen Heroes | 1 | 4 | LG Twins | 1 | |||||||||||||
| 4 | LG Twins | 1+ | 4 | LG Twins | 3 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | KIA Tigers | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Wildcard
LG won the series, 1–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 10 | KIA Tigers 4 – LG Twins 2 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 2:43 | 25,000[5] |
| 2 | October 11 | KIA Tigers 0 – LG Twins 1 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3:21 | 25,000[6] |
Semi-playoff
LG won the series, 3–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 13 | LG Twins 7 – Nexen Heroes 0 | Gocheok Sky Dome | 3:16 | 16,300[7] |
| 2 | October 14 | LG Twins 1 – Nexen Heroes 5 | Gocheok Sky Dome | 3:06 | 16,300[8] |
| 3 | October 16 | Nexen Heroes 1 – LG Twins 4 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3:01 | 25,000[9] |
| 4 | October 17 | Nexen Heroes 4 – LG Twins 5 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3:33 | 24,352[10] |
Playoff
NC won the series, 3–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 21 | LG Twins 2 – NC Dinos 3 | Masan Baseball Stadium | 3:35 | 11,000[11] |
| 2 | October 22 | LG Twins 0 – NC Dinos 2 | Masan Baseball Stadium | 2:29 | 11,000[12] |
| 3 | October 24 | NC Dinos 1 – LG Twins 2 (11) | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 4:46 | 25,000[13] |
| 4 | October 25 | NC Dinos 8 – LG Twins 3 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 4:00 | 25,000[14] |
Korean Series
Doosan won the series, 4–0.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 29 | NC Dinos 0 – Doosan Bears 1 (11) | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3:51 | 25,000[15] |
| 2 | October 30 | NC Dinos 1 – Doosan Bears 5 | Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3:10 | 25,000[16] |
| 3 | November 1 | Doosan Bears 6 – NC Dinos 0 | Masan Baseball Stadium | 3:17 | 11,000[17] |
| 4 | November 2 | Doosan Bears 8 – NC Dinos 1 | Masan Baseball Stadium | 3:24 | 11,000[18] |
Foreign players
Each team could have sign up to three foreign players. Due to the high proportion of pitchers signed in previous years, beginning in 2014 the league has mandated that at least one of the foreign players must be a position player. Also with the KT Wiz being an expansion team that started play in 2015, they were given an exemption and were allowed to sign four foreign players instead of just the normally-allowed three.
| Team | Player | Position | In KBO since | Salary | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Lions | Allen Webster | Pitcher | 2016 | $850,000 | |
| Collin Balester | Pitcher | 2016 | $500,000 | Released | |
| Arnold León | Pitcher | 2016 | $500,000[19] | Signed to replace Collin Balester | |
| Aarom Baldiris | Infielder | 2016 | $950,000 | ||
| NC Dinos | Zach Stewart | Pitcher | 2015 | $750,000 | |
| Eric Hacker | Pitcher | 2014 | $900,000 | ||
| Eric Thames | Infielder | 2013 | $1,500,000 | KBO All-Star | |
| Doosan Bears | Dustin Nippert | Pitcher | 2011 | $1,200,000 | KBO All-Star, KBO MVP |
| Michael Bowden | Pitcher | 2016 | $650,000 | ||
| Nick Evans | First Baseman / Outfielder | 2016 | $550,000 | ||
| Nexen Heroes | Ryan Feierabend | Pitcher | 2015 | $580,000 | |
| Robert Coello | Pitcher | 2016 | $550,000 | Released | |
| Danny Dorn | First Baseman / Outfielder | 2016 | $750,000 | ||
| Scott McGregor | Pitcher | 2016 | $150,000 | Signed to replace Robert Coello | |
| SK Wyverns | Merrill Kelly | Pitcher | 2015 | $750,000 | KBO All-Star |
| Chris Seddon | Pitcher | 2013 | $500,000 | Released | |
| Héctor Gómez | Infielder | 2016 | $650,000 | ||
| Braulio Lara | Pitcher | 2016 | $230,000 | Signed to replace Chris Seddon | |
| Hanwha Eagles | Esmil Rogers | Pitcher | 2015 | $1,900,000 | Released |
| Alex Maestri[20] | Pitcher | 2016 | ¥50,000,000 (about $440,000) | Released | |
| Wilin Rosario | Catcher / Infielder | 2016 | $1,300,000 | KBO All-Star | |
| Fabio Castillo | Pitcher | 2016 | $250,000 | Signed to replace Alex Maestri | |
| Eric Surkamp | Pitcher | 2016 | $450,000 | Signed to replace Esmil Rogers | |
| Kia Tigers | Héctor Noesí | Pitcher | 2016 | $1,700,000 | KBO All-Star |
| Zeke Spruill | Pitcher | 2016 | $700,000 | ||
| Brett Pill | Infielder | 2014 | $900,000 | ||
| Lotte Giants | Josh Lindblom | Pitcher | 2015 | $1,200,000 | |
| Brooks Raley | Pitcher | 2015 | $680,000 | ||
| Jim Adduci | Outfielder | 2015 | $780,000 | Released | |
| Justin Maxwell | Outfielder | 2016 | $280,000 | Signed to replace Jim Adduci | |
| LG Twins | Henry Sosa | Pitcher | 2012 | $900,000 | |
| Luis Jimenez | Infielder | 2015 | $900,000 | KBO All-Star | |
| Scott Copeland | Pitcher | 2016 | $750,000[21] | Released | |
| David Huff | Pitcher | 2016 | $550,000 | Signed to replace Scott Copeland | |
| KT Wiz[22] | Yohan Pino | Pitcher | 2016 | $500,000 | |
| Sugar Ray Marimón | Pitcher | 2016 | $600,000 | Released | |
| Travis Banwart | Pitcher | 2014 | $600,000 | ||
| Andy Marte | Infielder | 2015 | $850,000 | ||
| Josh Lowey | Pitcher | 2016 | $220,000 | Signed to replace Sugar Ray Marimón |
References
- ↑ Nam, Hyun-woo (2015-10-05). "Nexen Hereos to play at domed baseball field". The Korea Times.
- ↑ http://english.daegu.go.kr/cms/cms.asp?Menu=910&BoardId=15511&Page=1&Category=0&Current=0&Type=2&Action=view
- ↑ Park, H. (2016-02-04). "'세계 최대-최고 전광판' SK 안방의 '빅보드'". SPOTV News (in Korean).
- ↑ Baek, Byung-yeul (2016-07-17). "4 home runs help Dream past Nanum in KBO All-Star Game". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 2016-07-18. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Wild Card Game 1" (in Korean). KBO.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Wild Card Game 2" (in Korean). KBO.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Semi-playoff Game 1" (in Korean). KBO.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Semi-playoff Game 2" (in Korean). KBO.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Semi-playoff Game 3" (in Korean). KBO.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Semi-playoff Game 4" (in Korean). KBO.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Playoff Game 1" (in Korean). KBO.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Playoff Game 2" (in Korean). KBO.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Playoff Game 3" (in Korean). KBO.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Playoff Game 4" (in Korean). KBO.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Korean Series Game 1". KBO. October 29, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Korean Series Game 2". KBO. October 30, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Korean Series Game 3". KBO. November 1, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- ↑ "Boxscore: Korean Series Game 4". KBO. November 2, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- ↑ "S. Korean baseball club signs Mexican pitcher". Yonhap. 2016-05-18.
- ↑ "한화, 새 외국인 투수 마에스트리 영입 '총액 5000만엔'". OSEN (in Korean). 2016-03-15.
- ↑ Shin, Chang-yong (2016-04-09). "<프로야구> LG, 외국인 투수 코프랜드 영입…총액 75만달러". Yonhap (in Korean).
- ↑ http://www.ktwiz.co.kr/sports/site/baseball/player/pitcher.do