KBO's postseason to begin Nov. 1

All News 20:01 October 20, 2020

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean baseball postseason will begin on Nov. 1 and will be completed by Nov. 25 at the latest.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on Tuesday announced its playoff schedule for the coronavirus-interrupted season. After the start of the regular season was pushed back by more than a month to early May because of the pandemic, the postseason will begin in November, instead of the usual October, for the first time in league history.

The regular season will conclude on Oct. 30 and the postseason will start two days later with the Wild Card Game.

The No. 4 team and the No. 5 team from the regular season will square off in that opening stage. The higher-seeded club will go in with a built-in victory and will move on to the next round with either a win or a tie in the first game. The lower-seeded team, on the other hand, must win two straight games to advance.

The winner of that series will play the No. 3 seed from the regular season in the best-of-three first round. That series will start on Nov. 4.

Fans take in a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game between the home team LG Twins and the Kia Tigers at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 18, 2020. (Yonhap)

The winning team will then move on to the best-of-five second round and face the No. 2-ranked club from the regular season. That series will begin on Nov. 9.

The regular season champions will advance directly to the best-of-seven Korean Series and will await the winning club of the second round. The Korean Series starts on Nov. 17, and if it goes the distance, it will conclude on Nov. 25.

Considering cold weather this time of the year, all postseason games from the second round and onward will be played at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, the country's only domed ballpark, as the neutral venue. It is the home of the Kiwoom Heroes, who have qualified for the postseason with two games to play.

Teams will each be able to carry extra players to their 30-man postseason rosters, and call them up to replace any player who tests positive for COVID-19 or who has to be quarantined after coming in contact with coronavirus patients.

Starting with this year's postseason, the umpire crew chief will be able to initiate his own replay review of all reviewable plays, even if managers from either side don't ask for it.