Beloved club on top as KBO sets record attendance in 1st half of season

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, July 11 (Yonhap) -- The first half of the 2025 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season wrapped up Thursday night with an unfamiliar name atop the standings, chased by some of the league's most popular clubs.

Their seasonlong battles helped the KBO set its first-half attendance record with over 7.5 million fans and put the league on pace to shatter the single-season mark of 10.88 million set just last year.

For the first time in 33 years, the Hanwha Eagles have entered the All-Star break in first place, with a record of 52-33-2 (wins-losses-ties). After winning six straight games, they are poised to return to the postseason for the first time since 2018 and only the second time since 2007.

They are also the first team to reach 50 wins this season. Teams that beat everyone to 50 wins have gone on to claim the regular-season crown about 71 percent of the time in league history and to also capture the Korean Series title 60 percent of the time.

The Eagles finished either second-to-last or last in five of the past six seasons, and they were in last place on April 9 this year, after winning just five out of their first 15 games of the season. Since April 10, though, the Eagles have posted the best record in the KBO at 47-23-2 (wins-losses-ties). They also boast the league's lowest ERA in that span at 3.19.

The Eagles have been carried by their starting rotation, led by two American fireballers, Cody Ponce and Ryan Weiss.

In a pitcher-friendly season, Ponce has built a compelling MVP case by leading the league in Triple Crown categories with 11 wins, 161 strikeouts and a 1.95 ERA. In its first 11 seasons, from 1982 to 1992, the KBO's Triple Crown categories were wins, ERA and winning percentage. The league began recognizing the more conventional category of strikeouts, instead of winning percentage, in 1993. Since then, three pitchers have won the Triple Crown, and all three of them also won the regular-season MVP awards the year in which they topped those three categories.

Weiss has 10 wins and ranks fourth overall with 126 strikeouts. Ponce and Weiss are the first pair of foreign pitchers to each win at least 10 games before the break in Eagles history.

The Lotte Giants, whose last postseason trip came in 2017, have exceeded expectations as the third-place team entering the midseason break at 47-39-3.

The Giants have frustrated their long-suffering fan base in recent seasons with their inability to build on quick starts. This season, however, they have sustained their high level of play into July.

Sandwiched between the Eagles and the Giants are the 2023 Korean Series champions LG Twins (48-38-2). They were the most dominant team in the early weeks but have faded away lately. Since June 1, they have gone only 13-17-1, seventh in the KBO in that stretch.

The defending champions Kia Tigers have rebounded from a disappointing start marked by a series of injuries, including two separate instances of hamstring ailments for the reigning MVP Kim Do-yeong. Despite their recent four-game losing skid, the Tigers own the second-best record since June 1 at 19-12-2, which has pushed them from seventh place to fourth place at 45-40-3.

The crowded middle class has the KT Wiz (45-41-3), SSG Landers (43-41-3), the NC Dinos (40-40-5) and the Samsung Lions (43-44-1) within 2 1/2 games of each other.

The Doosan Bears (36-49-3) are in ninth place, and their lost season cost third-year manager Lee Seung-yuop his job in June.

The Kiwoom Heroes are bringing up the rear once again and will likely finish last for the third consecutive season as they enter the break at 27-61-3.

The Twins and the Giants have been major players in the leaguewide surge in attendance, ranking second and third overall with 958,488 and 955,974 fans, respectively. The Samsung Lions are tops with 1,046,094 fans and are on pace for an all-time record of 1.6 million.

The Eagles are sixth in total attendance with 727,959 but that's only because their new stadium, Dajeon Hanwha Life Ballpark, has only 17,000 seats -- compared with 20,000-plus seats for the homes of the Lions, the Twins and the Giants. The Eagles have sold out a league-high 39 games out of 43 played at home so far.

Overall, the KBO has had 7,504,478 fans so far, surpassing 7 million before the break for the first time. The total so far is already the sixth-highest total for a season, and the league is on pace for about 12 million fans this season.

There have already been 210 sellouts this year, only 11 shy of matching the all-time record set in 2024.

These fans, though, have not been treated to much offense.

This has been a year of pitching, with eight starters carrying an ERA under 3.00. Last season, only two starters had a sub-3.00 ERA.

On the flip side, only 10 hitters are batting .300 or better, down from 24 such players last season.

Seven players had 30 or more homers in 2024, but only three players are on pace to reach that plateau this season, with Lewin Diaz of the Lions leading the pack with 29 home runs.

Teams are scoring about 1.6 runs fewer per game than a season ago.

In such a tough hitting environment, there have been some standout performances, too.

Diaz leads the way with 29 homers and 88 RBIs, taking full advantage of playing his home games at the most hitter-friendly stadium in the league, Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu. Of his 29 homers, 22 have come in Daegu.

Victor Reyes of the Giants set a KBO single-season record with 202 hits in 2024, and he could challenge that mark this year with a second-half push.. He has 122 hits after 89 games, putting him on pace for about 197 hits.

Among South Korean players, Wiz rookie outfielder Ahn Hyun-min has been tearing up the KBO since becoming an everyday player on May 1. Despite missing the early part of the season, Ahn ranks among the league leaders with 16 home runs and 53 RBIs in 60 games.

He is batting a robust .356/.465/.648, and he'd be leading the KBO in all three categories if he had enough plate appearances to qualify.

Ahn is the favorite for the Rookie of the Year award and will also get some MVP consideration at this rate.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
(END)