The 2021 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) Korea Baseball Series is set to open at 2 pm local time on Sunday, 14 November, at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
It won't be familiar turf for both the Doosan Bears and the KT Wiz. The Bears are based in Seoul but call the Jamsil Stadium home. The Wiz are based in Suwon, about 30 kilometres from the capital, and play in the Suwon Baseball Stadium. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) decided to play the seven-game final series in the only dome in the country because of the late start of the 2021 postseason.
The KT Wiz won the regular season and didn't need to play in any playoff round to qualify for the Korean Series. They haven't played in a game since 31 October and took the field on Thursday, 11 November, for a warm-up game against their minor league players.
"It was good to see some at-bats see some live pitching," told the Yonhap News Agency slugger Jared Hoying. "The first week (of the long layoff), we really healed up. Everybody was pretty sore. We had some light practice and had a couple of days off in there, and everybody got some treatment. And now we're ramping it back up for Sunday."
Hoying, a 32-year old American outfielder with Major League Baseball (MLB) experience, joined the Wiz in June. Since then, he has produced 52 RBIs in 68 games.
The Wiz will play in the Korean Series for the first time in their seventh season in the league. They appear the clear favourites thanks to their strong pitching rotation. Imports Odrisamer Despaigne (Cuba), William Cuevas (Venezuela) have both MLB experience. Olympian Young-pyo Ko is another ace at the top of the rotation. The fourth starter Je-seong Bae is also above the average. Hyeong-jun So, a second-year player who has also started in the regular season, may spend the series in the bullpen.
The Wiz roster features two more players who were regulars at the Tokyo 2020 Games: third baseman Jae-gyun Hwang and first baseman Baek-ho Kang.
The Doosan Bears will appear in their seventh-straight Korean Series. They reached the goal without their two foreign starters, Ariel Miranda and Walter Lockett. Miranda, a 32-year old left-handed Cuban with experience at the MLB, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) levels, recently won the Choi Dong-won Award as the best pitcher in the league, setting the new strikeout record at 225, but has been sidelined since October with a fatigued shoulder. Lockett, a 27-year old American, is out for the season.
Won-joon Choi, who was on Korea's roster at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, appears to be the only reliable starter for the Bears. He has pitched four times since 26 October and he is not expected to go deep into games. Relievers made the fortunes of the Bears, in particular Young-ha Lee and Geon-hui Hong.
"We all want to win. That never changes," commented Bears manager Tae-hyoung Kim, "and I don't have to remind my players of that. They know what they're supposed to do."
The Bears strength has been so far a productive lineup. Cuban first baseman Jose Miguel Fernandez, a 33-year old with MLB experience who has been with the Bears since 2019, was named the MVP of the playoff series against the Samsung Lions. Center fielder Soo-bin Jung earned the same honour after the semi-playoff series against the LG Twins.
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