Since 1982
The Archive
The KBO publishes every season back to its first, which means a retrospective does not have to quote anyone's summary. It can recompute the season in the league that produced it — and a .393 average in 1994 turns out not to be the same number as a .393 average now.
Retrospectives
Seasons, recomputed
2010 · Lotte
Seven categories, one summer
In 2010 Lee Dae-ho led the KBO in average, home runs, RBIs, runs, hits, on-base and slugging — and homered in nine straight games, which nobody in the history of the sport had done. Recomputed against the league he actually played in, how big was it?
Lee Dae-ho · 9 min read · with the podcast
2003 · Samsung
Fifty-six
Lee Seung-yuop hit 56 home runs in 2003, an Asian record that stood for a decade. The interesting question is not the number — it is how far outside his own league he had to stand to get it.
Lee Seung-yuop · 8 min read
The ledger
Players who defined the league
Career lines as published. Where a player has an essay here, the link takes you to the season recomputed.
Sun Dong-yol
선동열
Pitcher
1985–1995
Haitai Tigers
Chunichi Dragons, 1996–1999
146–40, 1.20 ERA, 132 SV
A career ERA of 1.20 across eleven seasons. In 1986 he went 24–6 with a 0.99 ERA and took the pitching Triple Crown; nobody in the KBO has finished a full season under 1.00 since.
Choi Dong-won
최동원
Pitcher
1983–1990
Lotte Giants, Samsung Lions
103–74, 2.46 ERA, 1,019 K
The 1984 Korean Series is the reason his number hangs in Busan: four starts, four complete games, four wins across forty innings in nine days. Both marks still stand.
Lee Jong-beom
이종범
Hitter
1993–1997, 2001–2012
Haitai / KIA Tigers
Chunichi Dragons, 1998–2001
.297, 194 HR, 510 SB, 1,797 H
In his second season he hit .393 and stole 84 bases, a league record. Three years later he went 30 home runs and 73 steals in the same summer.
Lee Seung-yuop
이승엽
Hitter
1995–2003, 2012–2017
Samsung Lions
Chiba Lotte, Yomiuri, Orix — 2004–2011
467 HR — KBO career leader
Fifty-six home runs in 2003 set an Asian single-season record that held until 2013. He hit two more in his retirement game.
Lee Dae-ho
이대호
Hitter
2001–2011, 2017–2022
Lotte Giants
Orix, Softbank, Seattle Mariners — 2012–2016
.309, 374 HR, 1,425 RBI
Led the league in seven offensive categories in 2010 and homered in nine consecutive games, breaking a record shared by Griffey, Mattingly and Long. He came home to Busan to finish.
Park Chan-ho
박찬호
Pitcher
1994–2010 (MLB), 2012 (KBO)
Hanwha Eagles
124 MLB wins — most by an Asian-born pitcher
Went straight from university in Korea to the Dodgers without a minor-league game, and opened the door every Korean pitcher has walked through since.
Ryu Hyun-jin
류현진
Pitcher
2006–2012, 2024–
Hanwha Eagles
LA Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays — 2013–2023
Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season, 2006
The only KBO player to take Rookie of the Year and MVP in one year. Eleven seasons in the majors with the Dodgers and Blue Jays, then back to Daejeon.
Ten clubs
Franchise histories
- KIA Tigers
12· 2024
Twelve titles, more than any club in the league, and a run through the late eighties that ended with Sun Dong-yol on the mound almost every October.(Haitai Tigers, 1982–2001)
- Samsung Lions
8· 2014
Eight titles, four of them in a row from 2011 to 2014, and the longest stretch of sustained payroll advantage in KBO history.
- Doosan Bears
6· 2019
Six titles, and the club that won the very first Korean Series in 1982. Shares Jamsil with LG, which makes the city series the league's oldest argument.(OB Bears, 1982–1998)
- SSG Landers
5· 2022
Five titles in twenty-two years as an expansion club, built on a defence-and-bullpen model that the rest of the league spent a decade copying.(SK Wyverns, 2000–2020)
- LG Twins
4· 2025
Won in 1990 and 1994, then waited twenty-nine years for the third. The fourth followed in 2025.(MBC Chungyong, 1982–1989)
- Lotte Giants
2· 1992
Two titles, 1984 and 1992, and the loudest home crowd in the country in between. Sajik has waited longer than any park in the league.
- KT Wiz
1· 2021
Last in the league in each of its first three seasons, champion in 2021.
- Hanwha Eagles
1· 1999
One title, in 1999, and a reputation as the league's hardest place to be a fan — which is exactly why the 2025 run to the Korean Series mattered.(Binggrae Eagles, 1986–1993)
- NC Dinos
1· 2020
Entered the league in 2013 and won it in 2020, the fastest an expansion club has gone from first pitch to trophy.
- Kiwoom Heroes
0· none
No titles, three different names, and a development pipeline that has sent more players to the majors than any other KBO club.(Woori/Nexen Heroes, 2008–2018)