Lotte beat Doosan in Jamsil Stadium’s final regular-season game

Lotte Giants beat Doosan Bears 7-4 in Seoul on October 12 in the final regular-season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium before its planned demolition. Victor Reyes finished the season with a KBO record 211 hits, giving the stadium’s last regular-season fixture a milestone alongside its farewell.

Jamsil opened in 1982 and is scheduled to make way for a new dome after the 2026 season, according to Yonhap. The result also moved Lotte from eighth to seventh place in the final standings. For Doosan, the game came before a wild-card round for which the club had already qualified.

Victor Reyes finishes with a KBO hits record

Reyes went 4-for-5 with a home run, Yonhap reported. His 211 hits surpassed the single-season KBO record of 202 that he had previously set. The Korea Baseball Organization’s game report lists Reyes as the league’s hits leader for a third consecutive season, ahead of KT Wiz’s Choi Won-jun, who finished with 208.

The win gave Lotte a final record of 64 wins, 77 losses and three ties, according to the KBO. The Giants entered the game in eighth place with a 63-77-3 record, Yonhap reported, and finished seventh. The victory changed their final position but did not give them a postseason place.

What Seoul plans for Jamsil after 2026

The end of Jamsil’s regular-season schedule comes before a larger change for baseball in the city. Yonhap said the stadium will be demolished after the season to make room for a dome. A Seoul Metropolitan Government announcement in July 2024 set out where the two clubs based at Jamsil, Doosan and LG, are expected to play during construction.

Under Seoul’s plan, both teams would use Jamsil Main Stadium as a temporary home for five seasons, from 2027 through 2031. The city initially planned for about 18,000 seats there. It said upper-level seating could raise capacity above 30,000 for major games if safety monitoring permits; that larger figure is a possibility in the plan, not a confirmed operating capacity.

The conversion requires more than installing a baseball field. Seoul said the work would alter the existing football field and track, add dugouts and areas for players, and create pedestrian routes intended to protect spectators while construction takes place nearby. Those plans show how the replacement project would affect both clubs’ home games as well as access for fans.

Kim Tae-hyoung reflects on Jamsil and his Lotte future

For Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyoung, the last regular-season game at Jamsil also marked the end of a familiar setting. He told Yonhap that his first game there was as a college player during the 1988 Olympics and estimated that he had spent about 30 years of his baseball life at the stadium.

Kim’s connection to the ground extends through his playing and managerial careers with Doosan. Yonhap said he played for the Bears for 12 years, then led them to the Korean Series in every season from 2015 through 2021. Doosan won championships under him in 2015, 2016 and 2019.

His three-year contract with Lotte expires after the 2026 season. Asked about staying, Kim said, ‘If they wanted to keep me around beyond this year, they would have told me already.’ He added, ‘I guess we will find out in a couple of days.’ Yonhap’s interview did not establish a decision by the club, so his remarks leave his next job unresolved.

Kim also addressed Lotte’s failure to reach the postseason during his three years in charge. ‘I don’t want to make excuses. Someone has to take the responsibility,’ he said. The Giants’ final-day rise to seventh place closed their season, while Doosan’s already secured wild-card place meant the Bears still had a postseason game ahead.