KBO sets October 14 postseason start as final places remain unsettled

The Korea Baseball Organization announced in Seoul on October 7 that its 2026 postseason will begin on Wednesday, October 14, with a wild-card game. The opening round will determine which of the fourth- and fifth-place regular-season teams advances, but those places had not been settled in Yonhap News Agency’s October 7 report. For clubs and supporters, the announcement fixes the start and format of the route to the Korean Series while leaving the opening matchup open.

How the KBO wild-card round works

The wild-card round can run for no more than two games, both at the fourth-place club’s home stadium, according to the KBO’s October 7 announcement. The fourth-place team needs only a win or a tie in either game to move on. The fifth-place team must win both. That means a fifth-place club has no room for a loss or draw, while the higher seed can settle the series in its first game.

The format has a short history of lower-seed upsets. Yonhap reported that the wild-card round was introduced in 2015 and that a fifth-place team had advanced past a fourth-place team only once: KT Wiz defeated the Doosan Bears in 2024. That precedent illustrates the challenge facing the fifth-place finisher under the same advancement rule this year; it does not identify which teams will play in the October 14 opener.

Which teams have secured their places

KT Wiz have already secured the regular-season pennant and a direct place in the Korean Series. Yonhap reported that they clinched it on October 5 with a 9-0 victory over the Lotte Giants in Suwon. Samsung Lions had secured second place by the time of Yonhap’s October 7 report, putting them into the later best-of-five round rather than the wild-card opener.

The route from the opener to the Korean Series

The wild-card winner is due to meet the third-place team in a best-of-five series, according to Yonhap. That winner then faces second-place Samsung Lions in another best-of-five series. The KBO’s announcement confirms that both of those rounds use a best-of-five format, followed by a best-of-seven Korean Series. The club emerging from the second best-of-five round will face KT Wiz for the championship.

Yonhap said the Korean Series is scheduled to begin on November 2, barring rain delays, and that the postseason could last as long as four weeks. A travel day is scheduled between series. Those dates describe the announced timetable, rather than results or a guarantee that every game will take place on its original date. The KBO says games that cannot be played because of rain may be postponed.

The KBO has also set where a full Korean Series would be played. As regular-season champions, KT Wiz would host Games 1 and 2 and, if needed, Games 6 and 7. The playoff winner would host Games 3, 4 and 5. The arrangement gives the pennant winner the opening games and the final two possible home dates, while the opposing club gets the middle stretch of the series.

What happens if a postseason game is tied or delayed

A postseason game may continue through 15 innings under the KBO rules. If neither team has won after the 15th, it is declared a tie. That provision is especially consequential in the wild-card round because a tie is enough for the fourth-place team to advance, whereas the fifth-place team needs two wins. The KBO says suspended-game rules apply in the postseason; its announcement excludes called games and no-games.

Rain remains a practical uncertainty for the published schedule. The KBO says an unplayed postseason game moves to the following day, with the rest of the schedule handled under its scheduling rules. Yonhap’s November 2 date for the Korean Series is therefore conditional. The immediate unanswered question is which clubs will finish third, fourth and fifth and enter each stage of the bracket; the October 7 reporting supplies a standings snapshot, not those final results.