2017 Korean Series


The 2017 Korean Series was the championship series of the 2017 KBO League season. The Kia Tigers, as the regular season champions, automatically advanced to the Korean Series. They played the winner of the playoff series, the Doosan Bears, who defeated the NC Dinos in the playoff. Kia won the best-of-seven series, 4–1. Yang Hyeon-jong was named the series' most valuable player

Summary

Matchups

Game 1

, the President of South Korea, threw the ceremonial first pitch. Dustin Nippert started Game 1 for Doosan and Héctor Noesí started for Kia. Oh Jae-won drew a walk with the bases loaded in the fourth inning to score Doosan's first run. In the fifth inning, Park Kun-woo hit a run batted in single, and Kim Jae-hwan and Oh Jae-il hit back-to-back home runs for Doosan in the fifth inning. In their half of the fifth inning, Roger Bernadina hit a three-run home run for Kia, and Doosan held on to win 5–3.

Game 2

started Game 2 for the Tigers, while Chang Won-jun started for the Bears. Yang threw a complete game shutout, allowing four hits and recording 11 strikeouts. Kim Joo-chan scored the game's only run in the eighth inning after hitting a double.

Game 3

threw seven innings for Kia. He pitched aggressively, inducing weak contact from Doosan's hitters. Lee Myung-ki hit an RBI double in the third inning to give Kia a 1-0 lead, and An Chi-hong hit a two RBI single in the fourth inning to increase the lead to 3-0. The Bears scored in the bottom of the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly by Yang Eui-ji, but the Tigers scored again in the fifth inning with an RBI single by Bernadina. Nick Evans hit a home run for the Bears in the seventh inning and Kim Jae-hwan had an RBI for the Bears in the eighth inning to narrow the score to 4-3. Na Ji-wan entered the game as a pinch hitter for Kia in the ninth inning, and hit a two-run home run.

Game 4

started for the Tigers, and Yoo Hee-kwan started for the Bears. Bernadina hit an RBI triple in the first inning for Kia, and scored on a single by Choi Hyung-woo. The Tigers scored two more runs in the seventh inning. The Bears scored a run in the eighth inning, but Kia scored a run in the top of the ninth inning. Kim Se-hyun earned his second save of the series for the Tigers, pitching the final innings.

Game 5

Game 5 was a rematch of Game 1's starting pitchers, Noesí for Kia and Nippert for Doosan. Lee Bum-ho hit a grand slam for Kia off of Nippert in the third inning. Yang Hyeon-jong earned the save, pitching out of a bases loaded situation in the ninth inning. Kia won their first Korean Series since 2009. Yang won the Korean Series Most Valuable Player Award.