KBO Semi-Playoff 2026: KIA rout LG 13-1 in Game 3 at Jamsil to sweep the series 3-0, and meet Samsung in the Playoff in Daegu on October 25 while KT wait in Suwon from November 2

KIA needed only three games to win the Semi-Playoff. After 5-1 in Game 1 on Saturday, October 17 and 6-3 in Game 2 on Sunday, October 18, they won Game 3 13-1 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on Tuesday, October 20. The series finished KIA three, LG none. Of the ways our previous piece set out, it is KIA winning Game 3 and ending the series that day, so Game 4 on October 21 and Game 5 on October 23 were not played. LG, fourth in the regular season, had come through the Wild Card round against Doosan, and their postseason ends here.

The game records here come straight from the data behind this site's game pages, as of the morning of October 23. The series score and the next round come from the calculation behind the postseason page, the dates, start times and parks from the schedule the KBO announced on October 7, and the broadcasters from the schedule feed. This piece covers only the finished games and the arithmetic of the games left, and makes no forecast.

Game 3 at the plate. It was decided in the top of the second. With nobody out, 나성범 hit a solo homer to center off LG starter Carlos Carrasco, which was scored as the game-winning hit. KIA scored seven in the inning, and 김도영 hit a grand slam off reliever Jon Kennedy, his third home run of the series. KIA added a run in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh and three in the eighth. 나성범 hit his second solo homer of the night off 우강훈 in the sixth, and 한준수 a solo homer off 김영우 in the seventh. That made four home runs, and KIA out-hit LG 16-8. 김도영 drove in four, 나성범, 박정우, 한준수 and Park Min two each, and 박재현 one. 나성범 went 2 for 4 with two homers and 박정우 2 for 5. Park Min, off the bench, went 1 for 1 with a double in the eighth and two RBI.

LG's run came in the bottom of the sixth, driven in by Austin Dean. 박해민 doubled in the sixth and went 1 for 4, and 구본혁 went 2 for 4. LG made one error (문정빈 in the second) and KIA none.

Game 3 pitching. KIA starter Shirakawa Keisho won it, allowing one run on four hits in five innings with no walks and nine strikeouts, on 76 pitches. 정해영, 이태양, 이의리, 김태형 and 황동하 then pitched four scoreless innings, and KIA's pitchers struck out 12 in all. LG starter Carlos Carrasco took the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) on three hits, one of them a home run, in an inning and a third, on 45 pitches. LG used eight pitchers, who threw 216 pitches.

The series in total. KIA outscored LG 24-5 over the three games and out-hit them 32-24. KIA hit seven home runs (three by 김도영, two by 나성범, one each by Harold Castro and 한준수) to LG's one (송찬의). 김도영 went 3 for 9 in the series, all three hits home runs, with eight RBI. LG's 박해민 went 7 for 12. KIA starters James Naile, Adam Oller and Shirakawa allowed four runs in 18 innings; LG starters Anders Tolhurst, Chan Kyu Im and Carrasco allowed 13 runs (11 earned) in six and two-thirds. Games 1 and 2 are in our previous piece.

The Playoff: arithmetic and schedule. The Playoff is a best of five between second-place Samsung (83-58-3 in the regular season) and third-place KIA (79-63-2). Game 1 at 14:00 on Sunday, October 25 and Game 2 at 18:30 on Monday, October 26 are Samsung home games at Daegu Samsung Lions Park. Game 3 on Wednesday, October 28 and Game 4 on Thursday, October 29 are KIA home games at Gwangju Kia Champions Field at 18:30, and Game 5 is back in Daegu at 14:00 on Saturday, October 31. Games 4 and 5 are played only if needed. If one side wins the first three, it ends on October 28; at 2-2, Game 5 on October 31 decides it. The schedule feed lists the broadcasters as MBC for Game 1, KBS2 for Game 2, SBS for Game 3, MBC for Game 4 and KBS2 for Game 5. KIA get four days off after Game 3 on October 20. Games rained out move to the next day, so later dates can change.

What comes next. First-place KT (90-49-5) wait for the Playoff winner in the Korean Series, a best of seven that starts at 18:30 on Monday, November 2 at Suwon KT Wiz Park. The home pattern is 2-3-2: Games 1 and 2 (November 2 and 3) in Suwon, Games 3, 4 and 5 (November 5, 6 and 7) at the Playoff winner's park, and Games 6 and 7 (November 9 and 10) back in Suwon. Games 5, 6 and 7 are played only if needed.

How to read these numbers. The Semi-Playoff and Playoff go to the first club to three wins, and the Korean Series to the first to four. Postseason games run to a maximum of 15 innings and are drawn if still level, and a draw does not count as a win. The postseason page shows the bracket and each series' score, the series pages each game's result and the schedule, the game pages the line score and player records, and the fixtures the games left. Each club's record is on its team page: KIA, Samsung, LG, KT.