‘Goodbye, Jamsil Rivalry’: LG beats Doosan; Im Chan-kyu takes sole lead with 15 wins

[Financial News] Professional baseball’s LG Twins sealed a win in their final “two families under one roof” matchup against the Doosan Bears at the current Jamsil Stadium, which is set to disappear into history.
LG beat Doosan 7-5 in their home game in the 2026 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 7th. Before the game, players from both teams took a group photo on the field to mark the final regular-season rivalry game at Jamsil, which is to be demolished ahead of the construction of a new domed stadium in 2032.
In the starting-pitcher matchup between the two teams’ domestic aces, who are locked in a fierce race for the most wins, LG’s Im Chan-kyu came out on top. Im struggled, giving up six hits and five runs over five innings, but with help from his team’s offense, earned his 15th win of the season (against seven losses), moving ahead of Choi Min-seok (Doosan) and Go Young-pyo (KT) to take sole possession of the wins lead. Doosan’s Choi, meanwhile, was handed the loss (14-5) after being rocked for 10 hits, including one home run, and seven runs, six earned, over 42⁄3 innings.

LG took control with Lee Jae-won’s towering 145-meter, three-run homer in the bottom of the second. Doosan rallied for five runs in the top of the third, including a two-run RBI single by Kim Min-seok, to take the lead, but LG tied it 5-5 in the bottom half on Moon Bo-kyung’s two-run single to right. Then, with two outs and runners on first and second in the bottom of the fifth, Lee Jae-won hit an infield single and an error on the throw by opposing third baseman Ahn Jae-seok allowed two runners to score, putting LG back ahead 7-5. From the sixth inning, LG’s bullpen—Kim Kang-ryul, John Kennedy, Ko Woo-suk and Son Joo-young (31 saves this season)—each pitched a scoreless inning.
With the win, LG improved to 77 wins, one tie and 63 losses. Doosan, which lost, fell to 73 wins, five ties and 65 losses; its chance of finishing third disappeared, and fifth place in the regular season was confirmed, meaning it will begin its postseason run in the wild-card series.


In Suwon, KT Wiz’s Choi Won-jun piled up three hits against the Samsung Lions to set a new KBO League single-season record with 204 hits. He tied the previous record of 202, held by Víctor Reyes, with a double in the fifth, broke the record with a single to left in the seventh, and reached 204 with an RBI hit in the eighth. KT added Sam Hilliard’s 42nd home run of the season in the eighth—his fourth grand slam, tying the single-season record—and crushed Samsung 9-3 for its eighth straight win.
In Gwangju, third-place Kia Tigers held onto their spot by routing the Lotte Giants 12-4. Kim Do-young hit a bases-clearing double with one out and the bases loaded in the eighth, while starter Yang Hyeon-jong gave up three runs over five innings to earn his 12th win of the season and reach 198 career wins. Lotte’s Reyes added two hits to bring his season total to 203, closing to within one of Choi Won-jun.

At Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, the Kiwoom Heroes beat the Hanwha Eagles 5-3, powered by four home runs, including one by Matt Davidson. With the win in their final game, Kiwoom finished with 50 wins, four ties and 90 losses, becoming the first of the 10 clubs to wrap up its season.
In Incheon, the SSG Landers beat the NC Dinos 6-3, helped by Jeon Eui-san’s three-run homer in the third. With one more win in its remaining games, NC would secure sixth place and earn the right to host next season’s home opener.


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