“Now I see why everyone keeps talking about Kim Do-young!” The miraculous bottom of the eighth that clinched third place for his team and snatched the outright home run crown

[Financial News] Could there be a more perfect “dopamine rush” scenario for fans of the Tigers? “Baseball genius” Kim Do-young, 23, hit an unbelievable game-winning home run in the decisive moment of the most dramatic bottom of the eighth in the final, 144th game of the regular season, securing third place for his team and crowning himself the outright home run king all at once.
The Kia Tigers beat the LG Twins 4-2 on the 12th in a nail-biting battle in the final game of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field. KIA held off a late charge by fourth-place LG to secure third place in the regular-season standings and claim a direct berth in the Semi-playoffs, which begin on the 17th.
As befitted a win-or-go-home showdown with both teams’ fates on the line, the game remained a tense, nail-biting contest throughout. After Park Jae-hyun’s lightning-quick solo homer to right put KIA ahead in the bottom of the first, LG answered with Park Dong-won’s solo shot to left in the top of the second. KIA extended its lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth on Kim Sun-bin’s deft safety squeeze bunt, but in the top of the sixth, with two outs, Moon Jeong-bin hit a game-tying solo homer to center off KIA reliever Cho Sang-woo, bringing the score back to 2-2.



A tense, knife-edge game with heaven and hell hanging in the balance. The hero who came to the Tigers’ rescue was, as expected, “superstar” Kim Do-young.
In the fateful bottom of the eighth, leadoff hitter Park Jae-hyun reached base with a surprise bunt single to third, setting the table. Kim Do-young stepped up with no outs and a runner on first to face LG left-handed reliever John Kennedy. After calmly taking two balls, Kim wasted no time swinging when Kennedy’s third-pitch slider, in the 130-km/h range, drifted into the middle of the strike zone.
With a crisp crack, the ball soared deep and cleared the center-field fence at Gwangju by a wide margin, becoming a dagger-like game-winning two-run homer. It was his 45th of the season and the 100th home run of Kim Do-young’s career—and it came at the most important moment.
The impact of that one swing was immense. After Hilliard (KT) hit back-to-back home runs the previous day to draw level with Kim at 44 and leave him with Hilliard breathing down his neck, Kim’s homer put him back one ahead and restored his place as the sole leader in home runs. It was an emphatic show of force that put a seal on the regular-season MVP race.
Fueled by Kim Do-young’s 45th homer, KIA celebrated the victory. The team gained ample time to rest and regroup before Game 1 of the Semi-playoffs, which will be played at home in Gwangju on the 17th.



LG, meanwhile, suffered a devastating blow from Kim Do-young just as it was on the verge of reclaiming third place, and fell into a brutal “autumn hell.” After losing to KIA for the seventh straight time at a crucial moment and finishing the regular season in fourth, LG must play the wild card decider against fifth-place Doosan Bears at Jamsil on the 14th, with no time to rest. Doosan is waiting, fired up, with its formidable pitching duo—Kwak Bin in Game 1 and Choi Min-seok in Game 2—well rested. For LG, which lost despite using its entire bullpen, this is the worst-case scenario: facing a formidable opponent with its back to the wall.
On the final day of the regular season, the finale to the 144-game marathon became a one-man show by a 23-year-old genius hitter shining brighter than anyone else. Kim Do-young’s bat rescued his team from hell and led it to paradise, putting the perfect finishing touch on the 2026 KBO League season.


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