'77.8% comeback' KIA or '61.5% at home' Samsung? A nail-biting Game 5 with a Korean Series berth on the line

[Financial News = Jeon Sang-il] Will the Tigers, revived from the brink, keep charging forward, or will the Lions, back on home turf, hold their ground? The final roll of the dice to decide who will face KT Wiz, the first team to clinch a spot in the Korean Series (KS), will come down to the decisive fifth game.
On the 30th, KIA Tigers beat the Samsung Lions 4–2 in Game 4 of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League playoff (best-of-five), played at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field. Led by Han Jun-soo's game-winning hit and a string of stellar outings from their lockdown bullpen, KIA leveled the series at two wins apiece. The fateful winner-take-all game, which will determine both teams' fortunes this fall, will be played on November 1 at Daegu Samsung Lions Park.
With a do-or-die showdown ahead, the baseball world is focused on the 'Game 5 statistics' accumulated over past postseasons. Both teams have clear historical evidence pointing to a win for them.
KIA, riding the momentum, can take heart from the overwhelming 77.8% figure. Since 1986, a best-of-five playoff series has gone to a fifth game 15 times. In seven of those nine cases (77.8%), a team that split the first two games, lost Game 3, then revived its chances with a Game 4 win went on to claim the decisive fifth game.
The scenario has played out three times, including in 1992 with the Lotte Giants, 2002 with LG Twins and 2015 with Doosan Bears, when the Semi-Playoff winner toppled the regular-season runner-up in a seemingly miraculous 'win-loss-loss-win-win' sequence, as it could this year. KIA, the victim of those brutal reversals in 1992 and 2002, is now aiming for a Korean Series berth from the opposite position.



Samsung, back on home turf, is counting on the historical edge of finishing second in the regular season and the advantage of playing at home. In the 13 Game 5 playoff series held since 1989 under the single-league format, second-place teams posted an 8–5 record (61.5%), outperforming teams that advanced from the Semi-Playoffs.
Above all, Samsung has a painful lesson from the fall of 2025 fresh in its memory. That year, Samsung advanced in fourth place and fought a grueling five-game series against second-place Hanwha, but ultimately lost. Now, with the roles reversed and Samsung qualifying as the regular-season runner-up a year later, the team is determined to exact full revenge in front of its home fans in Daegu. The squad also remembers the thrilling miracle in Daegu in 2010, when it came back from a 0–5 deficit against Doosan in Game 5 of the playoffs to win 6–5 after an 11-inning extra-innings battle.
KIA's momentum, having summoned the 77.8% miracle with its Game 4 victory, meets the desperation of Samsung, the home-side Lions with a 61.5% historical edge. At the final checkpoint on the road to the Korean Series, a true 'winner-take-all' showdown—with everything on the line—is about to begin.


[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter