“As if to show the experts who mocked them as the weakest” — from eighth to third, KIA’s 2026 was a clear success

[Financial News] Though they fell at the final hurdle on the way to the Korean Series (KS), this was a fierce uprising by the Tigers that no one had expected.
KIA Tigers’ 2026 postseason journey came to an end with a 1–6 loss in Game 5, the decisive game of their best-of-five playoff series against the Samsung Lions, held on the 1st at Daegu Samsung Lions Park. The series ended 3–2. After staging a dramatic comeback in Game 4 with their backs to the wall, KIA took the series to a winner-take-all showdown, but could not clear the final hurdle and ended its season.
Still, what KIA accomplished this season was more than enough to earn applause, rather than be overshadowed by the disappointment of defeat.
KIA had plunged to eighth place last year, just one year after winning the overall title in 2024. Experts remained harsh in their assessments ahead of this season’s opening. The team’s spring training destination, which its players had traveled to the United States in business class to reach, soon became a remote island. Pessimistic predictions that KIA would languish near the bottom of the standings dominated.

But the Tigers proved themselves on the field. Their resurgence began in early May, when they were in sixth place, and continued with an explosive five-game winning streak in August, carrying them up to third. They finally secured a direct ticket to the semi-playoffs in the season finale.
In the postseason, they shook up the league by sweeping the defending champion LG Twins, winning all three games.

At the heart of this achievement, won in the face of pessimism, was a blend of experience and youth.
Led by Kim Do-yeong, who lit up the league and emerged as the home run king, Na Sung-bum and Harold Castro provided a solid core. Young players like Park Jae-hyun and Han Jun-soo broke out on the big stage of the postseason. The one-two punch of James Naile and Adam Oller, along with the rock-solid bullpen anchored by Jeon Sang-hyun, Cho Sang-woo and Sung Yeong-tak, kept opponents under pressure all autumn.
A seemingly miraculous rise to third in the regular season, followed by a nail-biting battle in Game 5 of the playoffs. Though their dream of winning the title came to an end, the uprising by the underdogs mocked as the “weakest” was enough to shake up the landscape of the entire league.
They were just one final step short of the top, but the Tigers’ advance—built on a strong backbone for a generational transition—was no failure.
The autumn of 2026 came to an end this way. But this team’s brilliant underdog story may be the real trailer heralding the arrival of an even more ruthless beast, one poised to devour the entire league next season.
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter