1-1 after two games, win Game 3 = an 88.9% chance of the title... Samsung takes Game 3, now just “two wins” from V9

[Financial News] The Samsung Lions have seized a pivotal statistical advantage in their quest for a long-awaited ninth Korean Series title (V9).
Samsung beat kt wiz 5-1 in Game 3 of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO postseason Korean Series (KS, best-of-seven) at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on the 6th, combining starter Ariel Jurado’s gritty 108-pitch effort with a focused performance by the batting lineup.
Rallying from the shock of losing Game 1, Samsung won Game 2 on the road and Game 3 at home to take a 2-1 series lead and turn the tide, putting itself in an overwhelmingly favorable position in the postseason title race. In Korean Series history, teams that win Game 3 after the series is tied 1-1 have gone on to win the championship 88.9% of the time (16 of 18). For Samsung, which is looking to reclaim the title for the first time in 12 years after its last championship in 2014, the statistic could hardly be more welcome.
The game turned on Samsung’s ability to capitalize on the early command problems of kt wiz starter So Hyeong-jun. kt wiz struck first: in the top of the first, a double by Kim Min-hyeok and an RBI double by Sam Hilliard put the team ahead. Samsung quickly tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the inning on Choi Hyoung-woo’s RBI single to left.

In the pivotal bottom of the second, So Hyeong-jun, usually known as a “big-game pitcher,” suddenly lost his command and unraveled. He issued three walks and brought the bases-loaded, one-out trouble on himself, and Samsung took a 2-1 lead on an infield groundout by KIM Seong Yoon. With two outs and runners on first and third, captain Koo Ja-wook then smashed a two-run triple off the top of the right-field wall, quickly extending the lead to 4-1.
With the momentum on its side, Samsung added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Park Seung-gyu hit a solo homer to left off kt wiz’s third pitcher, Kim Jeong-un, with one out.
On the mound, playoff MVP Jurado once again showed his “force of nature.” He threw 108 pitches through seven innings, allowing six hits and one run while striking out six, in a performance that was close to flawless. Across three games (202⁄3 innings) this postseason, he has allowed just three runs and posted a dominant 3-0 record with a 1.31 ERA, anchoring Samsung’s pitching staff.
kt wiz starter So Hyeong-jun, meanwhile, recorded a quality start with four runs allowed over six innings, but the five walks he issued in the first two innings proved costly and saddled him with the loss. Despite outhitting Samsung 7-4, kt wiz lost Game 3 amid a frustrating inability to sustain its offense.

Meanwhile, all 23,550 seats at Daegu Samsung Lions Park sold out early that day, bringing cumulative postseason attendance to 252,500. It was the ballpark’s 49th consecutive sellout since Game 1 of the 2023 Korean Series, and a record 244th consecutive sellout in Korean Series history.
Game 4 of the Korean Series, a crucial matchup neither team can afford to concede, will be played at the same venue at 2 p.m. on the 7th.
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter