Although the regular season has turned the corner, the professional baseball rankings are unpredictable. The race, with a 5.5-game gap between 1st and 7th place, continues as the season reaches its halfway mark.
As of the 19th, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League has completed 50% of its regular season schedule. Out of a total of 720 games, 360 have been played, but it remains uncertain which team will win and which teams will make it to the postseason.
The rankings from 1st to 7th place are tightly packed. The gap between 1st place Hanwha and 7th place KT is only 5.5 games. There has never been a time at this point in the season where the gap between 1st and 7th has been so small.
Since the introduction of the 10-team system in 2015, there have been 7 seasons out of 10 where the gap between 1st and 7th place at the halfway point was more than 10 games. In 2019, the gap between 1st place SK and 7th place KT was as much as 18 games. Last year, the gap between 1st place KIA and 7th place Hanwha was 9 games.
The year 2015 was the year with the narrowest gap as of the halfway point of the season. At that time, the gap between 1st place Samsung and the 6th place teams SK and KIA was only 6 games. However, this year, it is even less at 5.5 games, marking an unprecedentedly tight race.
In the midst of power normalization, there is no team that is leading alone. The teams in 1st and 2nd place, Hanwha and LG, are separated by merely 0.5 games, but they are unable to pull away significantly. Lotte, in 3rd place, is trailing 2.5 games behind 1st place Hanwha and is consistently keeping pace with the frontrunners. 4th place Samsung, 5th place KIA, 6th place SSG, and 7th place KT are separated by just 1 game, with rankings changing almost daily.
Additionally, 8th place NC is also in the competition for the postseason, trailing 5th place KIA by 3.5 games. Excluding 9th and 10th place Doosan and Kiwoom, all eight teams can aim for the postseason. Any team within the 7th place could potentially aim for 1st if they catch the right momentum.
Such a fierce competition for rankings greatly aids the popularity of the KBO League. As temperatures rise and the rainy season approaches in June, attendance typically decreases, but this year, an average of 17,205 fans have continued to visit baseball stadiums even in June.
This is an increase of 11.4% compared to last year's average attendance in June of 15,236 fans, which was the first time in domestic professional sports history that attendance exceeded 10 million. The continued competitive rankings starting in July are expected to attract even more fans during the sweltering summer.
Another noteworthy aspect is that the current top five teams—Hanwha, LG, Lotte, Samsung, and KIA—are popular teams nationwide in the KBO League. Given that strong ticket-selling teams are competing at the top, it is fair to say that an optimal setup for the KBO League's excitement has been created. Until now, it has never happened that the so-called 'Elrotgisamhan' teams have all advanced to the postseason. Among them, it was only last year (KIA, Samsung, LG) that three teams made it to the postseason under the 10-team system.
By the 19th, a total of 6,214,540 fans (an average of 17,263 fans) had attended the KBO League's 360 games. This is a pace that could theoretically bring in 12,429,080 fans. With last year's attendance reaching 10,887,705, there is a significant enthusiasm for baseball, aiming to surpass 11 million and even reach 12 million.
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