A 4–1 series win over KT, sealed in Daegu: series MVP Koo Ja-wook, Kang Min-ho’s first title, and the dugout on the day Samsung won the 2026 championship.
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The Samsung Lions have won the Korean Series for the first time in 12 years. They beat the KT Wiz 12–1 in Game 5 at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on November 8, 2026. After losing the opener, Samsung won four straight games to take the series 4–1. It was their first championship since 2014 and the ninth in franchise history.
KT scored first in the deciding game, too. Trailing 1–0 in the bottom of the third, Samsung drew level on Koo Ja-wook’s double. RBI hits by Lewin Díaz and Kim Young-woong then put them ahead 3–1. In the fifth, Samsung sent more than nine batters to the plate and scored eight runs. Hits by Choi Hyoung-woo, Kim Young-woong and Lee Jae-hyeon kept the inning moving, and Kim Ji-chan added a two-run triple.
Samsung entered the postseason as the regular season’s second-place team. They beat KIA 3–2 in the playoff series before facing first-place KT. A narrow 8–7 defeat in Game 1 was followed by a 3–2 win in 12 innings in Game 2. Back in Daegu, Samsung swept all three home games, winning 5–1, 10–5 and finally 12–1.
Captain Koo Ja-wook was named Korean Series MVP. He went 10-for-20 across the five games, batting .500 with one home run and six RBIs, and received 72 of the 97 media votes. A hamstring injury limited his ability to play the field, but he had a hit in every game of the series.
This was Koo’s first Korean Series title. Samsung lost to Doosan in 2015, his first season in the top division, and an injury kept him out when the team returned to the series in 2024. This time he collected both the championship trophy as captain and the MVP trophy. Catcher Kang Min-ho also won his first championship, in his 23rd professional season, while Choi Hyoung-woo earned his seventh ring.
The club’s official LionsTV channel has preserved the view from the dugout on the deciding day. Its Game 5 video includes the third-inning turnaround, the eight-run fifth and the players waiting for the last out. The November 8 game can be revisited in the video below.
LionsTV · Korean Series Game 5 dugout video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7bLBsAqP6o
Sources and editorial notes
LionsTV · 11월 8일 한국시리즈 5차전 공식 영상
Editorial note: Facts were checked against the linked material. Interpretations are MUADAILY’s editorial perspective. Image: LionsTV · Official video preview · Preview of Samsung Lions’ official dugout video from Game 5 of the 2026 Korean Series.
Machine-translated from Korean. Read the original.
