Why did ‘championship commander’ Lee Beom-ho, the manager of the KIA Tigers, dismiss the evaluation that they are the absolute top team despite having the strongest roster this year?
With the start of the professional baseball season just two days away, numerous experts in the baseball community are predicting another championship for the superior KIA Tigers in the 2025 season, which brought home the unified championship last year. Most commentators are predicting a two-peat for KIA this year, and the managers of teams that faced KIA in the exhibition games noted, “KIA's roster seems really good again this year. Both the batting lineup and the mound are not easy to tackle,” identifying the tiger corps as the primary target.
KIA's batting lineup, like last year, provides no respite for pitchers. The table-setting duo of Park Chan-ho and Choi Won-jun, who excel in offense, defense, and base running, is supported by heavy hitters including superstar Kim Do-young, Na Sung-bum, Patrick Wisdom, and Choi Hyung-woo, all placed at the center. Additionally, the lower batting order featuring Kim Sun-bin, Kim Tae-gun, and Lee Woo-sung is formidable. Players such as Han Jun-soo, Byeon Woo-hyeok, Seo Geon-chang, Han Seung-taek, and Hong Jong-pyo have enough experience in the first team to serve as reliable backups, showcasing a solid depth.
The mound will be led by ‘championship ace’ James Naile, who has been designated as the opening day starter, along with Adam Oller, Yang Hyun-jong, Yoon Young-cheol, and Kim Do-hyun making up the five-man rotation. In June, 'the second Yang Hyun-jong', Lee Yi-ri, will also return from injury. In terms of both quality and quantity, the bullpen is rated as the best in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) league. With a career total of 121 saves, closer Jeong Hae-young has elite setup men like Jeon Sang-hyun, Jo Sang-woo, Choi Ji-min, Kwak Do-gyu, and Kim Dae-yu backing him up, with an ideal left-right balance.
But why did the commander dismiss the evaluation of being the absolute top team? Recently, meeting with manager Lee Beom-ho on site, he revealed, “The evaluation of being the absolute top team is frankly burdensome. I'm not the type to think deeply about such things.” He added, “There is neither an absolute top team nor an absolute bottom team. The power of all 10 teams is quite similar. From last year's games, I felt that the outcomes often came down to a matter of just a paper's width. The losing team had opportunities to score, and we also had opportunities to pull away, but neither team could score, resulting in a competitive match.”
He further noted, “The evaluation that we are the absolute top team is just a prediction made by many people. You only know how the game ends when it is actually played. We don’t think much about the assessment that we must be first just because we have good members this year.”
This year, KIA plans to hold games that provide excitement to the Tigers fans, rather than just aiming for the championship. True to being a nationwide team, numerous fans visited the stadiums across Gwangju, Sajik, Changwon, and Jamsil right from the exhibition games, and all players felt a greater sense of duty upon seeing fans queuing up for entrance as early as morning, even for exhibition games.
Manager Lee Beom-ho said, “KIA has a large fan base, and the fans have a deep affection for baseball. I believe this is the greatest benefit we can enjoy,” adding, “The players must repay this, and they are aware of this and are working hard. It is also important for the manager and coaches to create an environment for the players to perform well. If many fans come to support us this year, I believe our players will perform even better as they are accustomed to such games.”
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