Samsung's twelve-year wait for the Korean Series championship ended in emphatic fashion on November 8, 2026. The Lions defeated the KT Wiz 12-1 at Daegu Samsung Lions Park, completing a four-games-to-one victory over the regular-season leaders. An eight-run fifth inning turned a tense deciding game into a celebration before 23,550 spectators. The ninth championship in the club's history also marked the first time Samsung had clinched a Korean Series title at its current home ground, which opened in 2016.

The fifth game that ended a twelve-year wait

The final result settled a drought stretching back to 2014, when Samsung last lifted the Korean Series trophy. It was the Lions' ninth championship overall, with that total including their 1985 combined regular-season title. Sunday's win was also a landmark for Daegu Samsung Lions Park: the stadium had hosted Samsung since 2016 without witnessing a Lions championship clincher. A home crowd of 23,550 watched a side that began the week as a challenger complete the season as champions.

The decisive score was lopsided, but the game did not start that way. KT, seeking its first title since 2021, pushed ahead in the third inning on Jang Jin-hyuk's sacrifice fly. Samsung replied with three runs in the bottom half, including Koo Ja-wook's tying double and Lewin Díaz's go-ahead single. From 3-1, the Lions protected their advantage long enough for the next major swing to settle the contest. Their victory ended a best-of-seven series after only five games.

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How the Lions recovered from an opening defeat

Samsung did not dominate the series from its first pitch. The Wiz won Game 1 in Suwon 8-7, putting their opponents immediately behind. Samsung answered with a 3-2 victory in 12 innings in Game 2. Back in Daegu, the Lions took Games 3 and 4 by scores of 5-1 and 10-5, respectively, before Sunday's 12-1 finish. That sequence matters: the championship came from four consecutive wins after an initial loss, rather than an uninterrupted march from the opener.

The teams had entered the postseason from different positions. KT finished first in the regular season and advanced directly to the Korean Series; Samsung finished second, eight games back, and had to get through the Kia Tigers in the preceding playoff round. The Lions won that round 3-2, giving them a demanding route to the final. The long campaign and extra playoff games made the title less a routine confirmation of league standings than a postseason reversal of them.

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Eight runs in the fifth changed everything

The fifth inning provided the clearest explanation for the final margin. Samsung scored eight times, carrying a 3-1 lead to 11-1. KT shortstop Kwon Dong-jin committed two damaging errors during an inning in which Samsung sent 12 batters to the plate. Six of the eight runs were unearned, according to Korea JoongAng Daily. Kim Ji-chan delivered a two-run triple as the rally gathered force, and Samsung added another run in the eighth to arrive at the final 12-1 score.

That burst should not obscure the work on the mound. Starting pitcher Won Tae-in allowed one run over five innings, giving up four hits and two walks while striking out five. He collected the win and Game 5's daily MVP award. Chris Paddack, normally part of the starting rotation, then pitched four perfect relief innings, retiring all 12 batters he faced. Together they denied KT any route back into the game after Samsung had established its overwhelming lead.

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Koo Ja-wook turned persistence into MVP honors

Captain Koo Ja-wook was voted Korean Series most valuable player with 72 of 97 votes from the press corps. His five-game line was .500, with 10 hits in 20 at-bats, one home run, six runs batted in and five runs scored. He went 3-for-5 with an RBI in the clincher. His double in the third inning erased KT's early lead and made the eventual celebration possible before the spectacular fifth-inning rally even began.

Those numbers followed an uneasy road through injury. Koo had missed the final stretch of the regular season because of hamstring trouble and struggled to a 3-for-20 performance in the playoff round against Kia. But he homered in the Korean Series opener and then recorded hits in every game of the final. The MVP vote recognized production when Samsung needed it most, not simply the reputation of its captain. For Koo, the trophy also brought his first Korean Series championship ring.

Sources: Koo Ja-wook powers Samsung Lions to title, wins Korean Series MVP through injury · First Championship Ring on Wounded Legs: Samsung's Koo Ja-wook Named Korean Series MVP · 22년 기다린 강민호·첫 반지 구자욱…대구를 적신 눈물

A first ring for Kang Min-ho and a new chapter for Park

Perhaps no individual wait was longer than catcher Kang Min-ho's. The 41-year-old debuted in professional baseball with the Lotte Giants in 2004 and finally won his first Korean Series ring on Sunday. Yonhap described it as the first title of his 23-season career; some Korean-language coverage called it a 22-year wait since his debut. The phrasings count time differently, but they describe the same achievement. Kang had reached the final with Samsung in 2024 only to finish as runner-up.

Manager Park Jin-man celebrated his first Korean Series championship as a manager, after losing the 2024 final to Kia. As a player, he had won six championships and earned the 2006 Korean Series MVP award. Veteran Choi Hyoung-woo, meanwhile, returned to Samsung this season and added another title to a career that already included championships with the Lions and Kia. For this club, the victory was not solely a breakthrough for a young core: it was also the reward for experienced figures whose routes back to the top had taken years.

Sources: Lions beat steep odds to capture Korean Series title · 22년 기다린 강민호·첫 반지 구자욱…대구를 적신 눈물 · Samsung Lions Claim 9th Korean Series Title After Defeating KT Wiz

What the result says about the KBO postseason

KT's regular-season title made the Wiz favorites by the league's standings, but those standings did not guarantee the Korean Series. Samsung became the first second-place finisher to win the championship since the SK Wyverns did so in 2018. That ended an eight-year run in which the team that finished first in the regular season also won the Korean Series. The contrast is the central competitive story: the Lions had to survive an additional playoff and then beat the club that had led them over the full schedule.

For KT, the end was abrupt. The Wiz took the opener, then lost four straight and watched the clinching game move beyond reach in a single inning. For Samsung, the championship binds several stories together: an offense led by a captain playing through injury, a starting pitcher and an unusual four-inning relief appearance, a veteran catcher's first ring, and a manager's first title in charge. The most permanent number is the twelve-year gap now closed. The Lions are Korean Series champions again.

Sources: Lions defeat Wiz for 1st Korean Series title in 12 yrs · Samsung Lions rout KT Wiz to win first Korean Series since 2014 · Lions beat steep odds to capture Korean Series title · 22년 기다린 강민호·첫 반지 구자욱…대구를 적신 눈물