"It's a war to get tickets." Finally, KBO's opening fanfare at five stadiums nationwide! Should LG Moon Bo-kyung write the KBO's first record

*This content was translated by AI.

The opening game of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League will visit fans.

In the 2026 KBO exhibition game, the highest number of spectators ever recorded 440,247, raising expectations for the regular season.

The KBO League, which drew 12,312,519 spectators last year to make a new history in Korean professional sports, is expected to surpass 10 million spectators for the third consecutive year following this year's heat. We looked at the key records to be written in the opening game, which will be the starting point, and the true records of all-time opening games.

▲ The 2nd record ever... Will it be possible to sell out all the stadiums for the opening game for four consecutive years

Getting tickets is a war. In the meantime, the KBO League, which had a full crowd of all games in the opening game of the 2023 season, sold out with a total of 109,950 spectators in the 2025 season following the 2024 season. If all five opening games of this season are sold out, they will succeed in selling out all the stadiums for the opening games for the fourth consecutive year. It will be the second record in history to continue selling out all stadiums for the opening games for the first four consecutive years, which was recorded in the 2009-2012 season under the eight-team system.

▲ Koo Chang-mo of NC, who is proud of his native species

In the opening game of the 2025 season, all 10 clubs have foreign pitchers starting, setting a record for the first time in eight years that all the opening pitchers have taken the mound. This season, Koo Chang-mo will be the only Korean pitcher to take the mound as the starting pitcher for the opening game. He is a Korean pitcher who will take the lead in starting the opening game for the first time in two years following Hanwha Ryu Hyun-jin and SSG Kim Kwang-hyun in the 2024 season.

All clubs except NC have foreign pitchers. Doosan, which faces Koo Chang-mo, counters with Flexen, who returned to the KBO league. Starting with the 2024 season when he was a member of Kiwoom, Samsung Furado will play as the starting pitcher for the third consecutive year and face Rodriguez, a new foreign player from Lotte. LG Chirinos and KIA Nail will take the lead for the second consecutive year and face KT Sauer and SSG White, respectively. The new face of Hanwha, Hernandez, will have a battle of pride with Kiwoom Alcantara.

▲ Kang Min-ho of Samsung, who sees the most hits ever in the opening game

Kang Min-ho has recorded a total of 20 hits in the opening game, tied for first place with Kim Kwang-rim (former double bubble), Kim Tae-kyun (former Hanwha), and Jung Geun-woo (former LG). If he plays in the match against Lotte in Daegu on the 28th and has more than one hit, he will become the lone top-ranked player.

Among active players, KT Kim Hyun-soo will chase Kang Min-ho. Kim Hyun-soo, who had 19 hits in the opening game of all time, can become the No. 1 hit in the opening game when he has the most ties and two hits in the game against LG on the 28th.

▲ Kiwoom Yeo Dong-wook's unforgettable shot...Will it have a strong impact

Yeo Dong-wook hit a solo home run against Samsung Furado in the top of the second inning in Daegu, Kiwoom's 2025 season opener, setting a record for his first at-bat home run since his debut in the opening game. It is the third time in history that a rookie hit his first at-bat home run in the opening game after Cho Kyung-hwan (former Lotte) in the 1998 season and Kang Baek-ho (Hanwha) in the 2018 season. Yeo Dong-wook made this record as a high school graduate rookie with Kang Baek-ho, making an unforgettable debut.

▲ The number of strikeouts in the opening game was 12 by Kiwoom Ahn Woo-jin.The main character of "200K Era" is

Ahn Woo-jin, who has 12 strikeouts against Hanwha in the opening game of the 2023 season, holds the record for the most strikeouts in all-time opening games. A total of five players, including Ahn Woo-jin, recorded double-digit strikeouts in the opening game, while Joo Hyung-kwang (former Lotte), Jung Min-cheol (former Hanwha - two times), Hernandez (former SK) and Kelly (former SK) recorded 10 strikeouts in the opening game.

Last season, Ponce (former Hanwha), Anderson (former SSG), Riley (NC), and Weiss (former Hanwha) opened the "200K era" with four people together for the first time in history, and attention is focused on who will challenge Ahn Woo-jin's record in the opening game.

▲ Should LG Moon Bo-kyung, the 2026 WBC RBI king, shoot another home run for the opening game

Moon Bo-kyung hit a two-run home run against Barnes in Jamsil Lotte on March 22 last year, the opening game of the 2025 season, and was honored with his first home run. Moon Bo-kyung, who finished the season with LG's combined victory, boasted a strong batting sense, leaving 11 RBIs with a batting average of 0.438 in the 2026 WBC, ranking first in RBIs in the tournament. Following the momentum, he will try to hit his first home run for the second consecutive year in the opening game.

The main character who recorded the most home runs in the opening game was Han Dae-hwa, who recorded a total of three times in 1983, 1990, and 1997. Only Lee Man-soo (1982, 1989), Kim Sung-han (1988, 1991) and Lee Seung-yeop (2001, 2003) recorded two episodes side by side. Moon Bo-kyung is challenging his first home run record in the opening game for the second consecutive year.

The opening game to announce the start of the 2026 KBO League will be held at 2 p.m. on the 28th in Jamsil (KT-LG), Munhak (KIA-SSG), Daegu (Lotte-Samsung), Changwon (Doosan-NC), and Daejeon (Kiwoom).

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*This content was translated by AI.