The team ranked 1st and 2nd in the opening 10 games of '10 times in 11 years' → even caught 'final 1st place' in the regular season

*This content was translated by AI.

Ten KBO League clubs completed all 10 games each until the 8th after the opening of the 2026 season. It is still early in the season and only four teams have faced each other, so it seems that more time is needed to gauge the overall game.

Then, how should we look at the current rankings of each team. We compared the rankings of the "opening 10 games" and "final of the regular season" for 11 years from 2015 when the 10-team system began to last year. The season in which 10 clubs did not play 10 games at the same time as this year was based on the ranking at the time when more than five teams, half of them, played 10 games.

Regarding the final No. 1 team in the regular season, meaningful results came out. In seven of the 11 seasons, the No. 1 team in the opening 10 games ranked first until the final ranking. In three of the remaining four seasons, the team, which was second in the opening 10 games (jointly included), finished the pennant race in first place. This means that the early momentum has continued to the end of the season.

The probability may vary depending on various perspectives and criteria, but given the fact that "the first or second place in the opening 10 games in 10 of the 11 seasons has reached the final first place in the regular season," the odds of SSG Landers or KT Wiz, who are currently tied for first place in the regular season, are 91% (10/11).

The start of the season was at the bottom of the list, but there was only one time when it rose to the final first place. In 2021, KT tied for the lowest (4 wins and 6 losses) in the opening 10 games, but eventually ranked first in the pennant race and won the Korean Series.

What is the possibility of fall baseball. The correlation between the opening 10 games ranking and the postseason advancement was not as high as the first place in the regular season.

For 11 years, 59 teams ranked within the top five based on the opening 10 games, including the joint ranking. Among them, 36 teams reached the final five of the regular season and reached the fall baseball league, accounting for 61%. In particular, in 2023, the top five teams in the opening 10 games (although the rankings have changed) all won postseason tickets as they were.

On the other hand, there were not a few cases where the team, which was sluggish in the beginning, succeeded in rebounding. Hanwha Eagles, who were the lowest (3 wins and 7 losses) in the opening 10 games last year, made a final second-place turnaround, and the Samsung Lions also tied for 8th (2 wins, 1 draw and 7 losses) in 10 games in 2024, but eventually rose to 2nd place in the regular season.

Now each team has only played 6.9% of the total 144 games. There is no need to be relieved that the start is good or disappointed that the start is sluggish. This year is April, when the team and fans are excited about who will produce a touching drama.

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*This content was translated by AI.