Even leading 8-0 and 9-0, they couldn't hold on, and now the score has been overturned to 7-2 in the bottom of the 9th! You have to watch Korean baseball until the very end to understand what's happening.

*This content was translated by AI.

It was an incredibly coincidental week where comeback victories kept piling up. Just a few days after games slipped away despite comfortable leads of eight or nine runs, this time a five-run lead in the final defensive inning of regulation collapsed completely. Behind the packaging of a thrilling match, the painful instability of professional baseball's performance once again revealed its bare face.

Even an overwhelming statistic showing a 99.2% win probability was nothing more than a number in front of an shaky mound. On the 23rd, the KIA Tigers suffered a shocking walk-off loss, 7-8, against the Kiwoom Heroes in an away game held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro-gu, Seoul, for the '2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League'. With a comfortable 7-2 lead and four consecutive winning series within reach, KIA surrendered as many as six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning alone, bringing about their own demise. They recorded two straight losses and finished the season with 60 wins, 50 losses, and 2 draws (winning percentage: 0.545).

In fact, until the latter half of that day's game, the tide of victory was completely tilted in KIA's favor. Starting ace James Neill pitched six innings allowing two runs with eight strikeouts, while Kim Tae-goon hit a two-run home run and Kim Sun-bin delivered an RBI single in the top of the eighth inning, extending the score to 7-2. According to Naver Sports' text broadcast, at the moment KIA's offense ended in the top of the ninth inning, their win probability reached as high as 98.8%.

However, an unbelievable disaster unfolded in the bottom of the ninth. Lee Tae-yang, who entered the game with a five-run lead, allowed a ground ball single to first baseman Kwon Hyuk-bin by the leadoff batter. Even when he retired pinch-hitter Lee Hyung-jong on a fly ball, Kiwoom's win probability had dropped to just 0.8%. In other words, KIA's win probability stood at 99.2%. But with consecutive hits from Seo Geon-chang and Choi Jae-hyun leading to one out with the bases loaded, the atmosphere shifted dramatically.

KIA urgently brought in left-handed closer Lee Ui-ri, who had not appeared in this three-game series at Gocheok, but could not contain Kiwoom's hot-hitting lineup. Kiwoom narrowed the gap to 4-7 with a two-run RBI single by Davison and then reached a bases-loaded opportunity with one out thanks to a walk by An Chi-hong. Kim Jae-hyun, who stepped up to the plate in that situation, crushed Lee Ui-ri's high fastball (clocked at 155 km/h) and hit an unbelievable walk-off grand slam that instantly overturned the game.

In fact, this absurd comeback loss is not just a problem of that day's game alone. On the 18th at Sajik Stadium, Kiwoom took an 8-0 lead against Lotte Giants but suffered a painful comeback defeat due to bullpen collapse. On the 21st in Daejeon, LG Twins were leading Hanwha Eagles by a wide margin of 9-0 before their mound completely fell apart, resulting in a shocking 11-15 comeback loss. The league, where even eight- or nine-run leads could not be taken for granted, has now reached the point where even a five-run lead in the ninth inning can be erased within one inning.

Such mound collapses are also creating an ambiguous situation regarding the unwritten rules of domestic professional baseball. In the top of the ninth inning with KIA leading 7-2 and two outs, Kim Min-gyu, who had been inserted as a pinch runner in the eighth inning, hit a ground ball single to left field. Kiwoom then adopted a stance that essentially did not hold the runner at first base by moving first baseman Davison back, opting for a quick resolution instead.

However, the situation unfolded where even a five-run lead was overturned within one inning in the bottom of the ninth. After the game on the 23rd, it was captured that KIA's "veteran" Na Sung-beom (37) and Kiwoom's "veteran" Seo Geon-chang (37) briefly exchanged words. It is widely believed in the industry that they had a conversation related to this incident.

Concerns are also being raised that the famous baseball saying, "It's not over until it's over," has been distorted into a synonym for mound self-destruction, excessive walks, and fielding errors rather than high-level pitching and hitting duels. With comfortable score margins evaporating in an instant and even unwritten rules becoming ambiguous, worries about the KBO League's gradual decline in quality are growing increasingly intense.

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*This content was translated by AI.