'Hotter than the championship season' KIA sets single-season record for most sold-out games! Kim Do-young's 40-home run challenge + Gwangju buzzes for autumn baseball

*This content was translated by AI.

Gwangju-Kia Champions Field, the home stadium of the Kia Tigers, was packed more frequently and intensely than during the 2024 Korean Series championship season. In KBO history, with challenges that will be remembered and autumn baseball ahead, Kia has set a new club record for the most sold-out games in a single season.

On the 5th, at the home game against KT Wiz held at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field during the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season, Kia announced that "all 20,500 tickets were sold by 3:15 p.m."

This marks the 31st sellout of the season. The previous club record was 30 times in 2024, when they won the championship. After tying the record with their 30th sellout in the game against KT on the previous day (the 4th), Kia set a new record just one day later. It is not as if Kia has been leading overwhelmingly throughout this year. As of the game on the 5th, they stood in fourth place with 64 wins, 2 draws, and 52 losses. However, the race for standings at the end of the season has heated up again.

Kia recorded 11 wins and 4 losses in 15 games in August, achieving a monthly winning percentage of 0.733, ranking first among all teams. Although they stumbled after losing two consecutive games on an away trip to Changwon against NC, they secured a 4-3 victory over the top-ranked KT on the 4th, thanks to Byun Woo-hyuk's walk-off sacrifice fly in extra innings of the 10th inning. They are now 2.5 games behind third-place LG and 6.5 games behind first-place KT. The final regular-season standings remain undetermined.

And there is another powerful reason leading Gwangju fans to the ballpark right now: Kim Do-young's bat. With 39 home runs this season, Kim Do-young stands just one away from becoming the youngest player in KBO history to hit 40 home runs in a single season. The deadline to surpass the record set by former manager Lee Seung-yeop at the age of 22 years, 11 months, and 5 days in 1999 is the 6th.

The final blow has been elusive. After hitting his 39th home run against Lotte in Gwangju on the 26th of last month, the home run clock stopped due to consecutive rain cancellations. There were also missed opportunities in the game against KT on the 4th. In the third inning, Kim Do-young hit a powerful ball traveling at 174.47 km/h that struck directly above the left-field fence. Although it was a large double covering a distance of 107.58 meters, it fell just short of the anticipated 40th home run. On that day, Kim Do-young went 1-for-3 with two walks in three at-bats.

For fans, this is a historic moment to witness firsthand the birth of the youngest player to hit 40 home runs. With Kia once again closing in on the upper ranks, the stakes have grown beyond a simple record challenge; the outcome of each game itself carries greater weight.

The upward trend is also clear in attendance records. On the 29th of last month, Kia surpassed one million cumulative attendees in just 57 home games, breaking the club's fastest-ever record to reach one million fans.

As of the 5th, cumulative attendance stands at 1,054,984, with an average of 17,881 per game. If Kia maintains a similar average attendance in their remaining home games, they could easily surpass the club's all-time record of 1,259,249 set in 2024. Calculations show that if approximately 204,000 fans attend across the remaining 13 home games—averaging at least 15,700 per game—a new record will be possible. This figure is lower than the current season average of 17,881 per game.

This phenomenon is not unique to Kia. The 2026 KBO League surpassed 10 million cumulative attendees in just 565 games on the 26th of last month—the fewest number of games ever to reach that milestone. As the league continues its third consecutive year with over 10 million attendees since 2024, Kia has played a key role in this box-office boom.

However, the fervor of Gwangju fans cannot be explained solely by league-wide popularity. A team aiming higher than fourth place, Kim Do-young on the verge of making history with 40 home runs, and an intense autumn baseball standings race all converge at once.

Na Sung-beom stated, "Inspired by the passionate support and love from our fans, the entire team is doing its best," adding, "We will definitely advance to autumn baseball and repay the fans who filled the stadium with their support."

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.