Bullpen crisis revealed even before opening day

The 2026 KBO League regular season opened, but each team's bullpen anxiety was clearly revealed from the first day. In the opening game held on the 28th, KIA lost 6-7 against Incheon SSG despite leading 5-0 until the 6th inning. At the end of the 9th inning, Jeong Hae-young and Cho Sang-woo were brought in as emergency players, but they could not be stopped. Kiwoom also suffered a walk-off loss in the bottom of the 11th inning of the Asian Quarter, collapsing with 4 hits and 3 runs while Yuto recorded 4 outs.

Lotte beat Samsung 6-3 in Daegu, but with the score at 6-1 in the bottom of the 9th inning, Kim Won-joong hit 3 hits in a row, showing signs of uncertainty as they trailed 6-3. KT also seemed to be cruising along, scoring 6 points in the first inning against LG in Jamsil, but Han Seung-hyuk and Sukimoto, both in their first year as bullpen members, allowed 2 runs each, and Park Young-hyun threw 34 pitches and was responsible for 5 outs.

Why has the bullpen become so unstable?

The only team where the starting pitcher pitched well and the bullpen finished the game well was NC, which defeated Doosan 6-0 in Changwon. This season, nine teams excluding KIA expected to stabilize their bullpens by reinforcing one pitcher each through the Asia quarter, but the situation in the opening game was the opposite.

This kind of bullpen anxiety is not something new. Even LG, which won the overall championship last year, had difficulty managing the bullpen throughout the season. Due to the delay in the extinction of the magic number for the regular season championship, the team was in a crisis situation where they had to calculate the tie break in the final week, but the championship was barely confirmed as the bullpen of the rival team Hanwha collapsed first.

KBO bullpen terrain changed from 10 years ago

The bullpen records of the KBO League from just 10 years ago now feel like a distant past. In 2013, Samsung set an amazing record of winning all 62 games in games where it took the lead until the 7th inning, taking the lead in 'protecting baseball'. In 2007, Doosan also recorded a perfect winning percentage of 61 wins and no losses in games in which the team led until the 7th inning.

On the other hand, last year, Doosan recorded 11 losses (43 wins, 3 draws) in the game leading until the 7th inning. The incidence of tailgating accidents has risen sharply throughout the league. Now, the existing standard of being able to almost guarantee victory by leading by a few points until the 7th inning is being shaken.

Future outlook [AI analysis]

This season, it appears that each team will have to play 20 to 30 games to reveal some outline of the bullpen structure. However, the completeness of the bullpen is likely to be the biggest variable in determining the course of the season.

Even LG, which is considered the strongest candidate for the championship, entered the season with an incomplete bullpen. No club is free from bullpen concerns. In the end, it is expected that the team that responds fastest to 'backdoor maintenance' will be able to gain an advantage in the pennant race.

It was confirmed in the opening game that it is not easy to stabilize the bullpen just by recruiting pitchers from the Asian quarter. As new foreign pitchers like Kiwoom's Yuto have to go through an adjustment period, the role of the domestic bullpen is expected to become more important in the early part of the season. As all 10 clubs started with a common task, the speed of bullpen maintenance is likely to be a key factor in determining this season's rankings.