2025 FUTURES LEAGUE
The days to the beginning of the season is countin down and baseball season is here!! The KBO announced the 2025 Futures League will begin on March 14th, a week ahead of the main 2025 season. The games will start at 1 pm until July 8th - August 24th (Summer League) which will be at 6 pm. The Futures League is split into two divisions: The Northern League (복부리그) and the Southern League (남부리그). 118 games per team in the North, 120 games per team in the South for a total of 650 games from March 14th - September 27th.
Northern League: Hanwha Eagles, SSG Landers, LG Twins, Doosan Bears and Goyang Heroes
Southern League: Sangmu (KAFAC - Korean Armed Forces Athletic Corps.), KT Wiz, Samsung Lions, NC Dinos, Lotte GIants and Kia Tigers
Cancellations due to rain will be rescheduled as a double header with the games having seven innings. The Northern League will have 20 games (10 home, 10 away), Southern League will have 18 games (9 home, 9 away). Though part of the Southern League, Sangmu will only have 16 games (8 home, 8 away). Inter-league, where the teams get all mixed together, the Southern League will play six games (three home, three away), Sangmu will play eight games (five home, three away) and the Northern League will play eight games (five home, three away).
The openers on March 14th are: NC v Samsung - Samsung Lions Ballpark, Goyang v SSG - SSG Futures Field, LG v Doosan - Doosan Bears Park, KIA v Hanwha - Seosan Hanwha Eagles 2 Gun Training Center, KT v Lotte - Lotte Giants Sangdong Baseball Stadium
photo credit: 엑스포츠뉴스 (left), 매일신문 (right)
Here’s the locations to the other stadiums :) If y’all wish to visit those~ a link to the full schedule is below (March 14th - September 27th). Masan Baseball Field (NC Dino’s), Goyang Sports Town Baseball Training Center, LG Champions Park, Hampyeong Kia Challengers FIeld and Ilsan Baseball Training Center. Depending on field conditions a lot of the schedule can change, in the sense of location, during the Summer League games are sometimes played at Gocheok Sky Dome, Daegu Samsung Lions Park and Sajik Baseball Stadium.
https://www.koreabaseball.com/Futures/Schedule/GameList.aspx
photo credit: 매일신문
The use of VAR for check swings is gonna be in a pilot stage in select stadiums this season. Whilst the ABS (Automated Pitching Review System) will be in all ballparks this season. Extra innings will be played, if the score is tied in the 9th (same as the main season) you’ll play the 10th and so forth until there’s winner. Two runners on base, batting order proceeds as it does. The newest, and what I’m most excited about, is that the Futures League will be having it’s own championship game, it’ll be a single-elimination match against the two first place teams in the Northern and Southern Leagues!!
A lil bit about the check swing video reviews~
Checked swings are defined when a swing with the intent to hit is called as a swinging strike. It’s when the bat is at an angle that leans more towards the pitcher than in parallel to the front of home. Teams have two chances to use the VAR for checked swings, if overturned the chance to ask for a review will be preserved. In the event of extra innings, you get an additional chance.
source: https://m.sports.naver.com/kbaseball/article/088/0000930847, https://m.sports.naver.com/kbaseball/article/018/0005942994, https://m.sports.naver.com/kbaseball/article/311/0001826714
I kinda wanted to go over a bit of Sangmu Phoenix (KAFAC). It’s the Korean Armed Forces Athletic Corps. and is composed of pro baseball players that are carrying out their mandatory military service. There’s a whole test to get into Sangmu (if you want to do it), joining Sangmu isn’t mandatory but it is something players try to get in to. The roster changes as the season goes along as some players finish their service around July and more players join around that time as well.
I currently don’t plan on covering the games here for the Futures League, if I do it may be roughly a quarter or the first half of the season :) but I’ll definitely let y’all know before the 14th~ just know it most likely will be a whole separate post. I wanted to provide this little info and their roster as it doesn’t (and won’t) change as often as the other teams :)
Manager / Head Coach: Park Chi Wang
Coaches: Kim Seung Jun (Pitcher Bullpen Coach), Lee Dae Hwan (Main Pitching Coach), Min Chang Ho (Trainer), Ji Jae Ok (Hitting Coach), Kang Jin Koo (Trainer)
Pitchers: Lee Ki Soon (#0, SSG), Koo Chang Mo (#1, NC), Cho MIn Suk (#2, NC), Yi Jung Yong (#3, LG), Heo Yun Dong (#4, Samsung), Bae Je Seong (#5, KT), Kim Jung Woon (#6, KT), Kim Jae Woong (#7, Kiwoom), Lee Jin Ha (#8, Lotte), Song Myung Gi (#13, NC), Lee Won Jae (#14, Doosan), Han Seung Ju (#18, KT), Lee Tae Youn (#19, Lotte), Lee Yong Jun (#29, NC), Hong Seung Won (#41, Samsung), Yang Gyeong Mo (#44, Hanwha), Kim Yeong Hyeon (#48, Doosan), Kim Dong Hyeok (#49, Kiwoom), Kim Dong Ju (#50, Doosan), Kang Hyo Jong (#51, LG), Yoon San Heum (#55, Hanwha)
Catchers: Yun Jun Ho (#11, Doosan), Park Seung Jae (#22, NC), Kim Si Ang (#26, Kiwoom), Kim Seon Woo (#42, KIA)
Infielders: Park Jung Hyun (#9, Hanwha), Kim Jae Sang (#12, Samsung), Jeong Dae Sun (#15, Lotte), Jo Min Seong (#16, Samsung), Jung Eun Won (#20, Hanwha), Ryu Hyun In (#21, KT), Oh Tae Yang (#23, NC), Han Dong Hui (#25, Lotte), Jeon Ui San (#47, SSG)
Outfielders: Park Chan Hyeok (#10, Kiwoom), Oh Jang Han (#17, NC), Kim Hyun Joon (#27, Samsung), Han Seung Yeon (#37, KIA), Lee Jae Won (#52, LG), Jung Jun Young (#53, KT), Ryu Seung Min (#57, Samsung)
The Futures season begins tomorrow!!! The KBO announced the season opener, a three game series between Doosan and LG which you can watch on the KBO Youtube, TVING and TVN Sports. I’ll try to update the Futures season as the Main season goes along as much as I can. I’m still getting used to this especially since I’m doin all the teams :)
