Colonel William A. Phillips

The LG Twins (Korean: LG 트윈스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul, South Korea. They are a member of the KBO League. The Twins play their home games at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which they share with their rivals, the Doosan Bears.[1]

History

Jamsil Baseball Stadium, home of the LG Twins

The club was established in 1982 as MBC Chungyong, owned by the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. In the first part of the 1982 season, the team played at Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium; in the second part of the season, they moved to their current home, Jamsil Baseball Stadium.

The Chungyong were initially led by player-manager Baek In-chun, who had spent 19 seasons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. Aged 38, Baek led the league in hitting in 1982, with a record-setting .412 batting average.[2] As manager, Baek brought the Japanese "small ball" technique to his team, focusing on sacrifice bunts, stolen bases, and sacrifice flies.[2] Although the team finished above .500 in 1982, Baek was dismissed by the team after the season.

In 1989, the franchise was acquired by the LG Corporation, which renamed the team the LG Twins. The following year, the Twins won their first Korean Series title with Baek In-chun as their manager. In 1994, they won their second championship. The Korean Series MVP was Kim Yong-soo in both Series, and his jersey number 41 was later retired. However, after their Korean Series appearance in 2002, the team went through the dark ages, not making the postseason for eleven years until 2013, when they earned the second seed in the regular season and qualified for the playoff series, where they were eliminated by the Doosan Bears. Between 2014 and 2022, the Twins made six postseason appearances, but failed to return to the Korean Series. In 2023, they reached their first Korean Series since 2002 by virtue of winning the regular season title.[3] In the finals, the Twins, led by captain and Korean Series MVP Oh Ji-hwan, defeated the KT Wiz 4–1 in five games, ending the club's 29-year championship drought.[4]

Season-by-season records

Season Stadium League Finish Regular season Postseason Awards
Rank Games Wins Losses Draws Win% BA HR ERA
MBC Chungyong
1982 Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium KBO 3/6 3/6 40 22 18 0 .550 .282 65 3.51 Did not qualify
Jamsil Baseball Stadium 3/6 40 24 16 0 .600
1983 KBO 2/6 3/6 50 25 24 1 .510 .256 45 2.72 Lost Korean Series vs. Haitai Tigers (0–1–4)
1/6 50 30 19 1 .612
1984 KBO 4/6 3/6 50 27 22 1 .551 .253 47 3.19 Did not qualify
3/6 50 24 26 0 .480
1985 KBO 5/6 5/6 55 24 31 0 .436 .246 37 3.24 Did not qualify
6/6 55 20 34 1 .370
1986 KBO 3/7 4/7 54 28 22 4 .560 .265 37 2.78 Did not qualify Kim Keon-woo (ROTY)
3/7 54 31 19 4 .620
1987 KBO 5/7 5/7 54 24 27 3 .472 .258 36 3.36 Did not qualify
4/7 54 26 24 4 .519
1988 KBO 6/7 7/7 54 17 35 2 .333 .260 42 3.95 Did not qualify Lee Yong-chul (ROTY)
6/7 54 23 29 2 .444
1989 KBO 6/7 6/7 120 49 67 4 .425 .252 42 4.28 Did not qualify
LG Twins
1990 Jamsil Baseball Stadium KBO 1/7 1/7 120 71 49 0 .592 .271 61 3.38 Won Korean Series vs. Samsung Lions (4–0) Kim Dong-soo (ROTY)
1991 KBO 6/8 6/8 126 53 72 1 .425 .244 53 4.38 Did not qualify
1992 KBO 7/8 7/8 126 53 70 3 .433 .257 108 4.29 Did not qualify
1993 KBO 4/8 4/8 126 66 57 3 .536 .256 74 3.07 Won semi-playoff vs. OB Bears (2–1)
Lost playoff vs. Samsung Lions (2–3)
1994 KBO 1/8 1/8 126 81 45 0 .643 .282 88 3.14 Won Korean Series vs. Pacific Dolphins (4–0) Yu Ji-hyeon (ROTY)
1995 KBO 3/8 2/8 126 74 48 4 .603 .257 79 3.21 Lost playoff vs. Lotte Giants (2–4)
1996 KBO 7/8 7/8 126 50 71 5 .417 .246 98 4.11 Did not qualify
1997 KBO 2/8 2/8 126 73 51 2 .587 .267 83 3.78 Won playoff vs. Samsung Lions (3–2)
Lost Korean Series vs. Haitai Tigers (1–4)
Lee Byung-kyu (ROTY)
1998 KBO 2/8 3/8 126 63 62 1 .504 .267 100 4.18 Won semi-playoff vs. OB Bears (2–0)
Won playoff vs. Samsung Lions (3–1)
Lost Korean Series vs. Hyundai Unicorns (2–4)
 
1999 Magic League 3/8 3/4 132 61 70 1 .466 .281 145 5.49 Did not qualify
2000 Magic League 4/8 1/4 133 67 63 3 .515 .273 122 4.45 Lost playoff vs. Doosan Bears (2–4)  
2001 KBO 6/8 6/8 133 58 67 8 .464 .276 85 5.13 Did not qualify
2002 KBO 2/8 4/8 133 66 61 6 .520 .261 100 3.94 Won semi-playoff vs. Hyundai Unicorns (2–0)
Won playoff vs. Kia Tigers (3–2)
Lost Korean Series vs. Samsung Lions (2–4)
2003 KBO 6/8 6/8 133 60 71 2 .458 .249 106 4.01 Did not qualify
2004 KBO 6/8 6/8 133 59 70 4 .457 .259 102 4.38 Did not qualify
2005 KBO 6/8 6/8 126 54 71 1 .432 .260 105 4.90 Did not qualify
2006 KBO 8/8 8/8 126 47 75 4 .385 .246 81 4.22 Did not qualify
2007 KBO 5/8 5/8 126 58 62 6 .483 .268 78 4.34 Did not qualify  
2008 KBO 8/8 8/8 126 46 80 0 .365 .256 66 4.88 Did not qualify
2009 KBO 7/8 7/8 133 54 75 4 .406 .278 129 5.42 Did not qualify
2010 KBO 6/8 6/8 133 57 71 5 .445 .276 121 5.23 Did not qualify
2011 KBO 6/8 6/8 133 59 72 2 .450 .266 94 4.15 Did not qualify
2012 KBO 7/8 7/8 133 57 72 4 .442 .261 59 4.02 Did not qualify  
2013 KBO 3/9 2/9 128 74 54 0 .578 .282 59 3.72 Lost playoff vs. Doosan Bears (1–3)  
2014 KBO 4/9 4/9 128 62 64 2 .492 .279 90 4.58 Won semi-playoff vs. NC Dinos (3–1)
Lost playoff vs. Nexen Heroes (1–3)
 
2015 KBO 9/10 9/10 144 64 78 2 .451 .271 114 4.62 Did not qualify
2016 KBO 4/10 4/10 144 71 71 2 .500 .290 118 5.10 Won wild card vs. Kia Tigers (1–1)*
Won semi-playoff vs. Nexen Heroes (3–1)
Lost playoff vs. NC Dinos (1–3)
 
2017 KBO 6/10 6/10 144 69 72 3 .489 .281 110 4.32 Did not qualify
2018 KBO 8/10 8/10 144 68 75 1 .476 .293 148 5.29 Did not qualify
2019 KBO 4/10 4/10 144 79 64 1 .552 .267 94 3.86 Won wild card vs. NC Dinos (1–0)
Lost semi-playoff vs. Kiwoom Heroes (1–3)
2020 KBO 4/10 4/10 144 79 61 4 .564 .277 149 4.37 Won wild card vs. Kiwoom Heroes (1–0)
Lost semi-playoff vs. Doosan Bears (0–2)
2021 KBO 4/10 3/10 144 72 58 14 .554 .250 110 3.57 Lost semi-playoff vs. Doosan Bears (1–2)
2022 KBO 3/10 2/10 144 87 55 2 .613 .269 118 3.33 Lost playoff vs. Kiwoom Heroes (1–3)  
2023 KBO 1/10 1/10 144 86 56 2 .606 .279 93 3.67 Won Korean Series vs. KT Wiz (4–1)  

Team

Current lineup

Players Coaches/Other
Pitchers
Starting rotation

Bullpen

Closer

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders


Manager

Coaches

Futures League
Rookie League


updated on 16 December 2023
All KBO League rosters

Managers

In popular culture

The team featured prominently in the tvN drama Reply 1994, where the team's 1994 head coach is a main character. In the drama, the team is referenced under a different name, "Seoul Twins" (Korean: 서울 쌍둥이), due to trademark issues with the LG Corporation.[6]

In 2023, TVING released the original documentary Our Game: LG Twins, directed by Lee Hyun-hee, covering behind-the-scenes stories inside and outside the stadium. It received praise for its unique documentary and became the best original documentary in TVING's history in terms of paid subscriptions.[7]

References

General
Specific
  1. ^ "LG Twins unable to get over Doosan Bears hump in KBO". Yonhap News Agency. 22 June 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b Hyun-kyung, Kang. "Baseball: Korean baseball shifting to Major League style," The Korea Times (9 March 2017).
  3. ^ "LG Twins overcome KT Wiz in five, win their first Korean Series in 29 years". World Baseball Softball Confederation. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  4. ^ Jee-ho, Yoo (13 November 2023). "(LEAD) LG Twins capture 1st Korean Series title in 29 years". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  5. ^ "LG Twins hire new manager Youm Kyoung-youb". Yonhap News Agency. 6 November 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  6. ^ "응답하라 1994, LG트윈스를 왜 서울쌍둥이라 했을까?". Naver. 19 November 2013.
  7. ^ Kim, Chae-yeon (4 April 2023). "야구팬 다 모였다".. '아워게임' 티빙 오리지널 다큐멘터리 유료가입기여자수 역대 1위 ["All baseball fans gathered".. 'Our Game' TVing Original Documentary No. 1 in the number of paid subscription contributors]. OSEN (in Korean). Retrieved 16 April 2023 – via Naver.

External links