2005 Korean Series

The 2005 Korean Series was the first Korean Series since 1994 to feature a sweep.

The two teams were apparently closely matched. The Samsung Lions had finished first in the 2005 KBO regular season at 74-48 under manager Dong-yol Son. They had KBO Rookie of the Year Seung-hwan Oh (10-1, 16 Sv, 1.18) and Oh-joon Kwon (3-1, 17 Sv, 2.29) as a superb bullpen duo while Young-soo Bae (11-11, 2.86, 147 K) tied for the strikeout lead. Jung-soo Shim (.276/.402/.501, 28 HR, 89 BB, 87 RBI) and Han-soo Kim (.293/.372/.448) were the top hitters while their lone Gold Glove pick was C Kab-yong Jin (.288/.365/.389). The Doosan Bears were not far behind (72-51, then 3-0 in the playoffs) under manager Kyung-moon Kim. They had two Gold Glovers in 2B Kyung-hyun An (.293/.382/.380) and SS Si-hyun Son (.276/.352/.373) while Jae-cheol Lim (.310/.377/.393) and Hee-sung Moon (.273/.353/.413) were the top hitters. Jae-hun Chung (1-6, 30 Sv, 2.09) led the league in saves while Danny Rios (9-2, 1.37 after moving to Doosan from the KIA Tigers) finished with 147 whiffs to tie for the league lead. Myung-hwan Park (11-3, 2.96) and Matt Randel (12-7, 3.25) were effective starters while Jae-woo Lee (7-5, Sv, 1.72 in 76 G) was another strong arm out of the bullpen.

The Series began October 15 with Samsung winning, 5-2. The decisions went to import hurlers, with Tim Harikkala getting the win over Rios. Seung-hwan Oh got the save. The next day, Samsung won a 3-2, 12-inning battle. Oh got the win, Jae-young Lee the loss. Dae-ik Kim homered in the 9th to tie it then Jung-hoon Kim drove in the winner in the 12th. On October 18, Samsung won 6-0 at Jamsil Stadium, Martin Vargas (5 IP) beating Myung-hwan Park. Joon-hyuk Yang hit a 3-run homer and Jin a two-run homer in the 8th to break open a close match. On October 19, the Lions won, 10-1, Harikkala (5 shutout IP) again beating Rios. Han-lee Park went deep. Oh would win Series MVP after fanning 11 in 7 shutout innings.

Sources include Korean Wikipedia, 2006 Baseball Almanac