Same 0.547 Winning Percentage, but 3rd and 4th: KIA and LG's 3rd Place Could Be Decided as Early as the 10th

KIA and LG are tied at a displayed winning percentage of 0.547 in the battle for 3rd place, but KIA's actual winning percentage is 0.0007 higher. Based on the scenarios, which also involve Doosan, 3rd place could be decided as early as the 10th.

Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.

On the night of October 6, KIA lost to Samsung 4-5. On the same day, LG beat NC 6-1 and Doosan beat Lotte 3-1. Newsisreported the game results. In a single day, the gap between KIA and LG in games behind fell to 0. The KBO standings (as of 02:00 on 2026.10.07) show both teams with an identical winning percentage of 0.547. Yet KIA is 3rd and LG is 4th.

KIA-LG Standings: 0 Games Apart, but Actual Winning Percentage Differs by 0.0007

The answer lies in draws. The KBO winning percentage excludes draws and divides wins by the sum of wins and losses. For KIA, 75 divided by 137 gives 0.547445, and for LG, 76 divided by 139 gives 0.546763. Rounded, both are 0.547, but KIA is ahead by about 0.0007. Etodayalso noted, using the same calculation, that they are not tied for 3rd.

Nate's standings on the 7th listed both teams as 3rd, but the official KBO table has KIA 3rd and LG 4th. According to News1 reports, KT has clinched a place in the Korean Series and Samsung a direct berth in the Playoffs.

Rank	Team	W-L-D	Displayed Win %	Actual Win %	Games Behind Leader
1	KT	87-49-5	0.640	—	—
2	Samsung	83-54-3	0.606	—	4.5 games
3	KIA	75-62-2	0.547	0.547445	12.5 games
4	LG	76-63-1	0.547	0.546763	12.5 games
5	Doosan	73-64-5	0.533	—	14.5 games

Remaining Games: KIA 5, LG 4, Doosan 2; Final Game on the 12th in Gwangju

News1reports that the remaining games are KIA 5 games, LG 4 games and Doosan 2 games (as of 02:00 on 2026.10.07). The Doosan-LG and KIA-Lotte games at 6:30 p.m. on the 7th had not yet started as of 17:00, the time of checking.

Date	KIA	LG	Doosan
7th	Lotte	Doosan	LG
9th	NC	Lotte	—
10th	SSG (Gwangju)	Lotte	—
11th	Lotte (Gwangju)	—	—
12th	LG (Gwangju)	KIA (Gwangju)	Lotte

According to Etoday's calculation, absent additional draws, KIA must win at least 1 more game than LG in the remaining games to finish above LG. KIA's figure is (75+additional wins)/142 and LG's is (76+additional wins)/143, so with the same number of wins, LG's is always larger.

An early-clinch scenario has also emerged. Etoday calculated that if one team wins all 3 games on the 7th, 9th and 10th while the other loses all 3, the team that wins them all can clinch 3rd place on the 10th. If the matter isn't settled by then, Etoday projected that the head-to-head game in Gwangju on the 12th could effectively become the decider.

Doosan's Path to 4th: An LG Win Does Not Mean 5th Is 'Clinched'

Doosan is 5th at 73 wins, 64 losses and 5 draws. They are 2 games behind each of KIA and LG, with only 2 games left (as of 02:00 on 2026.10.07). Absent additional draws, Doosan's final winning percentage will be (73+additional wins)/139. With fewer games left than their rivals, Doosan cannot move up in the standings on their own.

Doosan Additional Wins	Doosan Final Win %	Teams Doosan Passes
2 wins	0.540	Whichever of KIA and LG has 1 or fewer additional wins
1 win	0.532	Whichever of KIA and LG has 0 additional wins
0 wins	0.525	None (5th)

Conversely, News1's calculation is that if KIA and LG each add 2 wins, both teams stay above Doosan even if Doosan wins out. If Doosan wins 2 and KIA and LG both finish with 1 win or fewer, Doosan climbs to 3rd. If Doosan passes only one of the two, Doosan finishes 4th.

OSEN and Chosun Bizwrote that if LG beat Doosan on the 7th, Doosan's finish would be 'virtually locked in at 5th', they wrote. But the same article conceded that if KIA loses out and Doosan wins its final game, Doosan could finish 4th. Even if LG wins, the only thing that is settled is that LG finishes above Doosan.

Wild Card Game: 4th Place Hosts Up to 2 Games, 3rd Goes Straight to the Semi-Playoff

Under the KBO's game operation rules, 3rd place goes straight to the Semi-Playoff without a Wild Card game. 4th and 5th place play up to 2 games at 4th place's home. 4th place advances with as little as 1 win or 1 draw, so 5th place must win both games. The Semi-Playoff and Playoff are first to 3 wins, and the Korean Series is first to 4 wins.

The first turning point is the Doosan-LG and KIA-Lotte games at 6:30 p.m. on the 7th. Once the results of the 9th and 10th are in, it will be clear whether things are settled early on the 10th. Under the current schedule, the final day is the 12th. All the scenarios above assume no additional draws. If games are rained out or rescheduled, the dates will change.

Related Official Sites

KBO Daily Team Standings — Check official winning percentages and games behind by date
KBO Official Schedule and Results — Check the remaining schedule, reflecting rainouts and rescheduling
KBO Official Game Operation Rules — Original text on how the Wild Card and Semi-Playoff work
KBO Official Website — Live game records and announcements

Featured image · Archive photo · Not an on-site photo of the current game in the article · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Christophe95), CC BY-SA 4.0