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78-495: The Lesotho Premier League is currently contested by 16 clubs. The league uses a double round robin format meaning one team plays the other twice. Therefore, a team will play a total of 30 games per season. The team with the most points wins the league title. The Lesotho Premier League is still played on an amateur status. Since 2002, Lesotho's Premier League has been sponsored by telecommunications companies. Econet Telecom Lesotho , through its prepaid product Buddie, sponsored

156-463: A bye . The schedule can therefore be computed as though the dummy were an ordinary player, either fixed or rotating. Instead of rotating one position, any number relatively prime to ( n − 1 ) {\displaystyle (n-1)} will generate a complete schedule. The upper and lower rows can indicate home/away in sports, white/black in chess , etc.; to ensure fairness, this must alternate between rounds since competitor 1

234-464: A bye. If the number is even, an added player (ω) becomes the opponent. For an even number n {\displaystyle n} or an odd number n − 1 {\displaystyle n-1} of competitors, Schurig builds a table with n / 2 {\displaystyle n/2} vertical rows and n − 1 {\displaystyle n-1} horizontal rows. Then he populates it starting from

312-411: A competitor to play the strongest opponents in a round robin in quick succession while others play them intermittently with weaker opposition. This asymmetry means that playing the same opponents is not necessarily completely equitable. There is also no scheduled showcase final match unless (by coincidence) two competitors meet in the last match of the tournament, with the result of that match determining

390-477: A competitor's chance of ultimate victory. Final records of participants are more accurate, in the sense that they represent the results over a longer period against the same opposition. The system is also better for ranking all participants, not just determining the winner. This is helpful to determine the final rank of all competitors, from strongest to weakest, for purposes of qualification for another stage or competition as well as for prize money. In team sports,

468-475: A fall season), with a first-half pennant winner and a latter-half pennant winner. The two pennant winners then played each other for the Korean Series championship. The 1982 campaign featured an 80-game (in total) season, which expanded to 100 games from 1983 to 1984. Rosters for each team were small (sometimes as few as 14 players), and many players in the league both pitched and batted. Bang Soo-won of

546-489: A lower-placed qualifier is perceived to be easier than for a higher-placed one). Four pairs in the 2012 Olympics Women's doubles badminton , having qualified for the next round, were ejected from the competition for attempting to lose in the round robin stage to avoid compatriots and better ranked opponents. The round robin stage at the Olympics was a new introduction, and these potential problems were readily known prior to

624-577: A new three-year multi-million maloti sponsorship with the previous sponsor Econet Telecom Lesotho in which the champions will pocket M500 000; a 150% increase from the previous M200 000 received by 2016–2017 champions Bantu. The sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they have called the Lesotho Premier League: Double round robin A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament

702-437: A round in which players meets each other. For example, player 7 plays against player 11 in round 4. If a player meets itself, then this shows a bye or a game against player n. All games in a round constitutes a diagonal in the table. The above schedule can also be represented by a graph, as shown below: Both the graph and the schedule were reported by Édouard Lucas in as a recreational mathematics puzzle. Lucas, who describes

780-497: A round, a non-leftmost position (not including 1 {\displaystyle 1} ) can only be taken by competitors of a fixed distance. In round 1 {\displaystyle 1} of the example, in the second position competitor 2 {\displaystyle 2} plays against 13 {\displaystyle 13} , their distance is 2 {\displaystyle 2} . In round 2 {\displaystyle 2} , this position

858-540: A schedule where player 14 has a fixed position, and all other players are rotated counterclockwise n 2 {\displaystyle {\frac {n}{2}}} positions. This schedule is easily generated manually. To construct the next round, the last player, number 8 in the first round, moves to the head of the table, followed by player 9 against player 7, player 10 against 6, until player 1 against player 2. Arithmetically, this equates to adding n 2 {\displaystyle {\frac {n}{2}}} to

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936-646: A significant decrease in runs per game and home runs per game. The 2020 season was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic , but finally started play in May 2020, with no fans in attendance. In response to the lack of live sports programming due to the pandemic, ESPN and the KBO League entered into an agreement to broadcast six games weekly for the 2020 season. The Opening Day game between the NC Dinos and Samsung Lions

1014-619: A straight knockout system. The top one, two, or occasionally three teams in these groups then proceed to a straight knockout stage for the remainder of the tournament. In the circle of death it is possible that no champion emerges from a round-robin tournament, even if there is no draw, but most sports have tie-breaker systems which resolve this. Round-robins can suffer from being too long compared to other tournament types, and with later scheduled games potentially not having any substantial meaning. They may also require tie-breaking procedures. Swiss system tournaments attempt to combine elements of

1092-526: A table. In France this is called the Carousel -Berger system (Système Rutch-Berger). The schedule can also be used for "asynchronous" round-robin tournaments where all games take place at different times (for example, because there is only one venue). The games are played from left to right in each round, and from the first round to the last. When the number of competitors is even, this schedule performs well with respect to quality and fairness measures such as

1170-416: A tournament of 16 teams can be completed in just 4 rounds (i.e. 15 matches) in a knockout format; a double elimination tournament format requires 30 (or 31) matches, but a round-robin would require 15 rounds (i.e. 120 matches) to finish if each competitor faces each other once. Other issues stem from the difference between the theoretical fairness of the round robin format and practice in a real event. Since

1248-571: A variety of tiebreaker criteria. Frequently, pool stages within a wider tournament are conducted on a round-robin basis. Examples with single round-robin scheduling include the FIFA World Cup , UEFA European Football Championship , and UEFA Cup (2004–2009) in football, Super Rugby ( rugby union ) in the Southern Hemisphere during its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14 (but not in its later 15- and 18-team formats),

1326-558: Is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn. A round-robin contrasts with an elimination tournament , wherein participants are eliminated after a certain number of wins or losses. The term round-robin is derived from the French term ruban ('ribbon'). Over time, the term became idiomized to robin . In a single round-robin schedule, each participant plays every other participant once. If each participant plays all others twice, this

1404-613: Is a simple algorithm to create a schedule for a round-robin tournament. All competitors are assigned to numbers, and then paired in the first round: Next, one of the competitors in the first or last column of the table is fixed (number one in this example) and the others rotated clockwise one position: This is repeated until when the next iteration would lead back to the initial pairings: With an even number n {\displaystyle n} of competitors this algorithm realizes every possible combination of them (equivalently, that all pairs realized are pairwise different). First,

1482-435: Is always on the first row. If, say, competitors 3 and 8 were unable to fulfil their fixture in the third round, it would need to be rescheduled outside the other rounds, since both competitors would already be facing other opponents in those rounds. More complex scheduling constraints may require more complex algorithms. This schedule is applied in chess and draughts tournaments of rapid games, where players physically move round

1560-691: Is even, then in each of ( n − 1 ) {\displaystyle (n-1)} rounds, n 2 {\displaystyle {\begin{matrix}{\frac {n}{2}}\end{matrix}}} games can be run concurrently, provided there exist sufficient resources (e.g. courts for a tennis tournament). If n {\displaystyle n} is odd, there will be n {\displaystyle n} rounds, each with n − 1 2 {\displaystyle {\begin{matrix}{\frac {n-1}{2}}\end{matrix}}} games, and one competitor having no game in that round. The circle method

1638-566: Is frequently called a double round-robin . The term is rarely used when all participants play one another more than twice, and is never used when one participant plays others an unequal number of times, as is the case in almost all of the major North American professional sports leagues. In the United Kingdom , a round-robin tournament has been called an American tournament in sports such as tennis or billiards which usually have single-elimination (or "knockout") tournaments, although this

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1716-1054: Is held by competitors 14 {\displaystyle 14} and 12 {\displaystyle 12} , also having distance 2 {\displaystyle 2} , etc. Similarly, the next position ( 3 {\displaystyle 3} against 12 {\displaystyle 12} in round 1 {\displaystyle 1} , 2 {\displaystyle 2} against 11 {\displaystyle 11} in round 2 {\displaystyle 2} , etc.) can only hold distance- 4 {\displaystyle 4} competitors. For every k < n 2 {\displaystyle k<{\frac {n}{2}}} , there are exactly n − 1 {\displaystyle n-1} pairs of distance k {\displaystyle k} . There are n − 1 {\displaystyle n-1} rounds and they all realize one distance- k {\displaystyle k} pair at

1794-456: Is now rarely done. A round-robin tournament with four players is sometimes called "quad" or "foursome". In sports with a large number of competitive matches per season, double round-robins are common. Most association football leagues in the world are organized on a double round-robin basis, in which every team plays all others in its league once at home and once away. This system is also used in qualification for major tournaments such as

1872-425: Is set at three (no more than two of them being pitchers), increased from two players from 2014. Foreign players can only sign single-season contracts, and they are restricted by a salary cap. Since 2019, the total compensation for a foreign player has been capped at $ 1 million. The foreign hitters on each team are expected to provide power in the middle of the order, while the foreign pitchers are expected to anchor

1950-408: Is the fairest way to determine the champion from among a known and fixed number of contestants. Each contestant, whether player or team, has equal chances against all other opponents because there is no prior seeding of contestants that will preclude a match between any given pair. The element of luck is seen to be reduced as compared to a knockout system since one or two bad performances need not ruin

2028-523: Is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are the most successful team, having won 12 of the 43 championships. In comparison with American Major League Baseball , ESPN reports that the KBO level of play "appears to be somewhere between Double-A and Triple-A , on average, though the best players are more likely to be MLB-quality than your typical Double-A league." Historically,

2106-574: The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy . In a more extreme example, the KBO League in baseball plays a 16-fold round robin, with each of the 10 teams playing each other 16 times for a total of 144 games per team. LIDOM (Baseball Winter League in the Dominican Republic) plays an 18-fold round robin as a semi final tournament between four classified teams. Group tournaments rankings usually go by number of matches won and drawn, with any of

2184-656: The Cricket World Cup along with Indian Premier League , major Twenty-20 Cricket tournament, and many American football college conferences , such as the Conference USA (which currently has 9 members). The group phases of the UEFA club competitions and Copa Libertadores are contested as a double round-robin, as are most basketball leagues outside the United States, including the regular season of

2262-536: The EuroLeague (as well as its former Top 16 phase); the United Football League has used a double round-robin for both its 2009 and 2010 seasons. Season ending tennis tournaments also use a round robin format prior to the semi on stages. The champion in a round-robin tournament is the contestant that wins the most games, except when draws are possible. In theory, a round-robin tournament

2340-606: The FIFA World Cup and the continental tournaments (e.g. UEFA European Championship , CONCACAF Gold Cup , AFC Asian Cup , CONMEBOL Copa América and CAF Cup of Nations ). There are also round-robin cricket , bridge , chess , draughts , go , ice hockey , curling , and Scrabble tournaments. The World Chess Championship decided in 2005 and in 2007 on an eight-player double round-robin tournament where each player faces every other player once as white and once as black. There has been several major international cricket tournaments held in this format including ICC events, including

2418-861: The Haitai Tigers pitched the first no-hitter in Korean professional baseball history, in 1984 against the Sammi Superstars . Mid-season 1985, the Sammi Superstars were sold and became known as the Chungbo Pintos , and the full season expanded to 110 games. Because the Samsung Lions won both half-season pennants (with a still single-season record .706 winning percentage), the Lions won the title outright so no Korean Series

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2496-486: The Hanwha Eagles at Cheongju Baseball Stadium . In the 2016 season , a new national record was set with more than 8 million spectators. There was a big increase of 1 million compared to the previous season. The record was broken again in the 2017 season with over 8.4 million fans at the regular season games. The Bears, Twins, Giants and Tigers all attracted over 1 million fans, and the average game attendance

2574-555: The KBO Korean Series . Currently, the top five teams qualify for the post-season based on win–loss records. The lowest-qualifying teams face off in a step-ladder playoff system, where each winner then faces the next-highest team, culminating in the Korean Series against the top-ranked team. Any playoff games ending in an official tie are replayed, thereby raising the possibility of a close series containing more than

2652-760: The San Francisco Giants ' organization in 1968 after having found success in the NPB. Similarly, pitcher Park Chul-soon signed a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers organization in 1980. Neither Ernesto Carlos nor Park Chul-soon, however, made it to the Major Leagues.) Other Korean born players who have had lengthy MLB careers include outfielder Shin-Soo Choo and pitcher Byung-hyun Kim . In 2013, Hanwha Eagles ace Hyun-jin Ryu became

2730-779: The 2010s, with the addition of the NC Dinos , located in Changwon , which joined the league in 2013. It is the first team located in Changwon, the city having previously been the second home of the nearby Lotte Giants. The KBO played 128-game seasons in 2013–2014. In 2015, the KT Wiz became the league's tenth franchise. They play their home games in Suwon, which had not had a team since the Hyundai Unicorns' disbandment. Since 2015

2808-603: The Eagles — in their 14th season — won their franchise's first (and only) Korean Series championship, after 14 years in the KBO. Bigger changes were made in 2000 when the Hyundai Unicorns moved from Incheon to Suwon , and a new franchise, the SK Wyverns , took their place in Incheon. The Ssangbangwool Raiders became defunct. The league's two-division structure slightly shifted as well, with SK taking Ssangbangwool's place in

2886-475: The KBO has played a 144-game season each year, and has added a fifth team to the playoffs, with the introduction of the Wild Card game. In 2015 the league also increased the active roster size of each team, from 26 to 27 (of those, 25 may play in any one game). After a number of seasons of inflated offensive production, the KBO introduced a new " dejuiced " baseball before the 2019 season. The results showed in

2964-453: The KBO is known for its vocal and exuberant fan base , as well as the widespread practice of bat flips ( ppa-dun ( Korean : 빠던 ), a portmanteau of the "first syllables of the words for 'bat' and 'throw'") by hitters after stroking what they think will be a home run. In the KBO, the bat flipping tradition dates to the 1990s. Since the 2015 season, each team plays 144 games in the regular season, an increase from 128 games, along with

3042-599: The KBO returned to a single-division format. The Haitai Tigers became the Kia Tigers . From 2000 to 2012, the length of the regular season fluctuated between 126 and 133 games. Despite its string of championships in the early 2000s, the Hyundai Unicorns franchise was disbanded in 2008. It was re-founded as the Woori Heroes and moved to Mok-dong in Seoul. In 2010, the team's naming rights were sold to Nexen Tire and

3120-785: The Korean Series championship in 1992; the team has not won it since. There was little other change during this period except for a few major sponsors: in 1993 the Binggrae Eagles became the Hanwha Eagles , in 1996 the Pacific Dolphins became the Hyundai Unicorns , and in 1999 the OB Bears became the Doosan Bears . The 1998 Korean Series was won by the Hyundai Unicorns for the franchise's first championship in 16 years of existence. (The team would go on to win

3198-525: The Magic Division, and Lotte and Samsung switching divisions. Thus, the 2000 Dream League was composed of Doosan, Haitai, Hyundai, and Samsung; while the 2000 Magic League was composed of Hanwha, LG, Lotte, and SK. Parity ruled the 2000s, with the Unicorns and Lions each winning three titles, and the upstart Wyverns winning two. The hard-luck Doosan Bears appeared in the Korean Series five times in

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3276-502: The NPB include Sun Dong-yol , Lim Chang-yong , and Seung-hwan Oh (who led the NPB in saves in both 2014 and 2015). Several Korean players have also successfully transitioned from the KBO to American Major League Baseball , starting in 1994 with pitcher Chan Ho Park . (Prior to Park, the South Korea-born Mexican pitcher Ernesto Carlos [born as Lee Won-Kuk ] was signed to an American minor league contract with

3354-424: The NPB. (He returned to Korea for his final three seasons as a player.) Lee Seung-yuop , who holds the KBO records for career home runs, runs scored, RBIs, total bases, slugging percentage and OPS, also played eight seasons in the NPB, accumulating an additional 159 home runs and 439 RBI. Other KBO hitters who had some success in the NPB include Kim Tae-kyun and Dae-ho Lee . Korean pitchers who have had an impact in

3432-717: The Premier League and Lesotho's lower leagues (the A-Division, B-Division and C-Division) from 2002 until 2009. In 2009, the Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) ended its seven-year association with Econet Telecom Lesotho and signed a three-year partnership with Vodacom Lesotho . As part of the deal, Vodacom Lesotho agreed to sponsor the Premier League and all lower leagues for a combined M1 million per season for three years. However, in 2017, LeFA ended its sponsorship with Vodacom Lesotho to pen

3510-446: The algorithm obviously realizes every pair of competitors if one of them equals 1 {\displaystyle 1} (the non-moving competitor). Next, for pairs of non- 1 {\displaystyle 1} competitors, let their distance be the number k < n 2 {\displaystyle k<{\frac {n}{2}}} of times the rotation has to be carried out in order that one competitor arrives at

3588-540: The amount of rest between games. On the other hand, when the number of competitors is odd, it does not perform so well and a different schedule is superior with respect to these measures. Alternatively Berger tables, named after the Austrian chess master Johann Berger , are widely used in the planning of tournaments. Berger published the pairing tables in his two Schach-Jahrbücher (Chess Annals), with due reference to its inventor Richard Schurig. This constitutes

3666-437: The championship 4-games-to-1, with a tie. The Haitai Tigers dominated the 1980s, winning the Korean Series five times — in 1983, 1986, and 1987 through 1989. They were led by pitcher Sun Dong-yol and infielders Kim Seong-han and Han Dae-hwa . Other KBO stars whose careers took off in the 1980s were sluggers Chang Jong-hoon and Lee Man-soo . From 1982 to 1988, the regular season was divided into two (a spring season and

3744-460: The championship four times in the decade — 1991, 1993, 1996, and 1997. The Tigers were led by hitting-machine Lee Jong-beom and slugger Lee Ho-joon . Other KBO players who starred in the 1990s were Eagles' pitcher Song Jin-woo , who eventually became the all-time KBO leader in wins, strikeouts, and innings pitched; slugging catcher Park Kyung-oan , the first catcher in KBO history to hit 300 home runs; and stolen base king Jeon Jun-ho . But probably

3822-918: The championship in 2000, 2003, and 2004.) In 1999 the season was expanded to 132 games, and the KBO separated into two divisions — the Dream League and the Magic League. The 1999 Dream League consisted of the Doosan Bears, the Lotte Giants, the Haitai Tigers, and the Hyundai Unicorns; the 1999 Magic League consisted of the Hanwha Eagles, the LG Twins, the Samsung Lions, and the Ssangbangwool Raiders. That year

3900-435: The championship. A notable instance of such an event was the 1950 FIFA World Cup match between Uruguay and Brazil . Further issues arise where a round-robin is used as a qualifying round within a larger tournament. A competitor already qualified for the next stage before its last game may either not try hard (in order to conserve resources for the next phase) or even deliberately lose (if the scheduled next-phase opponent for

3978-571: The decade but only won it once, in 2001. Stars who emerged in the 2000s include all-time KBO hit king Park Yong-taik , the Giants' first-baseman Dae-ho Lee , and the Eagles' first-baseman Kim Tae-kyun . Other notable players from the era include slugging third-basemen Lee Bum-ho and Choi Jeong , the Bears' designated hitter Hong Sung-heon , and the Twins' long-time outfielder Lee Byung-kyu . In 2001,

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4056-541: The exclusive home of the KBO League, marking the end of the league's free online broadcast era in South Korea. In June that same year, free streaming service SOOP acquired the rights to broadcast all KBO games outside of South Korea through the 2026 season. In addition to these ballparks, the Lotte Giants play some games at Ulsan Munsu Baseball Stadium , the Samsung Lions at Pohang Baseball Stadium and

4134-433: The field at the same time.) By 2012, teams were using all their foreign-player allotments on pitchers, and there were no more foreign hitters in the KBO. After this happened again in 2013, the following season the KBO League raised the foreign-player limit to three for each team, but mandated that at least one foreign player had to be a hitter (again, with only two such players on the field at a time). American Tyrone Woods

4212-551: The first player from the KBO to join an MLB team through the posting system . Altogether, 28 South Korean players have made it to the MLB as of 2024. In South Korea, most of the games are aired free-to-air on MBC , SBS and KBS2 , and at pay television on KBS N Sports , MBC Sports+ , SBS Sports and SPOTV1/2 . Between 2021 and 2023, SPOTV broadcast selected games in the ASEAN region. In 2024, streaming platform TVING became

4290-777: The helm of one of South Korea's professional baseball clubs when he was signed as manager of the Lotte Giants in 2007. (Royster served as the Giants' manager through the 2010 season.) Over the league's history, more than 200 Americans have played in the KBO; other countries which have produced many current and former KBO players include the Dominican Republic (with more than 80 players), and Venezuela (with more than 20 players). Several KBO players have had successful careers in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Baek In-chun played professionally in Japan from 1963 to 1981, compiling 209 home runs, 776 RBI, and 1,831 hits in

4368-568: The introduction of the KT Wiz to the league. Each team plays every other team 16 times. In general, Korean teams play six games a week, with every Monday off. In mid-July of every season, the best players participate in the KBO All-Star Game. The franchises participating are divided into two sets of teams: "Dream All-Stars" (Doosan, KT, Lotte, Samsung, and SSG) and "Nanum All-Stars" (Kia, Hanwha, LG, NC and Kiwoom). The KBO League's season culminates in its championship series, known as

4446-654: The league, replacing the vacancy in Daejeon made by OB's move, and expanding the league to seven teams. From 1986 to 1988, the regular season shrank to a total of 108 games. 1988 saw the Cheongbo Pintos change ownership again, becoming the Pacific Dolphins . In 1989 the KBO eliminated the two half-season pennants, moving to a single season of 120 games. In the 1990s the Tigers were again dominant, winning

4524-552: The longest career of any foreign player in KBO history, a record later eclipsed by hitter Jay Davis and pitcher Dustin Nippert . Davis played seven seasons for Hanwha (1999–2002, 2004–2006), compiling a .313 batting average, 167 home runs, and 591 RBI during that span. Foreign pitchers with extended careers in the KBO include Dustin Nippert , who compiled a win–loss record of 102–51 and 1,082 strikeouts in eight seasons (a foreign player record); and Danny Rios , who in six seasons

4602-403: The method as simple and ingenious , attributes the solution to Felix Walecki, a teacher at Lycée Condorcet . Lucas also included an alternative solution by means of a sliding puzzle . To easily remember this method, the following mnemonic can be used. Starting from the first round, the next round is constructed: and then, If the number of players is odd, the player in the first venue gets

4680-613: The most notable hitters to emerge from the 1990s were the Lions' Lee Seung-yuop and Yang Joon-hyuk , who between them now hold most of the KBO's career offensive records. In 1990, MBC Chungyong became the LG Twins and an eighth franchise was added, the Ssangbangwool Raiders , who represented the North Jeolla Province region. From 1991 to 1998, the season increased to 126 games. The Lotte Giants won

4758-496: The position the other had. In the example given ( n = 14 {\displaystyle n=14} ), 2 {\displaystyle 2} has distance 1 {\displaystyle 1} to 3 {\displaystyle 3} and to 14 {\displaystyle 14} and it has distance 6 {\displaystyle 6} to 8 {\displaystyle 8} and to 9 {\displaystyle 9} . In

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4836-400: The previous row, with the exception of player n {\displaystyle n} . When the result of the addition is greater than ( n − 1 ) {\displaystyle (n-1)} , then subtract ( n − 1 ) {\displaystyle (n-1)} from the sum. This schedule can also be represented as a (n-1, n-1) table, expressing

4914-469: The regular season, and a 15-inning limit for playoff games. The first game was played on March 27, 1982, between the Samsung Lions and the MBC Chungyong at Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium , Seoul . Then-president Chun Doo-hwan threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The 1982 charter teams of its first season were: The first Korean Series featured the Bears versus the Lions, with OB winning

4992-406: The round-robin and elimination formats, to provide a worthy champion using fewer rounds than a round-robin, while allowing draws and losses. The main disadvantage of a round robin tournament is the time needed to complete it. Unlike a knockout tournament where half of the participants are eliminated after each round, a round robin requires one round less than the number of participants. For instance,

5070-525: The round-robin major league champions are generally regarded as the "best" team in the land, rather than the cup winners, whose tournaments usually follow a single-elimination format. Moreover, in tournaments such as the FIFA or ICC World Cups, a first round stage consisting of a number of mini round robins between groups of 4 teams guards against the possibility of a team travelling possibly thousands of miles only to be eliminated after just one poor performance in

5148-408: The same position. Clearly, these pairs are pairwise different. The conclusion is that every distance- k {\displaystyle k} pair is realized. This holds for every k {\displaystyle k} , hence, every pair is realized. If there are an odd number of competitors, a dummy competitor can be added, whose scheduled opponent in a given round does not play and has

5226-499: The scheduled five or seven games. The KBO League rules are essentially those of the Major League Baseball (MLB). The designated hitter rule is universal in KBO. Traditionally, South Korean professional baseball games have a maximum number of extra innings before a game is declared an official tie. The KBO abolished this limit for the 2008 season, but it was reinstated in 2009, with a 12-inning limit imposed during

5304-531: The starting rotation. As with foreign players in the NPB, many of the most celebrated foreign players came to Korea after not finding success in the Major Leagues . The KBO first began allowing foreign players in 1998, when each team was allowed to sign up to two imports. Traditionally, teams chose one hitter and one pitcher, although there were exceptions. (In 2001 and 2002, KBO teams were allowed three foreign-born players, but only two of them could be on

5382-555: The team was renamed the Nexen Heroes until the end of the 2018 season, when its naming rights were sold to Kiwoom Securities . The Samsung Lions were a powerful team in the 2010s, winning the championship four times during six straight appearances in the Korean Series (from 2010 to 2015). The Doosan Bears were also a powerhouse, appearing in the Korean Series six times in the decade (including five straight appearances from 2015 to 2019), winning it three times. Expansion resumed in

5460-608: The teams. This famously happened during the 1994 FIFA World Cup Group E , where all four teams finished with a record of one win, one draw, and one loss. This phenomenon is analogous to the Condorcet paradox in voting theory. If n {\displaystyle n} is the number of competitors, a pure round robin tournament requires n 2 ( n − 1 ) {\displaystyle {\begin{matrix}{\frac {n}{2}}\end{matrix}}(n-1)} games. If n {\displaystyle n}

5538-399: The top left corner by repeating the sequence of numbers from 1 up to n − 1 {\displaystyle n-1} . Here is an example table for 7 or 8 competitors: KBO League The KBO League ( Korean :  KBO 리그 ) is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea , contested by ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and

5616-435: The tournament; changes were made prior to the next Olympics to prevent a repeat of these events. Another disadvantage, especially in smaller round-robins, is the "circle of death", where teams cannot be separated on a head-to-head record. In a three-team round-robin, where A defeats B, B defeats C, and C defeats A, all three competitors will have a record of one win and one loss, and a tiebreaker will need to be used to separate

5694-451: The victor is gradually arrived at through multiple rounds of play, teams who perform poorly, who might have been quickly eliminated from title contention, are forced to play out their remaining games. Thus games are played late in the competition between competitors with no remaining chance of success. Moreover, some later matches will pair one competitor who has something left to play for against another who does not. It may also be possible for

5772-408: Was 90–59 with 807 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.01, which is the lowest career ERA of any foreign pitcher in the KBO. Josh Lindblom pitched in the KBO for five seasons, compiling a 63–34 record and 750 strikeouts. Rios was given the 2008 KBO League Most Valuable Player Award , Nippert was KBO MVP in 2016, and Lindblom won the award in 2019. American Jerry Royster was the first-ever non-Korean to take

5850-559: Was above 11,600 fans. This increase in popularity has been accompanied by the building of larger and more modern ballparks to further enhance the fan experience and their expenditures during games, such as Gwangju-Kia Champions Field (2014), Gocheok Sky Dome (2016), Daegu Samsung Lions Park (2016), and Changwon NC Park (2019). The KBO League has a big number of female fans; the 2024 season data has shown that approximately 54% of ticket holders were female, and most of them were in their 20s. KBO League players and coaches have formed

5928-466: Was broadcast as the first game under the agreement that night. Karl Ravech , Jason Benetti , Boog Sciambi , Eduardo Perez , and Jessica Mendoza , along with various guests, broadcast the game remotely via Internet from their homes. The deal was for the 2020 season only and was not renewed for 2021. As with Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the KBO league places a cap on the number of foreign players allowed on club rosters. The foreign player limit

6006-468: Was played that year. Because of the lack of a postseason in 1985, the next year saw some major changes, with the adoption of a playoff system, in which the top two teams from each half-season played for the right to get to the Korean Series. 1986 also saw the OB Bears moving from Daejeon to share Jamsil Baseball Stadium with MBC Chungyong in Seoul. A new franchise, the Binggrae Eagles , joined

6084-685: Was the first notable import. Debuting with the Doosan Bears in 1998, Woods was the first foreign player to hit a home run (as well as the first to be ejected from a game by an umpire). In his first year Woods set a then-KBO record with 42 homers and won the MVP award (becoming the first foreign player to win the award). In five years in Korea, Woods hit 174 homers, drove in 510 runs, and batted .294. (He later found additional success in Nippon Professional Baseball .) Woods left Korea with

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