When English poet Alexander Pope penned the words "Hope springs eternal" in his 18th-century poem "An Essay on Man," the sport of baseball didn't even exist. Yet these words have become synonymous with the start of baseball season, the time of the year when every team, from the defending champ to the returning cellar dweller, starts with a clean slate.

And when the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) launches its 35th season Friday, the 10 clubs will take this cliche to a whole new level and brace themselves for a wide open competition.

In 2015, the quality of the games didn't always match fans' hopes. Still, the tight nature of the competition and the substantial size of the crowd -- an all-time high of 7.36 million fans last year -- built a sense of occasion.

It could be much the same story in 2016, though one major difference is that for the first time since 2011, the Samsung Lions won't enter the year as the prohibitive title favorite. The Lions won every Korean Series from 2011 to 2014, but fell to the Doosan Bears in last year's championship final.

With both the Lions and the Bears having lost key components over the winter, the NC Dinos, entering just their fourth KBO season, have emerged as the top contender.

The Dinos posted the second-best regular season record in 2015 with 84 wins, finishing four games back of the Lions in the win column. They were ousted by the Bears in the second round of the playoffs, but have retained last season's core while adding a big piece to their offense.

Eric Thames, the reigning MVP, will try to match his monumental 2015 season, in which he recorded the KBO's first 40-40 season (47 home runs and 40 steals) and won the batting title with a .381 average. He reached base at a .497 clip and slugged a league-record .790.

Thames had plenty of support in the lineup, as Na Sung-bum hit 28 home runs and Lee Ho-jun added 24. More help is on the way, after the Dinos signed an All-Star third baseman Park Sok-min as a free agent.

Park, who'd spent 10 seasons with Samsung, batted a career-high .321 in 2015 with 26 home runs and 116 RBIs, also his personal best. He has hit .300 or better in each of the past four years, and is a career .297 hitter with 163 home runs in 1,027 games.

The Dinos also had the best team ERA in the offense-happy 2015 season, and Eric Hacker, who led the staff with a 3.13 ERA, will return for his fourth season.

Zach Stewart, a mid-season acquisition last year who went 8-2 in 19 appearances, is also coming back to the rotation.

The Bears last year won their first KBO crown since 2001, but their All-Star outfielder Kim Hyun-soo has signed with the Baltimore Orioles as a free agent. They still have offensive depth to stay competitive.

The Lions have been dealing with some off-field headaches since last fall. Prior to the Korean Series, three of their pitchers -- starter Yun Sung-hwan, reliever An Ji-man and closer Lim Chang-yong -- faced illegal overseas gambling charges and were left off the playoff roster. Lim has since been fined by the court and the Lions promptly released him. Yun and An remain under investigation and the Lions haven't yet decided what to do with them.

Yun and An are both major parts of their staff: Yun led the Lions with 17 wins last year and An has long been one of the KBO's premium setup men.

On offense, in addition to Park Sok-min's departure, the Lions also lost hard-hitting second baseman Yamaico Navarro, who had 48 homers last season. While the Lions won't have his power, they have also bid adieu to Navarro's questionable work ethic, and will count on new face Aarom Baldiris to pick up the slack.

The SK Wyverns were underachievers last season. Once a perennial title contender, the Wyverns missed the postseason in 2013 and 2014. They made it to the KBO's first-ever Wild Card Game, despite a sub.-500 record, and bowed out to the Nexen Heroes on an extra-inning error.

They are still a solid ball club from top to bottom, and the rotation fronted by Chris Seddon, Merrill Kelly and Kim Kwang-hyun should be one of the KBO's best.

The Nexen Heroes, a playoff contestant in each of the past three seasons, will likely see their streak end in 2016. A year after losing hard-hitting shortstop Kang Jung-ho to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Heroes saw two-time MVP Park Byung-ho, he of two straight 50-homer seasons, sign with the Minnesota Twins.

Outfielder Yoo Han-joon, who set a career high with 23 home runs, left Nexen as a free agent to sign with the KT Wiz. Closer Son Seung-lak will be handling ninth-inning duties for the Lotte Giants this season.

That they've moved into a cavernous Gocheok Sky Dome, the nation's first domed stadium, will only add to the Heroes' woes.

The Hanwha Eagles made some noise early last season, as new manager Kim Sung-keun -- hailed as "Baseball God" by die-hard fans -- transform the long-time bottom feeders. His my-way-or-highway approach and heavy reliance on a few bullpen arms to get through games eventually took their toll on the Eagles. They entered the All-Star break at 44-40 but went 24-36 the rest of the way to finish sixth.

More indifferent seasons seem to be on the horizon for the LG Twins, the Lotte Giants and the Kia Tigers. Though they've long been among the biggest draws in the league, their large attendance figures haven't exactly fueled on-field success of late.

The Giants may have the brightest hope, as their three key foreign players -- pitchers Brooks Raley and Josh Lindblom, and outfielder Jim Adduci -- are all returning for their second seasons.

The KT Wiz will be in for their second season, and if they perform like they did in the second half of last season, they could be a surprising club in 2016.

They lost their first 11 games last season, setting a record by an expansion franchise to start a season, and were only 10-42 through May 31. They put together a strong run with a 42-49-1 the rest of the way, including a 14-11 mark in August. (Yonhap)