KBO teams set to resume battles for postseason berths
KBO teams set to resume battles for postseason berths
Blog Article
After a fun-filled All-Star weekend when enemies became friends, teams in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will go back to battling each other for postseason spots when the season resumes Friday.
The LG Twins are leading the way with a record of 49-30-2 (wins-losses-ties), the only club to have won at least 60 percent of the games so far.
Defending champions SSG Landers sit 2.5 games behind in second place, followed by the surging Doosan Bears, who have gone a perfect 9-0 in July.
But the Bears still find themselves four games behind the Landers, and they are only five games up on seventh-place KT Wiz.
And the three clubs slotted in between these two ― NC Dinos, Lotte Giants and Kia Tigers ― have run hot and cold all season while hanging around the top-five mix. Throw in the Hanwha Eagles and the Kiwoom 커뮤니티 Heroes, currently in eighth and ninth, but still within striking distance of the fifth and final postseason berth, and we have a recipe for some intriguing battles over the final three or so months of the season. The top two teams will clash for a three-game set to open the second half of the season, with the Twins hosting the Landers at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. The Twins have gone 6-2 against the Landers so far this year.
The Bears will take their nine-game winning streak to the southern city of Gwangju for a three-game series against the Tigers, who had their six-game winning run snapped just before the All-Star break.
The Giants will host the reeling Heroes, losers of seven straight. The Heroes are 3.5 games behind fifth-place Giants with 58 games left this season, and this series has the "do-or-die" feel to it for the 2022 Korean Series runners-up.
The Eagles will host the Dinos to start the second half. The Eagles won seven of their last 10 to close out the first half, while the Dinos lost seven of their 10.
The Wiz will try to stretch their three-game winning streak when they visit the Samsung Lions in the southeastern city of Daegu. In last place by five games, the Lions will be hard pressed to make a run at a postseason berth. But they can start playing the role of spoiler early and drag down some other teams with them. The Wiz are one of just two teams against whom the Lions have a winning record this season.