Bad news will always come when necessary. Kia, which has always overcome and maintained its No. 1 ranking, is now going through the final test to prove its “Qualification of Thrones.”
Kia has taken the absence of foreign ace James Nail, who underwent surgery for a broken jaw joint after being hit by a pitch on the 24th. The team should play without nails at least until the end of the regular season.토토사이트
Not to mention the size of Nail’s gap, who competes for multiple wins and No. 1 ERA with 12 wins, 5 losses and 2.53 ERA, the impact at the time of injury affected the entire team. The sense of loss that the ace was missing almost beat Kia’s good momentum. KIA, which went to Changwon with six consecutive wins, lost 1-2 to NC, which had been overwhelming with 10 wins and 2 losses this season.
At this juncture, Kia plans to meet Samsung, which is ranking second after SSG, which was weak this season. This week is effectively Kia’s biggest showdown of the season.
KIA will hold three consecutive games against SSG in Gwangju starting on the 27th. Lotte and SSG are the two teams that are strangely weak in KIA, which dominated the top teams Samsung and LG. Against Lotte, which was trailing Samsung with three wins, one draw and seven losses, KIA went to Changwon with six consecutive wins and increased momentum, but faced a crisis due to Nail’s injury. It is trailing SSG, which it will meet here, with four wins and eight losses this season. KIA’s poor performance against SSG is more a matter of mound than batting. KIA’s ERA against SSG this season was 6.03, the worst in the game against SSG among the nine teams. Notably, the bullpen was very poor with a 6.92 ERA while making six blon saves.
Lim Ki-young recently returned to KIA instead of Jang Hyun-sik taking a rest due to back pain. Closer Jung Hae-young has also been pitching well since his return. The mood of the must-win pitching team was good. Yang Hyun-jong, Kim Do-hyun and Lauer are in turn to start, and bullpen pitching is urgently needed.
A bigger reason why this week is the ultimate showdown for Kia lies in the weekend. After the three consecutive SSG games, Kia will take a day off on Saturday and then have a two-day battle with Samsung in Daegu from Sept. 31 to Sept. 1.
As of Tuesday, Kia has 71 wins, two draws and 48 losses, 5.5 games ahead of second-ranked Samsung (66 wins, two draws and 54 losses). Currently, Kia’s magic number for the regular season is 18. There are four more matches left for the showdown between Kia and Samsung. After this weekend, it will be held one more time from September 23 to 24, just before the end of the season. Considering the impact that the showdown with Samsung will have on the No. 1 ranking decision, it will be more convenient to hold the upcoming two consecutive games of Samsung to end the season.
Fortunately, Kia has one day off on Thursday after the three consecutive SSG games, and hence no longer needs a substitute starter in the two consecutive games against Samsung. Just in time, Choi Hyung-woo, its spiritual leader, will also return. Having been sidelined after the game against KT on Sunday due to internal oblique muscle injury, Choi played in the second division game due to rapid recovery and determination to return to the team, and will join the team from the game against SSG on Sunday.
Starting with Na Sung-bum, who was calculated as the fourth batter, leaving just before the opening due to a hamstring injury, Kia has been suffering from injuries by picking only key players throughout this season. It has always been put to a formidable test and once dropped to second place for five days from June 7 to 11, but Kia has overcome numerous crises and maintained its No. 1 position.
It is a huge blow that a foreign ace was directly hit in the face at the end of the season. In the meantime, Kia will face a fateful match that could determine life and death this year. If it surpasses this test, Kia will be able to prove itself as a real strong team that is strong in crisis, and truly deserves to be crowned this year’s throne.