The 2024 season’s professional baseball pennant race is crossing the threshold of summer. As the winner and loser is approaching, the ostensible battle for the lead is narrowed down to the “three strongest teams.”
Doosan has recently entered the top-tier power struggle with an uptick, with Kia, which has been running from the front since the opening of the season, giving way to LG over the weekend. For now, it has emerged as a point to watch which of the three teams will accelerate first.
However, the “three strongest teams” are still uneasy. Therefore, the prevailing view is that it will be difficult for a solo team to appear for the time being.밤알바
SBS Sports commentator Lee Soon-chul, one of the leaders in the professional baseball expert group, said in a telephone interview on the 11th that the three-tier mixed-race system will continue for a while. Lee has pointed to KIA as the top candidate for the championship before and after the opening, but now it is difficult to predict due to the change in the composition of KIA’s pitching staff.
“KIA had the most advantage, but there was a variable in the pitcher’s side,” Lee said. “The starting lineup is out of objection, and Aldred, who came in instead of Crow, is still uncertain,” adding, “There is no clear candidate in the current structure.”
Lee said LG and Doosan will also not have the energy to go to the solo system right now. “LG seems to have to see a little more foreign pitchers from Kelly and Ens, and Doosan also returned Alcantara is not normal yet,” he said. “It is difficult to conclude which team is better.”
Lee also said that this season will highlight his offense. “The bullpen is weak. Most teams have a bullpen ERA of four or more points, and there are even teams with six points,” he said. “Moreover, the batting distance has changed due to the change in repulsion power of official ball.”
In fact, as of Thursday, the 10-team bullpen has a 4.85 ERA, a big gap from last season’s 4.27 ERA. Doosan ranks first in the bullpen with a 4.15 ERA, but it ranks fifth as of last year. While Lotte, Hanwha, and Kiwoom have a five-point bullpen record, KT is struggling with a 6.12 ERA.
It is also confirmed in all indicators that the weight of offense has increased. Team OPS also ranks first to third in terms of batting average, while the three teams are listed in the order of KIA (0.804), LG (0.788) and Doosan (0.780).
In addition to making it to the third round, Lee also noted the possibility of Samsung’s potential leap forward. “A strong hitting team is an advantageous condition, but Samsung may gain strength depending on Park Byung-ho’s pace,” Lee said. “Park Byung-ho’s timing at bat is completely different from early in the season. If he hits with his own timing, he will inevitably produce many long balls, which will create synergy in the team’s batting lineup.”
Considering not only Lee’s analysis but also the general view of professional baseball insiders, there is a possibility that the mix will continue until the mid-to-late season.
This also brings to mind the 2021 season when the regular season winners had a winning percentage of 0.563. That year, KT, the unified Korean team, went directly to the Korean Series as the first tiebreaker in the league history, as it had won the regular season with Samsung. LG, the third-ranked team in the regular season in the same year, also had a gap of only 1.5 games with KT.
Right now, professional baseball is an unpredictable time as well as a time of independence.