The Lotte Giants, who have not yet missed the string of “Autumn Baseball,” will start the remaining game with the Hanwha Eagles, who will determine their fate for the rest of the season.
Lotte will play the first of three consecutive home games of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular season against Hanwha at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on Sunday. The team’s matches for this season are tied at four wins and four losses.안전놀이터
The two teams have had fierce matches throughout the season. In the Daejeon series from April 2-4, the first showdown between the two teams, Lotte had a one-point game (1-0, 5-6) and split one game each (one game, rainy season). Lotte had two wins (one game, rainy season) in the Sajik series from May 7-9, and Hanwha had sweeps in the three consecutive games in Daejeon from May 28 to 30. The Sajik series, the last meeting between June 28 and 30, was canceled due to rain in the remaining two games after Lotte won one game.
In the ranking table, Hanwha ranks seventh with a winning percentage of 0.483 and Lotte eighth with 0.455. There are three games left, but the results are still unknown, especially given that there are more than 20 games left in the season and eight face-offs between the two teams. If the team sweeps the series once or twice, the direction may be different.
Hanwha is in a better mood these days. In August, Hanwha is ranked second with 0.650 wins (13-7) and Lotte third with 0.588 (10-7). In the last 10 games, however, Hanwha has swept a whopping eight wins and reached its peak by sweeping three consecutive games against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil on July 23-25. Lotte, on the other hand, finished its away series with the KIA Tigers (2 losses) and the Samsung Lions (1-2) in last week’s game.
Both Lotte and Hanwha have strong aspiration for fall baseball. Lotte has failed to make the postseason for the seventh year since the elimination of the NC Dinos and the semi-playoff (2 wins and 3 losses) in 2017. The Nexen Heroes (currently Kiwoom) and the semi-playoff (1 win and 3 losses) in 2018 were the last for Hanwha. In response, Lotte recruited Kim Tae-hyung (57), a three-time Korean Series champion, and Hanwha also recruited veteran manager Kim Kyung-moon (68) through a change of manager during this season.
Lotte is set to have an important showdown, but the head coach will play with a calm mind. Ahead of the match against Samsung Electronics in Daegu on Saturday, Kim Tae-hyung said, “(The match against Hanwha) will continue as it is. There is nothing different to do. Who can I bring and use it with me?” He was adamant, saying, “I’m going with you. It’s not even a short-term match.” He made the decision because he thought that he could make a mistake if he was more conscious. “The bigger the players want to win for no reason, the more mistakes can occur,” Kim said.
He acknowledged that Hanwha has a good pace. “Everything is good. Intermediate pitchers and batters are good. We have to accept that,” Kim said. “If we play better and block better, we will win. It’s simple,” he said, referring to the importance of going back to basics.
Lotte announced Park Se-woong (29) as its starting pitcher on the first day of the game. He has played 134 innings in 24 games this year, recording six wins, nine losses and an ERA of 5.44. In the game against Hanwha, he pitched in one game, allowing 10 runs (nine earned runs) in four ⅔ innings, and posted an ERA of 17.36. He has also displayed sluggish performance in 17 games against Hanwha with one win, nine losses and an ERA of 8.51. Still, he will continue to play without changing the rotation.