Manager Lee Bum-ho's outlook is that KIA will dominate the regular season and KS will be different
Manager Lee Bum-ho's outlook is that KIA will dominate the regular season and KS will be different
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"It's going to be a long shot."
The Samsung Lions beat the LG Twins 1-0 in Game 4 of the 2024 professional baseball playoffs on the 19th and advanced to the Korean Series for the first time in nine years with a 3-1 series record. Starting from the 21st, the KIA Tigers and the Samsung Lions will play a Young-Honam Moonlight Series at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field for the first time in 31 years since 1993.
KIA manager Lee Bum-ho, who has led the training for the Korean Series since the 4th, said when his partner was decided, "I thought of becoming an opponent of the Korean Series as Samsung won the first and second playoff games. LG players also felt a little tired as they went through the semi-playoff. In fact, I think it will be a great match no matter which team will be against the Korean Series. As the second-ranked team in the regular season has come up, I think it will be a more interesting game."
In addition, referring to the size of the stadium, he heralded a showdown of long-range shots in the series. "As the Gwangju and Daegu stadiums are smaller than those of Jamsil Stadium, I think the game will be decided in terms of long-range shots. I think the batters' conditions will be more important. I will prepare well to enjoy the joy of winning the 12th title with my fans," he said, vowing to win the title without fail.
How did the two teams display slugging capability during the regular season? Samsung boasts the No. 1 team home run (185). Among them, he hit 119 at Lapak (Daegu). Lapak had a batting average of 272, a slugging percentage of 475, and an OPS of .824. In Gwangju, he had 2440, eight homers, 42 points, a slugging percentage of 381, and an OPS of .751 in seven games. He certainly has strength in Lapak.
Samsung had a batting average of 229, 79 runs scored, 20 homers, slugging percentage of 389, and OPS.720 in 16 regular-season games with KIA. Park Byung-ho was a strong hitter against KIA with 333, five homers, 13 RBIs, OPS 1.255, and Kim Heon-gon with 440 li, three homers and eight RBIs, OPS 1.089. Lee Jae-hyun, Jeon Byung-woo, and Kang Min-ho each hit two homers. Diaz has one homerun in four games. Expectations are high because he showed off his strong slugging capability at the playoff.
Kia, which has the strongest batting lineup in the league, displayed even stronger slugging power. At 16 games against Samsung, the team had a batting average of 329, 25 homers, 107 runs scored, had a slugging percentage of 538, and OPS.929. Notably, at Rafak, the team had a batting average of 338, 13 homers, 55 runs scored, had a slugging percentage of 565, and had an OPS of .961. This was why it had 12 wins and four losses in its previous matches.
Most of the main hitters were strong against Samsung. Choi Hyung-woo, Na Sung-bum, Park Chan-ho, Kim Sun-bin, Kim Do-young, Kim Tae-gun, and Byun Woo-hyuk all hit more than 300. In terms of home runs, the clean-up trio was strong, including Kim Do-young's five home runs, Na Sung-bum and Choi Hyung-woo's four home runs. Uniquely, Kim Tae-gun, a catcher from Samsung, hit three home runs. Choi Won-joon also had three home runs, and Socrates had two home runs. In Rafak, Choi Hyung-woo had three home runs, and Kim Do-young and Na Sung-bum each had two home runs.
Kia is generally superior in slugging power, but aspects of the series may differ. Samsung can deploy Won Tae-in and Denny Reyes, two players with a one-two punch. If they reach the seventh game of the series, they can pitch twice, respectively. Against KIA, Won showed strong performance with 2.25 ERA in two games. Reyes lost in both games, showing weak performance with 8.31 ERA. However, he transformed into ERA 0.66 Autumn man in 13 ⅔ innings in two playoff games. 메이저놀이터
Kia Tigers' four starting pitchers James Nail, Yang Hyun-jong, Eric Lauer and Yoon Young-chul were not that strong against Samsung. All of them had an earned run average of four points or higher. The bullpen managed to recover its power, resulting in many come-from-behind wins. Samsung's slugging capability is clearly threatening. Its momentum to pass the playoffs is also an advantage. After all, the key to the team's ability to control each other's slugging capability is who can control each other's slugging capability.