KT heads to magical Korean Series…10th to 2nd, 3 wins after losing 2 POs
“A magical journey.
That’s the slogan of this year’s fall baseball season for the KT Wiz. KT’s 2023 season was indeed magical.
After falling to 10th place in early June, the team gradually improved its ranking and finished the regular season in second place.
This was despite the fact that native starter Choi Min-joon was lost for the season in May due to Tommy John surgery and leadoff hitter Kang Baek-ho spent a lot of time on the second team due to panic disorder.
Katie’s “magic” continued in the playoffs (best-of-three). Against the NC Dinos, the fourth-ranked team in the regular season, Katie dropped the first and second games at home and faced elimination, but bounced back by sweeping the third and fourth games in Changwon.
Down 0-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning at Katie Weeds Park in Suwon, pinch-hitter Kim Min-hyuk hit a two-run double with runners on first and third to tie the game, and in the bottom of the sixth, Park Byung-ho hit a bases-loaded single to shortstop to complete the comeback.
With the 3-2 win, Katie completed the third reverse sweep in the best-of-three playoffs. She beat 11.76% of the odds.
It was Katy’s bullpen that shined in the nail-biter.
After starting Wes Benjamin (5 innings, 5 hits, 5 strikeouts, 2 runs, 1 earned), Son Dong-hyun (2 scoreless innings), Park Young-hyun (1 scoreless inning), and Kim Jae-yoon (1 scoreless inning) shut down the NCC bats.
In particular, Son Dong-hyun’s stellar pitching continued throughout the playoffs.
He appeared in all five games from Game 1 to Game 5, throwing seven innings of three-hit ball with three strikeouts and no walks. 안전토토사이트
He didn’t walk a single batter. One win, one hold.
Named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the playoffs with 39 out of 71 votes (54.93%) in the journalists’ poll, beating out his assigned teammate (17 votes), Son said, “I’m happy that the team was able to pull off a reverse sweep in a crunch situation,” adding, “I don’t mind pitching the whole game. It’s good to feel like I helped the team win a little bit.”
Katie Lee, who has continued the ‘Steel Magic’ in the postseason after the regular season, said, “We came from last place in the regular season.
We lost two games in a row in the playoffs, but I didn’t think it would end,” he said, adding, “I’ll have to think about the starting rotation for the Korean Series.”
After winning six straight games in this year’s postseason, including the wildcard decider (Doosan Bears), semi-finals (SSG Landers), and Games 1 and 2 of the playoffs, EnC dropped Games 3-5 as player fatigue set in. By the end of the regular season, the team was battling with ESG and Doosan for the top spot, and the players were so exhausted that they said they “couldn’t even lift a spoon” (Son Asup).
“We lost because we couldn’t overcome our physical disadvantage,” said NCC coach Kang Myung-ho, “but our players played as one and showed a lot of enthusiasm.
It was a beautiful challenge.”
On the other hand, Yeom Kyung-yeop of the LG Twins, who finished first in the regular season and went straight to the Korean Series, said, “We had three weeks after the regular season to check the team’s needs.
“Our players’ desire to win is stronger than ever, so I expect them to perform as well as they have prepared for the Korean Series with Katie,” said Yeom.
The first game of the Korean Series (best-of-four) will be held on April 7 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, with Elsie attempting to win her first Korean Series title in 29 years since 1994 and Katie aiming for the top spot for the first time in two years since 2021.
