grapplegraphics.com ]Three of the KBO’s most popular teams, the LG Twins, Lotte Giants, and KIA Tigers, will play fall baseball together for the first time ever.
Baseball people always say that LG, Lotte, and KIA should be good at baseball. It is believed that the three most popular teams should do well in order to succeed in the box office, and that if they draw a lot of fans to the ballpark, they will naturally attract new fans.온라인카지노
But until last year, these three teams had never played in the postseason together. From the Wild Card Game to the Korean Series, the three teams have faced each other only five times in the postseason.
Lotte and Kia, which many baseball fans would love to see go head-to-head in fall baseball, met only once in the 1992 playoffs, when Lotte won a close game five to advance to the Korean Series, where it defeated Binggrae to win the championship. It was Lotte’s second and final championship.
Lotte and LG also met only once. It was in the 1995 playoffs, a whopping 28 years ago. Third-ranked Lotte defeated second-ranked LG in four games to two to advance to the Korean Series, but lost to the OB Bears in seven games to finish as runners-up.
LG and KIA have met three other times: the 1997 Korean Series, the 2002 playoffs, and the 2016 wild-card game. In the 1997 Korean Series, Haetae won the title in four games to one, and in 2002, No. 4 LG rallied from a one-game deficit to No. 2 Kia to win two straight games and advance to the Korean Series in three games. They lost to Samsung in four games to two. Fourteen years later, the teams met briefly in the 2016 wild-card finals, where #5 KIA won game one but LG won game two to advance to the semifinals.
This year, fall baseball with the three teams is becoming a reality. It looked promising until May, when KIA went into a slump in June and Lotte went downhill in July. Recently, however, the tide has turned again, with the fourth-ranked NC Dinos and fifth-ranked Doosan Bears slumping and KIA and Lotte gaining ground.
Lotte swept a three-game midweek series against the second-place SSG Landers. After an abysmal 5-12 record in July, they have rebounded with a 9-6 record in August. KIA, who topped the July standings with an 11-5 record, is also in good form in August with a 7-1 record after a comeback win over Kiwoom on the 17th.
Doosan, on the other hand, is in a 5-9 slump in August after being swept by KT and losing five straight games, while NC has seen its momentum stall after a high-flying start to the month with three straight losses. Escaped a three-game losing streak with a narrow come-from-behind win over Hanwha on the 17th.
Until the 16th, the order was 4th NC-5th Doosan-6th KIA-7th Lotte, but after the 17th game, the order changed to 4th NC-5th KIA-6th Lotte-7th Doosan. NC and KIA are separated by 2 games, KIA and Lotte are separated by half a game, and Lotte and Doosan are separated by no games, meaning that the margin between 4th place NC and 6th place Doosan is only 2.5 games.
Right now, no one knows which of the four teams will earn the two tickets to the top five. For now, it’s clear that expectations have been raised for an ‘L-Lot-Gi’ Top 5.