SSG Landers players celebrate their 10-1 win over the NC Dinos in a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Changwon NC Park in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, on Sept. 26, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — The postseason picture in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) is becoming clearer with each passing day, with just one spot up for grabs now.
The Doosan Bears clinched fourth place with a 4-3 win over the Lotte Giants on Thursday night in the southeastern city of Busan. The Bears had secured a postseason berth Tuesday and locked down No. 4 seed two days later with a road victory.
That leaves only the fifth seed still at stake, and the KT Wiz and the SSG Landers are vying for that spot.
As the fourth seed, the Bears will host the wild card game against the No. 5 seed next Wednesday to begin the postseason. As the higher seed, the Bears will only need a tie or a win to advance to the next round and will have two cracks at doing so. The lower seed must win two straight games to move on to the next phase. The higher seed has advanced to the next stage every year since the wild card game was introduced in 2015.
The Wiz and the Landers have the identical record of 70-70-2, and they both have two games remaining. The Wiz did not play Thursday, and the Landers pulled even by beating the NC Dinos 10-1.
The Wiz will play the Kiwoom Heroes on Friday and Saturday to close out the regular season. The Landers will face the Hanwha Eagles on Saturday and the Heroes on Monday.
If the Wiz and the Landers are still even after 144 games, they will play a tiebreaker game. It would be the first tiebreaker game in KBO history to determine the No. 5 seed.
The Wiz were the Korean Series runners-up to the LG Twins last year. They have been in the postseason every year since 2020 and won it all in 2021.
In this file photo from Sept. 10, 2024, KT Wiz players celebrate their 11-8 win over the NC Dinos in a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
The Landers won the 2022 title but lost in the first round of the postseason in 2023.
This is the final year for the Landers’ designated hitter/outfielder Choo Shin-soo. The former American League All-Star with the Texas Rangers announced in December last year that he would hang up his spikes after the 2024 season. Plagued by nagging shoulder issues, Choo has only played in 77 of the team’s 142 games so far and hasn’t played since Sept. 10.
It remains unclear whether Choo would be available should the Landers make the postseason.
(Yonhap)
