Lewin Diaz of the Samsung Lions hits a solo home run against the LG Twins during Game 2 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, 235 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Oct. 15, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — For the first two games of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason series between the home team Samsung Lions and the LG Twins this week, Daegu Samsung Lions Park turned out to be everything it was cracked up to be: a bandbox that favors hitters.
The 8-year-old stadium, located in the southeastern city of Daegu, saw 11 balls leave yard as the Lions beat the Twins 10-4 on Sunday and then 10-5 two days later. The home teams accounted for eight of those homers, led by three off the bat of Lewin Diaz. During the regular season, the stadium saw 216 homers in 71 games for a league-high average of 3.04 dingers per game.
With the Lions a win away from clinching this best-of-five round and advancing to the Korean Series, the teams will play Game 3 on Thursday and, if necessary, Game 4 on Friday at the Twins’ home in Seoul, Jamsil Baseball Stadium.
And Jamsil sits at the other end of the homer spectrum, as it yielded only 1.53 homers per game, the second-lowest figure in the league. The Twins and the Doosan Bears share Jamsil as their home, and the stadium held 73 home games for the Twins and 71 home games for the Bears. Those games saw 220 homers, only four more than Daegu Samsung Lions Park in more than double the number of games.
At first glance, dimensions of the two stadiums don’t seem much different. At Jamsil, it’s 100 meters down the left and right field lines, and 125 meters straightaway center. At Daegu, it’s 122.5 meters from home plate to center, and 99.5 meters down each line.
But it’s the power alleys — left-center and right-center areas where most homers are hit — that make the difference. It’s 120 meters from home to both alleys at Jamsil, but only 107 meters at Daegu.
Daegu Samsung Lions Park is the first KBO stadium built in an octagon shape, and the straight lines of fence stretching from the both corners to the center make the power alleys much shorter.
It’s no coincidence that three Lions starting pitchers — Connor Seabold, Won Tae-in and Denyi Reyes — ranked inside the top 10 among all qualified pitchers in most home runs allowed per nine innings.
But the good news for the Lions: Won and Reyes have already pitched in this series and Seabold is sidelined with a shoulder injury.
Kim Hun-gon of the Samsung Lions hits a two-run home run against the LG Twins during Game 2 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, 235 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Oct. 15, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Diaz leads all players this series with three dingers, followed by two apiece from his teammates, Kim Young-woong and Kim Hun-gon.
During the regular season, Diaz, a midseason arrival, homered in his only game at Jamsil on Sept. 17 against the Bears. Kim Young-woong had 28 homers in the regular season but just one in 15 games at Jamsil, while Kim Hun-gon had none in 14 games there.
For the Twins, Kim Hyun-soo, Park Hae-min and Oh Ji-hwan each have a homer so far this series, but they are not your prototypical sluggers. They combined for just 28 homers in the regular season, including nine at Jamsil.
All signs point to slugfests giving way to more attempts to manufacture runs with bunts and steals.
The Twins ranked second in the regular season with 171 steals, including 108 at Jamsil. They stole 12 bases in the previous postseason series against the KT Wiz.
But you have to get on base to be able to swipe the next bag. In two games against the Lions, the Twins only have a .308 on-base percentage and have stolen just one base.
Lions manager Park Jin-man said Tuesday he was aware of the Twins’ tendency to run more at home than on the road, and his team will also have to figure out how to score without the benefit of home runs.
“Jamsil will benefit pitchers and we have done our homework on how we should play there,” Park said. “Without leaning too much on long balls, we may be using a wide variety of strategies.”
(Yonhap)
