In this file photo from Sept. 24, 2024, LG Twins players celebrate their 14-5 win over the SSG Landers in a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, just west of Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The defending South Korean baseball champions LG Twins and the runners-up KT Wiz will go at it again this fall.
After battling in the Korean Series last November, the Twins and the Wiz will clash in the first round of this year’s Korea Baseball Organization postseason. The best-of-five series begins at 2 p.m. Saturday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, the Twins’ home in Seoul.
As the No. 3 seed, the Twins earned a bye to this round and will have the home field advantage. The Wiz took a much longer route to get here.
First, they had to beat the SSG Landers 4-3 in the fifth-place tiebreaker game on Tuesday just to sneak into the postseason. Then in the wild card round against fourth-seed Doosan Bears, the Wiz won two straight games to become the first No. 5 seed to make it out of that phase. Behind excellent pitching by starters William Cuevas and Wes Benjamin, the Wiz held the Bears scoreless in two straight days, enjoying a 4-0 and then a 1-0 victory.
After playing three “win-or-go-home” games in three days, the Wiz will only have Friday off to take a breather before jumping right back into the postseason grind. The Twins, on the other hand, haven’t played since their regular-season finale last Saturday.
In the 2023 Korean Series, the Twins beat the Wiz in five games, but it was a close series for the first three games.
The Wiz took the opener 3-2. And they led the second game 4-3 through seven innings, before Park Dong-won delivered a go-ahead two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth for a 5-4 win.
More drama awaited them in Game 3. With the Twins trailing 7-5 with two outs in the top of the ninth, Oh Ji-hwan, the Korean Series MVP, hammered a three-run homer for an improbable 8-7 victory.
The Twins took the next two games handily to clinch their first Korean Series title since 1994.
Many players of the championship core are still with the Twins, and manager Youm Kyoung-youb said he is counting on them to deliver in big games once again.
KT Wiz players celebrate their 1-0 win over the Doosan Bears in the Korea Baseball Organization wild card game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 3, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
“Our players gained so much confidence from winning the title last year and I expect them to perform to the best of their abilities in this series,” Youm said Thursday, immediately after the Wiz knocked out the Bears. “We will try to be the last team standing in the postseason and bring joy to our fans.”
Youm said the focus of the team’s preparation for the postseason has been on hitting and making sure his batters would stay sharp during their time off.
In beating the Wiz in nine of their 16 meetings this regular season, the Twins outscored their opponent 113-93. They smacked 12 home runs in those 16 contests, led by five from third baseman Moon Bo-gyeong.
On the pitching side, right-hander Im Chan-kyu went 3-0 in four starts against the Wiz and posted a 2.70 ERA, with 23 strikeouts in 20 innings.
Another starter, Dietrich Enns, won both of his outings against the Wiz but had a 5.25 ERA.
In this file photo from Sept. 22, 2024, LG Twins starter Dietrich Enns pitches against the Doosan Bears during a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
He allowed 13 hits, including three home runs, in 12 innings, but Enns was still named the Game 1 starter Friday.
Enns will be countered by submarine pitcher Ko Young-pyo.
Ko was tagged up for five runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings in his lone start against the Twins on Aug. 29. Among Twins regulars, Austin Dean and Hong Chang-ki had two hits apiece off Ko.
The 33-year-old starter has been playing the role of a swingman this week. In the tiebreaker game Tuesday, Ko threw 18 pitches out of the bullpen and gave up a run in 1 2/3 innings.
Ko then worked a scoreless eighth inning in Thursday’s win while making 14 pitches.
After Thursday’s game, Wiz manager Lee Kang-chul said he wouldn’t have used Ko if the score hadn’t been so tight and would have preferred having Ko going up against the Twins on three days’ rest.
Ko at least did himself and his team a favor by making quick work of the Bears on Thursday.
The Wiz outhomered the Twins by nine in head-to-head meetings. Outfielder Mel Rojas Jr. destroyed Twins pitching with seven home runs, 18 RBIs and a robust .361/.500/.770 line in 16 games. Rojas batted 4-for-7 against Enns with a homer. Four other Wiz players had multiple home runs against the Twins.
Ko Young-pyo of the KT Wiz pitches against the Doosan Bears during the clubs’ Korea Baseball Organization wild card game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 3, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Left-hander Wes Benjamin continued his dominance against the Twins this year, putting up a 1.93 ERA in four starts against them. Last year, he had a 4-0 record with a 0.84 ERA versus the lefty-heavy Twins lineup.
Since Benjamin pitched Thursday, he won’t be available for the first two games of this upcoming series. He could go on four days’ rest in Game 3 Tuesday, if the team’s other foreign starter, William Cuevas, takes the mound on three days’ rest in Game 2 Sunday.
Cuevas allowed seven runs in five innings in his only regular-season start against the Twins on June 8.
(Yonhap)
