Old rivals set for 1st KBO postseason clash in 22 years

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Yonhap) -- Two old foes in South Korean baseball will renew their classic rivalry in a best-of-five postseason series starting this weekend.

The second-seed Samsung Lions will host the No. 3 seed LG Twins to open the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) at 2 p.m. Sunday at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 230 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

The winner of this series will advance to the Korean Series, where the top-seeded Kia Tigers are waiting.

The Lions earned a bye to the second round after posting the second-best record in the regular season at 78-64-2 (wins-losses-ties). The Twins, the 2023 Korean Series champions, ended up two games behind the Lions for third place. They knocked off the fifth-seed KT Wiz in five games in the hard-fought first round that concluded Friday night.

This is the first postseason showdown between these clubs since the 2002 Korean Series.

The Lions haven't played since their final regular-season game on Sept. 28, while the Twins will have had just one day of break before jumping right back into the postseason grind.

The Lions won the season series 8-7-1.

For the opening game, the Lions will start right-hander Denyi Reyes, who went 11-4 with a 3.81 ERA in the regular season. He had a 1-0 record with a 3.60 ERA in two starts versus the Twins.

The Twins will counter with right-hander Choi Won-tae, who lasted just 2 2/3 innings and gave up three runs -- one unearned -- in Game 3 against the Wiz on Tuesday. Choi is still chasing his first career postseason win.

During the regular season, Choi posted a 0.84 ERA in two starts against the Lions, holding them to just five hits in 10 2/3 innings combined.

The Lions will be without their No. 1 starter from the regular season, Connor Seabold, as he is still recovering from a shoulder injury that has sidelined him since mid-September. Another starter, Baek Jung-hyun, will also miss this series after a line drive broke his right thumb during a scrimmage Wednesday.

Setup man Choi Ji-gwang underwent season-ending elbow surgery in September after pitching to a 2.23 ERA in 35 outings, all of them coming after June.

Oh Seung-hwan, the KBO's all-time saves leader with 427, will be held out of the series due to ineffectiveness. Oh, 42, ranked second in the regular season with 27 saves but had a career-worst 4.91 ERA. He posted a 10.50 ERA in seven August outings and surrendered nine runs on eight hits, including two home runs, in his final two regular-season appearances combined, covering just 1 1/3 innings.

The Lions sent Oh down to their minor league affiliate just before the end of the regular season, hoping the right-hander would get back on track. But the team decided Oh wasn't ready to handle postseason pressure.

The Twins had their own pitching issues in the previous series. They leaned on Choi, Dietrich Enns and Im Chan-kyu as their three starters, turning another starter, Elieser Hernandez, into a new bullpen weapon in lieu of viable relief options.

Hernandez appeared in all five games against the Wiz and shut them down for 7 1/3 innings. Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb said the Venezuelan pitcher will serve as the closer and will ideally not have to pitch multiple innings per outing.

Son Ju-young, another starting pitcher who worked out of the bullpen in the last series, will rejoin the rotation against the Lions.

The 2002 Korean Series is widely regarded as one of the greatest championship series in KBO history, with each of the last three games decided by a run.

The Lions captured the title after winning Game 6 by 10-9. They scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth on back-to-back home runs. Lee Seung-yuop tied the score with a three-run blast, and then Ma Hae-young ended the game and the series with a solo shot -- the first Korean Series-clinching walkoff home run.

Twins starter Im Chan-kyu, who grew up a diehard Twins fan, once said he was so traumatized by that loss as a 9-year-old that he refused to go to school the next day. After being named the MVP of the first round Friday night, Im said he was excited to have a chance to avenge that defeat from 22 years ago.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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