The LG Twins of the Korean Baseball Organization have won their first regular season title in 29 years. LG’s magic number of “1” was extinguished as the second-place KT Wiz and third-place NC Dinos lost side by side.
KT lost 1-3 at home to KIA in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Katie Wiz Park in Suwon on Wednesday, while NC lost 7-9 to SSG Landers at SSG Landers Field in Incheon.
LG (82 wins, 2 losses, 51 draws), which did not have a game on the day, clinched the regular season title by erasing the magic numbers of KT (74 wins, 3 losses, 60 draws) and NC (70 wins, 2 losses, 61 draws). On April 4, the team celebrated their victory on the bus leaving for a game against the Lotte Giants in Busan.
The last time LG won the regular season title was in 1994, and it punched its ticket to the Korean Series for the first time in 29 years.
After finishing the regular season in second place last year and losing to the Kiwoom Heroes in the playoffs to miss out on a spot in the Korean Series, LG hired head coach Yeom Kyung-yup to replace former manager Ryu Ji-hyun this season, and the regular season title was the icing on the cake.
As the regular season champions, LG will go straight to the Korean Series and attempt to win the overall title. The team has a chance to win its third consecutive Korean Series title, having previously lifted the trophy in 1990 and 1994.
Having helped LG win the regular season title, SSG is also in a strong position to compete for fifth place. With 68 wins, three draws and 63 losses, SSG maintained a 2.5-game lead over sixth-place KIA (65 wins, two draws and 65 losses), who also won on the day.
In the top of the ninth inning, tied 1-1, KIA’s leadoff hitter Kim Do-young led off with a single against KT closer Kim Jae-yoon and stole second base.
Kim then singled to center field to take the lead. Kim stole second on a wild pitch by Socrates Brito, advanced to third on a wild pitch by Lee Woo-sung, and scored on a sacrifice bunt by Lee.
KIA brought up Jung Hae-young to close out the ninth and preserve the win.
SSG trailed 0-5 through four innings, but came back to win.
In the fifth inning, with runners on first and second, Kim Min-sik and Kim Chan-hyung hit back-to-back singles to score two runs and cut the deficit to 3-5 on a wild pitch by the opposing pitcher.
In the sixth inning, with runners on second and third, Han Yoo-seom’s sacrifice fly tied the game at 5-5 on a wild pitch. Kim Sung-hyun, Ha Jae-hoon, and Kim Min-sik then drew consecutive walks, and when Kim Chan-hyung grounded out to the third baseman, Ha Jae-hoon, who was at third, scored on the error.메이저놀이터
Choo Shin-soo followed with an RBI double to make it 8-5 SSG. After Ha Jae-hoon’s solo home run in the eighth inning, SSG allowed NC to score two runs in the ninth inning but secured the win without allowing any more runs.
Meanwhile, the Lotte Giants defeated the Samsung Lions 10-4 at Sajik Stadium. The seventh-place Lotte improved to 64 points and 69 games, while Samsung, which fell to 58 points and 77 games, dropped from eighth to ninth place.
Last-place Kiwoom Heroes defeated the Doosan Bears 6-5 at home.
Kiwoom is now 55-3-81, while fourth-place Doosan is 70-2-62, trailing SSG by 1.5 games.