When the LG Twins were in first place, what people around them said to LG was, “LG will fall like that.” It was the same in 2021 and last year as well. In the end, when I came down from first place, everyone said as if it was obvious, “See, I told you I would come down.”메이저놀이터
Yes. Many people’s prejudice against LG. LG was ultimately weak. Even though the atmosphere was good in the beginning, it eventually went downhill. As we lost important games and missed games that we should have made due to ridiculous mistakes, the losses piled up and we fell short of winning.
In 2021, LG fought fiercely for first place with KT Wiz and Samsung Lions. Until August, it was in second place, 1.5 games behind first place KT. In September and October, they recorded only 20 wins, 12 draws, and 21 losses, losing first place to KT and Samsung and falling to third place. It was only a 1.5 game difference.
Last year, LG followed SSG, which was in first place from the opening game, but after July, they showed their backs and chased after them, but ended up losing the championship. In particular, last year, he ranked 1st in ERA and 2nd in team batting average, and both pitches and hits were good. Foreign pitcher Casey Kelly ranked 1st in most wins with 16 wins, Adam Plutko ranked 2nd with 15 wins, Lee Min-ho achieved 12 wins, and Go Woo-seok was the save king and Jung Woo-young was the holds king. However, the domestic starting lineup was unstable, the two foreign batters brought in failed, and the second baseman was also unable to find a suitable player, so there were many difficulties.
The fact that the main players played full-time without major injuries for two years and that they had a stable season and fought for first place meant that LG was now considered a strong team. However, it fell short little by little and ultimately failed to break the prejudice around ‘LG is not good enough’.
It was the same this season. When LG rose to first place in June and July, there were some baseball players and fans who predicted that LG would fall in the second half of the season. In fact, LG had many difficulties, with Plutko, who had 11 wins in the first half alone, missing due to injury, and Ham Deok-ju also being out for the season due to injury. But LG was different from before. In particular, they won the battle for 1st and 2nd place, which was called the ‘Preview Korean Series’, and showed a strong defense of 1st place by overcoming important games.
LG was in second place until June 25, half a game behind SSG. However, on June 27th and 28th, they won 14-0 and 8-6 against SSG, immediately rising to first place. Afterwards, LG, which ran without losing first place, played a three-game series against KT Wiz, which had newly risen to second place, on September 5. In August, KT showed a record of 19 wins and 4 losses, so they were an opponent that you could never feel comfortable with even if they were slowing down with 4 consecutive losses. The gap between LG and KT in the head-to-head match is 5.5 games. KT mobilized ace players such as William Cuevas, Wes Benjamin, and Go Young-pyo in the three-game series to increase their chances of winning.
In the first game, LG won 5-4, 1 run, with Kim Hyun-soo’s winning hit in the top of the 6th inning over KT, which featured Choi Won-tae and ace Cuevas. The next day, LG took a 3-1 lead but lost by giving up 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning. On the 7th, LG used Lee Jeong-yong to block the opponent’s batting line with 3 runs, and the batters targeted KT’s ace Go Young-pyo to secure an 11-4 victory. They easily maintained first place with a winning series of 2 wins and 1 loss.
There were no major crises after that. The magic number gradually decreased, and on the 3rd, the regular league championship was finally confirmed.
However, LG needs to break another prejudice. As it became clear that LG would win the regular league in the second half of the season, people’s opinions began to change. “It will be difficult for LG to win the Korean Series,” he said. The reason is that they are weak in big games.
LG has advanced to the postseason for the past four consecutive years. However, he did not make it to the Korean Series. In 2019, they ranked 4th and defeated NC in the wild card match, but lost to Kiwoom with 1 win and 3 losses in the semi-playoffs. They also rose to 4th place in 2020 and won the wild card match against Kiwoom, but were eliminated in the semi-PO match against Doosan with two consecutive losses. did. In 2021, they advanced to the semi-playoffs in 3rd place, but were eliminated by 4th place Doosan with 1 win and 2 losses. Last year, they placed 2nd and went straight to the playoffs, but failed to advance to the Korean Series with 3 consecutive losses after 1 win against Kiwoom, who went through the semi-playoffs.
Because of their record of failing to advance to the next stage, the image of them being weak in big games has built up. Even though LG advanced directly to the Korean Series, which had an absolute advantage by ranking first in the regular league, there are still people who look at LG with colored glasses.
Now LG must show its strength in the Korean series. Winning the championship for the first time in 29 years is the ultimate goal and the completion of a truly strong team.