Trailing second-place KT by 4.5 games
Determined to solidify first place against Doosan
Kia-Doosan PO race heats up
The LG Twins, looking to win their first regular season title in 29 years, host the Jamsil rival Doosan Bears in a bid to end their losing streak.
LG has been consolidating its position atop the leaderboard since June 27, when it became the league’s No. 1 team. However, they’ve hit a rough patch recently. They dropped all three games of a three-game series against the NC Dinos last weekend. Meanwhile, second-place KT WIZ, which has been on a scary run, won three straight games against the Lotte Giants, closing the gap between the two teams to 4.5 games.
With 36 games left until the end of the regular season, LG is still the favorite to win the top spot, but it’s too early to rest on its laurels. LG will host the Doosan Bears for the final three-game series of August from August 29-31. This season, LG has been absolutely dominant against Doosan, going 8-2. A victory in any of the three games will confirm their dominance for the second year in a row after last season (10-6). According to the starting rotation, LG will send the “one-two punch” of Adam Plutko and Casey Kelly against Doosan.
Doosan is also in a hurry to make the playoffs. Doosan dropped to sixth place after taking two of three from SSG Landers over the weekend. They’re a half-game behind the fifth-place KIA Tigers. The challenge for Doosan is to fill the fourth and fifth starting spots.
KIA, which is in a tight fifth-place battle with Doosan, welcomes fourth-place NC to Gwangju, which is coming off three straight wins over leader LG. The two teams are currently separated by two games, so the outcome of this three-game series could change the standings. KIA is also in good form with four straight wins.
Second-place KT, which is making a late-season push for the top spot, starts a three-game midweek series at home against the Samsung Lions. It will be a battle between the ‘spear and shield’ of KT, who leads the second half with a team ERA of 3.15, and Samsung, who leads the second half with a team batting average of 0.304.
In Daejeon, two teams mired in losing streaks will meet. No. 7 Lotte, which has lost seven straight games, travels to meet the No. 9 Hanwha Eagles, who have lost six straight. Five games behind fifth-place KIA, Lotte will look to keep their playoff hopes alive against Hanwha. Third-place SSG Landers, 1.5 games behind second-place KT, travel to Incheon to take on the last-place Kiwoom Heroes, looking to get back to second place.안전놀이터
On the weekend, LG and Hanwha meet in Jamsil, while KT and Kiwoom play a three-game series in Gocheok. KIA-SSG in Incheon, NC-Samsung in Daegu, and Doosan-Lotte in Busan continue their three-game weekend series. First-place LG and second-place kt will face off in a three-game series next week.