It’s that time of the year, listeners! The baseball playoff preview! We’ve got a lot to talk about so let’s jump right in. As of this writing, the wild card is over and the Samsung Lions are playing the SSG Landers in Incheon. In case you were out partying like I was, the Lions defeated the NC Dinos in a 2 game series to get to the next round. It wasn’t a great showing from the Lions and if a few hits had gone NC’s way, we would be talking about NC now and not Won Tae-In’s pitching. Won and the bullpen kept NC from getting rallies going even though they had baserunners almost every inning. It was kind of a pitchers duel that the Dinos’ Allen lost in the first inning with his two bases loaded walks. Of course those walks would not have mattered if the Dinos remembered how to hit with runners on base. But we’re past that point in the playoffs and we need to talk about the teams that remain.
baseball cheering
Playoffs teams
First up are the Samsung Lions. This season they’ve had great performances from Center Fielder Kim Seong-yoon and Left fielder Koo Jae Wook as well as thunderous hitting from 1st baseman Diaz. Their bullpen’s not the greatest though it did a great job on Tuesday. Their save leader Jae Yoon only has 13 which is 10th in the league. So this is a team that will need to hit the ball well to get to the Korean series.
Next up are the SSG Landers. Surprisingly they don’t have any top 5 hitters in any category. Choi Jung is a top 10 home run hitter with 23. Han Yoo-seom is a top 10 hitter but in strikeouts. They’re going to be relying a lot on Guillermo Heredia who would have won the batting average title if the minimum number of plate appearances was over 350 and not 450. Their pitching staff is much better with Andrew Anderson top 5 in strikeouts and ERA. Their bullpen has two top 5 pitchers as well. So basically this is a team that needs to pitch well to get to the Korean series.
Waiting for the winner of this series is the Hanwha Eagles. They led in the standings for awhile but couldn’t hold LG back. Heck, at one point it was looking like Hanwha and Lotte the perennial losers of the league, were gonna take 1 and 2 respectively! If that happened I would have been checking the sky for flying pigs *joke stings*! My eye doctor would have recommended me for therapy because I was clearly seeing things *joke sting*. Sorry Lotte but only 1 perennially bad team is allowed to succeed. Unfortunately, the strong start and end may not be enough to help the team get to the finals or pacify the fans, more on that in Worst Persons later. Anyway the team got here thanks to a triple crown performance by Cody Ponce, who also tied with NC’s Thompson with 17 wins. He’s gonna get calls from the MLB so Hanwha’s gotta get this train into the station before time runs out. Their bullpen is relatively good in that they’ve got KIM Seo Hyeon anchoring it, but they also have two pitchers who blow a lot of saves. They have a couple of good hitters like MOON Hyun Bin and ROH Si Hwan but is that enough firepower to beat SSG’s better pitching or Samsung’s better hitting? I don’t think it matters either way because Hanwha’s been much better at home than either opponent is on the road. Home field may be the deciding factor in this series.
And finally we have the LG Twins. They’ve clung onto first place and refused to budge since May. They’ve had PARK Hae Min with the most steals but oddly nobody else in the top 20, which is strange for LG as they’re known to be active on the base paths. Austin Dean’s been a solid hitter along with MOON Bo Gyeong, and they’ve got a decent pitching staff, though their ERAs are a bit higher than I’d like. I think this is a well-balanced team, and their being at the top is no surprise to me. They also have the best head-to-head matchups of any of the playoff teams. In fact for some reason, Kiwoon was their toughest competitor this season and they’re in last place.
My pick
So now it’s down to my pick. If you haven’t heard before, the #1 seed plays last in this playoff structure so teams like Samsung this year have to go through an absolute gauntlet while LG gets between 3 and 4 weeks off. Rust seems to be a bigger issue in the MLB than Korean baseball, since the top seed almost always wins the championship, with one recent exception being 2018’s SK Wyverns. So it’s hard to bet against history…but I’m gonna do it this ONE time and pick Hanwha to win it all. Let’s see if my bet pays off.
Worst Persons
We’ve got many winners today for Worst Persons! Let’s begin with the Nap award.
납: Jeju United FC for the chaotic game against Suwon on September 28 which resulted in 4 ejections and fans running on the field and then throwing bottles at the refs. Just before Chuseok, goalkeeper Kim Dong-Jun and midfielder Lee Chang-Min both got suspended and fined by the league due to misbehaving during the game. The goalkeeper got a red for a handball while blocking a shot from Suwon’s Ssabag outside the box then Song Joo-hoon and Ahn Tae-hyun got sent off for kicking the ball away before Suwon's corner kick and then Lee ran off the bench and pushed Ssabag during the scrum. Did I also mention that Jeju’s manager quit before the game? Things are falling apart for the orange men in Jeju and they only get a few more chances to avoid relegation, with one of them against league leader Jeonbuk. Yes they're cooked.
Also a Nap award to the Jeonnam Dragons. According to New Daily on the 24th, a K-League insider told the paper that Jeonnam first decided to terminate Yoo Jin-hong's contract, and then Yoo Kyung-min's as well due to a drunk driving incident on the 12th of September. Valdivia was also fined for some reason which I find annoying. He’s your best player and almost literally carried the team from down 2 to nil to a 3-2 victory over Bucheon on Wednesday. I would cancel that fine and tell him sorry dawg, my bad! You can break any rules you want!
The Radon award goes to: Hanwha Eagles CEO Park Jong-tae, will be referred to Daejeon prosecutors for allegedly converting seats designated for people with disabilities into premium seats to gain illicit profits according to reports in the Joongang Daily. Originally the team had covered the second floor wheelchair seating with tarp then placed portable chairs there and charged 50k and up for those seats but were supposed to remove the tarp on July 2nd. However the team did not open that space to wheelchairs and Daejeon city hall got on their case, but ignored the order. Local disability advocate groups filed complaints and pointed out that those 8k parking spots were being sold for 50k and the team raked in 200 million in profit. It's a shame that the new stadium is becoming a bit of a sore spot in the city when the team is doing so well. But this is the KBO here: they're not the most accommodating to handicapped fans.
And finally the very worst, the Plutonium award!: Under most circumstances I'd say the Hanwha CEO would be in the top spot but I've found someone worse. Yes listeners, worse than a discrimination case! Cover your ears if you don't like carnage. Deep breath…according to reports in the Joongang Daily, A 40 something former high school baseball player who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for beating his 11 year old son to death with a baseball bat got a reduced sentence from the Seoul High court on October 1st. The sentence was reduced to…drumroll please…11 years in prison, completion of a 40 hour child abuse treatment program, and a 5 year ban from working with kids. During the first sentencing hearing, his lawyer urged leniency, saying the former high school baseball player had avoided hitting vital areas and asked the court to allow him to remain available to care for his two young daughters. Ok so he thought he was Siegfried from Soul Calibur? Well it turns out human bodies are not as resilient as they are in video games. But the thing that will really piss you off is asking to allow him to be available to care for his two young daughters. Hmm wow that's gonna be a fun conversation. “Sorry I beat your brother to death. I played too much Soul Calibur after baseball practice. Let's go to the park and get some ice cream afterwards. Whatdyya say? Good grief that's morbid. The kid killer and the Seoul High court are both today's worst Persons in the Korean Sports world!
GAME of the WEEK!: Is it going to be anything other than baseball? Let’s be for real here; SSG vs Samsung Sunday at 2PM with Samsung in the lead so far. But tonight, football fans get a treat. Brazil comes to Seoul tonight and plays the Red Devils at 8PM. If you can’t make it to the game, TV Chosun and CoupangPlay should be showing it. If you’re not into either sport, well you’re in luck! Saturday at 2PM in Ulsan you’ve got Mobis vs Busan KCC basketball, K-league 2 Gimpo vs Seoul E-Land, and finally there’s racing in Inje Gangwon-do on Saturday. I’m not sure what kind of racing other than auto racing and maybe motorcycle racing as well. Their website has a lot of old info. Anyway, you can watch on Naver Sports if you don’t want to make the trip to the countryside this week.
Ending
Thank you for tuning in today. We hope you learned something about Korean sports, like I certainly did. Pass this pod on to anyone interested in Korean sports and especially rookies because our show has hints and tips to make their lives easier. Those hapless souls…(2 second pause). If you wish to read along or contact the show, visit our website at hwatingsportspodcast dot com and everything you need is right there. Give our podcast 5 stars if you have time. Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. Cover art thanks to our cycling expert James! A shoutout to our listeners in Mafeteng, Lesotho, home of Bantu FC! This team has been in action for 100 years, which is roughly the last time Lotte won the championship *joke sting*! This is the end of Season 3, my wonderful listeners! We’ll be back in two weeks with new ideas and jokes! Enjoy your sports until then, Korean sports fans!
(AI voice or other) Guests of the Hwai-ting sports podcast drink at Detergeant, the cleanest EDM club in Gangbuk district! Rub elbows with the hottest celebrities and laugh as they dry hump the furniture when the molly kicks in! Don’t worry about bathroom perverts because their camera jammers from eBay have been installed to protect your private parts! That’s Detergeant; where your drinks and dance fun will be clean!