KT·NC, All-Out Battle in Suwon on the 5th
KT·NC, All-Out Battle in Suwon on the 5th... 14th PO 5th Game in History to End
KT, which lost the 1st and 2nd games, won 2 games in enemy territory and held the 5th game at home in Suwon.
NC, which looks tired, will the bullpen rest in the winning group be an opportunity for a rebound?
The 14th '5th Game Final' in Korean Professional Baseball Playoff (PO) history will be held.
The 2023 PO between KT Wiz, who finished the regular season in 2nd place, and NC Dinos, 4th place, failed to determine a winner within the first to fourth games. 온라인카지노사이트
The two teams will face off in a final match that cannot be backed down at KT's home Suwon KT Wiz Park at 2pm on the 5th.
PO, which was first held in 1986, was held in various forms such as best-of-three, best-of-five, three-out-of-five, and best-of-seven.
This year marks the 33rd time that a 5-out-3 win system has been held, and this time, the 14th PO 5th match was held.
NC, which had been on a 6-game winning streak in the fall of 2023, including the wild card game, semi-playoffs, and PO 2nd game, lost in a row in PO games 3 and 4 held at Changwon NC Park on the 2nd and 3rd.
KT, who lost repeatedly to NC in their home Suwon, brought the game back to square one in enemy territory.
This year marks the 6th time that in a 3-out-of-5 PO where one team lost the 1st and 2nd games, the other team won the 3rd and 4th games and advanced to the 5th game.
The team that swept the first and second games advanced to the Korean Series (KS) 15 times out of 17 (88.2%).
However, there are only two cases (11.76%) in which a team advanced to KS with 3 consecutive wins after 2 consecutive losses.
In 1996, the Hyundai Unicorns succeeded in a 'reverse sweep' against the Ssangbangwool Raiders, and in 2009, the SK Wyverns (now SSG Landers) won three games in a row after two losses to the Doosan Bears.
KT attempts to become the third player in history to win 3 consecutive games after losing 2 PO games.
KT, which lost 5-9 in the first game and 2-3 in the second game, rebounded from the third game and won 3-0 (game 3) and 11-2 (game 4).
KT's team batting index in PO games 1 and 2 was a batting average of 0.227 and 7 runs.
They were behind NC with a batting average of 0.243 and 12 points.
However, as of the end of Game 4, KT's team batting average has risen to 0.269 (21 points), and NC's team batting average has plummeted to 0.204 (14 points).
Bae Jeong-dae, who was placed in the lower batting order, became the detonator of KT's batting line with 6 hits in 13 at-bats (batting average of 0.462), 2 home runs, and 8 RBIs.
Although he did not have many opportunities to play, Oh Yoon-seok (4 hits in 7 at-bats, batting average 0.571) played the role of joker perfectly.
The batting of Moon Sang-cheol (3 hits in 12 at-bats, batting average 0.250), who hit two home runs, Hwang Jae-gyun (4 hits in 17 at-bats, batting average 0.235) and Jang Seong-woo (3 hits in 15 at-bats, batting average 0.333), who hit his first home run this fall in Game 4.
A sensitivity increase curve is being drawn.
On the other hand, NC's strength, the sophistication of steps 1 to 3, has lost its shine.
No. 1 Son Ah-seop (6 hits in 17 at-bats, batting average 0.353) fought hard, but No. 2 Park Min-woo and No. 3 Park Geon-woo (4 hits in 15 at-bats, 0.267 batting average) failed to keep their chances.
Foreign hitter Jason Martin's sluggish performance of no hits in 14 at-bats is also painful.
NC was scoreless for 22 innings from the 4th inning of PO Game 2 to the 7th inning of Game 4.
From the wild card game to the 2nd PO game, NC hit home runs in 6 consecutive games, but there were no refreshing hits in games 3 and 4.
The problem of stamina, which was not apparent during the winning streak, is weighing heavily on the NC dugout.
However, the four days of rest given to NC can be a stepping stone for a leap forward.
In particular, the two-day break, including the move day on the 4th, is very sweet for bullpen cores Kim Young-gyu and Ryu Jin-wook, who did not pitch in Game 4 on the 3rd.
NC can gain strength again if they accept positively that the 5th game will be held at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, the place where they won the 1st and 2nd games.
NC coach Kang In-kwon said, “Game 5 could be the last game of the year.
We will give our all.”
Of course, KT coach Lee Kang-cheol is preparing for an all-out effort.
