SK, LG, Nexen in final playoff hunt
With about 11 to 18 games left in the regular season, three Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) clubs — SK, LG and Nexen — are making their final playoff runs.
As of Monday, there are only 1.5 games separating fifth place from seventh while the cutoff for the playoff berth is fifth place. The SK Wyverns are currently in fifth place with 68 wins, one draw and 64 losses, followed by the sixth-place LG Twins (63-3-60) and the seventh-place Nexen Heroes (66-2-65).
In the 10-team league, the team in fifth place will grab the last ticket to the playoffs as the fourth and the fifth place teams will have a two-game wildcard round after the regular season.
The Twins were on good pace last week, recording four wins, one draw and one loss while the Wyverns had three wins and two losses and the Heroes were on a sharp downturn with one draw and five losses.
With 11 games left for the Wyverns and the Heroes and 18 games for the Twins, the three teams are poised for the final playoff push.
The Wyverns might feel pressure as they have to play teams ranked higher than them. The Incheon-based team has to play four games with the league-leading Kia Tigers (77-1-49), three games with the second-place Doosan Bears (74-3-53) and three games with the Lotte Giants (71-2-59).
Given that the Wyverns have recorded four wins and eight losses against the Tigers and five wins and eight losses against the Bears, the Wyverns’ players must remain vigilant during their remaining 11 games.
The Heroes also have four games left with the third-place NC Dinos (74-1-56), which they have only won three games against while losing nine. A good sign for the Heroes is they also have to play five more games with the bottom three teams in the standings.
KBO fans want LG for playoffs
The Twins are one of the most popular KBO teams along with the first-place Tigers and the fourth-place Giants, but the three clubs have never made the playoffs together during the league’s 36-year history.
Despite their popularity, the three are also dubbed “L-Lot-Ki” for sharing the last spots of the standings in the 2000s. From 2001 to 2004, the Giants were ranked at the bottom, the Tigers finished at the bottom twice in 2005 and 2007 and the Twins also remained at the bottom in 2006 and 2008.
Though the KBO fans slyly gave the nickname “L-Lot-Ki” to the three teams, the three finally grabbed their chances to meet together in the playoffs this season if the Twins make it.
The Twins have 18 games left to play but things look better them than they do for the Wyverns and the Heroes as they will play 11 games with the bottom three teams — the Hanwha Eagles, the Samsung Lions and the KT Wiz.
After playing two games with the Giants at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Twins will head to Suwon with light steps to play a two-game series with the 10th-place Wiz (44-0-85). The Twins have been strong against the Wiz this season, recording 10 wins and two losses. On Saturday and Sunday, the Twins will play the eighth-place Eagles (54-1-73) in Seoul.