He finished a hellish nine-game series with four wins and five losses. As a result, he is ranked seventh, eight games behind SSG Landers, who is ranked fifth in the league. The 2023 Lotte Giants, which had vowed to make a fresh start, played 118 games in the regular season. In fact, the failure of autumn baseball for six consecutive years is just around the corner.
Lotte invested a total of up to 26 billion won with the full support of its parent company last winter, recruiting three FAs (Yoo Kang-nam, Noh Jin-hyuk, Han Hyun-hee), and even signed an extension contract for ‘Glasses Ace’ Park Se-woong. In particular, Park Se-woong sat down emphasizing that he is the team’s franchise star even though he has not completed his military service. Unlike the cases of Lee Dae-ho in 2010 and Kang Min-ho in 2017, it was an effort to prevent the departure of fan sentiment in advance. 스포츠토토
In the end, the head coach was changed. Acting coach Lee Jong-woon has stressed several times, saying, “I will do my best until the end.” Key players, including Park Se-woong, Kim Won-joong, Jeon Joon-woo and Ahn Chi-hong, also said, “I will not give up,” burning their will to advance to the semifinals.
However, there was no reversal for Lotte in the second half like the KT Wiz, NC Dinos, and KIA Tigers. If it deserved to rise, it was often hit by an unexpected blow and collapsed.
The sweep loss against the Kiwoom Heroes in three consecutive games from August 18 to 20 is expected to remain a timing that determines the success or failure of this season. At that time, Lotte won four consecutive games, including a sweep against SSG Landers during the week, catching up to two games behind in fifth place. However, starting with the match against Kiwoom, the flow was completely dampened by falling into a swamp of seven consecutive losses, and former coach Larry Sutton’s voluntary resignation led to his resignation. The distance from the top five has grown further and further and further.
There are a lot of holds, but the stability has decreased. The starting lineup is shaken but is third in the league with a 3.78 ERA, but the bullpen is only eighth with a 4.87. In the end, it resulted in a crowd concentrating on a small number of Pilseungjo.
Kim Sang-soo is the pitcher who symbolically showed the ups and downs of the SSG-Kium match. Kim Sang-soo played four consecutive games from August 15 to 17 against SSG until the match against Kiwoom on the 18th. After struggling without losing a point every day, he also took the mound against Kiwoom on the 20th after a day off and recorded a blon save with three runs (no earned run). Since then, he has played in all three consecutive games (sweep losses) against the KT Wiz, and has played four consecutive games in the second half.
Kim Sang-soo was rediscovered by Lotte even though he was a discharged player and showed the value of a veteran. However, there is a limit to fighting spirit alone. He was diagnosed with a ruptured adductor muscle during the Changwon NC match on the 8th and was diagnosed with a two-week cure. Koo Seung-min, who has been shining with 20 holds for four consecutive years and the first 100 holds in Lotte’s history, is also in a bad situation.
They are the two players who ranked first and second in the team’s most holds (21 Koo Seung-min and 17 Kim Sang-soo) and third and fifth in league holds this year. Choi Joon-yong (9) and Kim Jin-wook (8) will follow.
They played so many difficult games, and bullpen pitchers were exhausted. At the center of it was a “group” of veterans, not “growth.” This is why the No. 1 team hold cannot be a “medal.”
Towards the end of the season, the ranking table of the five-tier and fall baseball elimination teams is noticeably moving away. It is unknown how the team’s situation will change if it fails to advance to baseball this fall. Nevertheless, it is time to prepare for the next season.
There is a lot of work to do not repeat the frustration of autumn baseball for seven consecutive years, including the renewal of good foreigners such as Charlie Barnes and Aaron Wilkerson, whether Jeon Joon-woo and Ahn Chi-hong, who will become FA after this season, and if necessary, Koo Seung-min and Kim Won-joong.