At this point, the last place team is often so far behind the fifth place team that the top five is virtually out of reach.
Last year, with 311 games played by June 15, the difference between the fifth-place KT Wiz (30 wins, 2 draws, and 31 losses) and the 10th-place Hanwha Eagles (22 wins, 40 losses) was 8.5 games. Hanwha, in particular, was losing more and more games than they were winning at this point, and their winning percentage was dropping, so the idea of a top-five finish was unthinkable.
This year is different. The last place team still has a chance. As of May 15, six games separate the fifth-place Doosan Bears (29-1-28, 0.509 winning percentage) from the 10th-place Hanwha Eagles (23-3-34, 0.404 winning percentage).
Hanwha went just 6-1-17 in April for a winning percentage of just 2.661, but they rebounded to go 11-2-10 in May for a winning percentage of more than 5 percent, and they’ve gone 6-7 in June, including a 2-1 win over the Lotte Giants in the middle of the week to clinch the three-game series. Being in last place doesn’t mean the gap between them and the top teams is widening.
Manager Choi Won-ho, who took over the team after Carlos Suvero was fired, has been doing well. Since taking over on May 12, Hanwha has won 12, drawn 2 and lost 15 (a winning percentage of 0.444). That’s good for eighth place overall.
That’s a clear improvement from the 11-1-1 record (0.367 winning percentage) before Subero was fired.
They are only one game behind the eighth-place Samsung Lions (25-34, 0.424 winning percentage), ninth-place KT Wiz (24-2-33, 0.421 토토사이트 winning percentage), and 1.5 games behind the seventh-place Kiwoom Heroes (27-1-35, 0.435 winning percentage). With a winning streak, they can break through at any time and look further up the table. Hanwha will host Kiwoom in Daejeon on the 16th for a three-game weekend series.
The top spot is also up for grabs at any time. The LG Twins’ win over the Samsung Lions on the 15th and SSG Landers’ loss to KT moved LG into first place, a half-game ahead of SSG. The third-place NC Dinos are three games behind LG, and the fourth-place Lotte Giants are 4.5 games back. Fifth-place Doosan and Lotte are separated by just two games. This is a situation where a winning streak and a losing streak for any team can completely change the leaderboard.
With so few games separating the teams, anything can happen. With so many variables, including injuries, this year’s KBO League awaits the biggest one: the Asian Games in October. You can’t afford to let your guard down, and missing a winnable game could be the game you regret later.