Weekend Picks

BASEBALL

Korea Baseball Organization

KIA Tigers at LG Twins

6:30 p.m. Friday, Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul

It’s time for a rematch between the Tigers and the Twins. The first time the two met in April for a three-game series, the Tigers and the Twins shared one win each, while one of the three games of the series was rained out.

The Tigers and the Twins met once more from May 31 to June 2 and came out with one draw, one loss and one win each.

The two teams have been going back and forth in the league standings, rising to the top pool of the rankings at one point, only to fall down to the bottom pool few games later. At the moment, the Twins seem to have the edge as they are three wins ahead of the Tigers as of Thursday.

For the Twins, it is the team’s infielder Luis Jimenez that is leading the team in batting. As of Thursday, Jimenez is ranked fifth in the league standings in batting with a .365 batting average (BA), 46 runs scored, 17 home runs and 49 runs-batted-in (RBI).

For the Tigers, outfielder Kim Joo-chan leads the batters in the team with a .330 batting average, 43 runs scored, nine home runs and 41 RBIs as of Thursday.

The two clubs play at the same venue 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

FOOTBALL

K-League Classic

Suwon Samsung Bluewings at FC Seoul

7 p.m. Saturday, Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

FC Seoul finally reclaimed second position in the K-League Classic standings over Jeju United FC, and is looking to topping Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to retake the helm in the league rankings.

Seoul team, who’s qualified for the Asian Champions League quarterfinals alongside Jeonbuk, comes out of 3-2 win over Gwangju FC on Wednesday during the 14th round of the K-League Classic.

Dejan Damjanovic scored the opener and game winner while Gwangju’s defender Hong Joon-ho scored an own goal to allow Seoul to take a win at its home. Damjanovic was chosen as the Man of the Match during Wednesday’s game.

In the meantime, the ninth-ranked Suwon Samsung Bluewings just came out of a 2-1 loss to Jeonbuk. Although Samsung equalized the match during Wednesday’s game late in the second half when its midfielder Yeom Ki-hun scored in the 79th minute, Suwon gave up a buzzer beater during the injury time just as the referee was about to blow the whistle and eventually lost the game to Jeonbuk’s side.

Now in the 15th round of the season, Seoul is looking to grab a win over Suwon this weekend to secure its chance of taking down Jeonbuk to climb back to the top.

Seongnam FC at Gwangju FC

7 p.m. Sunday, Gwangju World Cup Stadium, Gwangju

Both fourth-ranked Seongnam FC and sixth-ranked Gwangju FC are going into this weekend’s match with a loss from Wednesday. While Gwangju was edged by FC Seoul, Seongnam FC was defeated by Pohang Steelers 3-1.

The loss to Pohang was especially disappointing for Seongnam, who led the entire match in possession but was unable to take any solid shots. The team was also plagued by offside during Wednesday’s game, their possible fast breaks and offensive effort being halted six occasions due to offside.

Seongnam FC has six wins, four draws and four losses this season, while Gwangju has five wins, three draws and six losses. Depending on the outcome of this weekend’s games, Seongnam, who’s one spot above Ulsan Hyundai FC in rankings with a one-game difference, could climb down from fourth place to fifth.

Seongnam will have to look to its Brazilian striker Tiago Alves Sales to prevent itself from falling in the rankings.

Sales is the leading scorer in the league and has netted 11 goals in the past 14 games, already far outperforming his previous season with Pohang when he scored four goals in 25 matches.