Weekend Picks

BASEBALL

Korea Baseball Organization

KIA Tigers at NC Dinos

6:30 p.m. Friday, Masan Baseball Stadium

The NC Dinos will host the Kia Tigers, the other top team in the KBO, over the weekend.

The Dinos have slowly made their way up in the KBO standings to second by winning its eight consecutive games as of Wednesday. Since the game against the Doosan Bears on April 16, the Dinos have recorded eight wins and one tie.

For the Tigers, they’ve been maintaining the top spot for the past two weeks, being the first team to achieve ten wins in the 2017 KBO season.

Lotte Giants at Doosan Bears

5 p.m. Saturday, Jamsil Baseball Stadium

The Lotte Giants will travel to Jamsil to play against the Doosan Bears over the weekend.

The Giants are currently tied for third in the KBO.

Lee Dae-ho has definitely strengthened the Giants when compared to last year, as they finished eighth out of ten teams in the 2016 season.

Meanwhile, the Bears, two-time KBO regular season champions, got themselves into a bit of trouble as Jin Ya-gob, the Bears’ recent addition, was found to be involved in gambling last year, and Kim Myeong-sin, another pitcher for the Bears, recently got hit in the face while pitching against the Nexen Heroes.

FOOTBALL

K-League Classic

Suwon Samsung Bluewings at Jeju United FC

3:00 p.m. Sunday, Jeju World Cup Stadium

The only two teams continuing the journey in the AFC Champions league will meet for a K-League classic game.

For Jeju, foreign players such as Marcelo Aparecido Toscano are leading the team during the match against Suwon.

Marcelo, playing his second season with Jeju, currently leads the team with two goals and two assists in six games.

Not only that, aside from its success in the AFC, Jeju has been making steady progress in the K-League over the past three years, and is now ranked second behind Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC.

Suwon, currently ranked seventh in the K-League, had been struggling, winning its first game of the season last week against Gangwon FC. Since Suwon also lost its most recent AFC match against Kawasaki Frontale on Tuesday, a win against Jeju will boost the team’s momentum in the K-League as well as the AFC Champions league.