SSG Landers hold on to lead as KBO enters final two weeks

Baseball

Published: 26 Sep. 2022, 15:31 Updated: 26 Sep. 2022, 16:06

SSG Landers hold on to lead as KBO enters final two weeks

Choi Jung of the SSG Landers hits a two-run home run at the bottom of the sixth during a game against the LG Twins at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Sunday. [NEWS1]

The SSG Landers hold on to the top spot in the KBO with less than two weeks to go as the league breaks down into a mismatch of rescheduled games before the regular season ends on Oct. 8.

The Landers went four-and-two over the last week, matching the second-place LG Twins to hold on to a 3.5 game lead with the pennant now firmly in sight. But as the Twins have five games in hand over the Landers, anything could still happen over the next two weeks.

The Landers kicked their week off splitting a series with the fourth-place KT Wiz, winning 4-2 on Tuesday and then losing 4-3 on Wednesday. The Landers then swept the last-place Hanwha Eagles, 10-1, 5-4, rounding off the regularly scheduled series with a big win.

From Saturday, the KBO broke down into a mix of single rescheduled games, with the Landers beating the ninth-place Doosan Bears 14-5 on Saturday and then falling to the Twins 6-2 on Sunday.

Earlier in the week the Twins had started things with an 11-1, 11-2 sweep of the fifth-place Kia Tigers, before splitting their final two-game series with the seventh-place Lotte Giants 1-7, 1-0.

Moving into the weekend, the Twins took an unexpected 2-0 loss to the Eagles before rebounding to beat the Landers on Sunday.

The third-place Kiwoom Heroes, who trail the Twins by 6.5 points and have only five games left to play to the Twins 12, had a mixed week, splitting their series with the eighth-place Samsung Lions on Tuesday and Wednesday, 2-10, 5-4, and their series with the Bears on Thursday and Friday, 2-5, 5-1.

The Heroes then beat the Giants 9-5 on Saturday before sitting out Sunday with no game scheduled. As the team with the fewest games left to play, the Heroes will spend a large part of the next two weeks in the gym while a good part of the rest of the league rattles through a hectic schedule.

After splitting their series with the Landers, the fourth-place Wiz then split another series with the Lions, 9-7, 3-5, before sitting out Saturday and taking a big 9-1 win over the sixth-place NC Dinos on Sunday.

The Tigers, who round off the postseason positions in the wildcard spot, had a mixed week as they fight to hold onto the last playoff spot with the Dinos waiting 2.5 games behind. The Changwon club also has three games in hand, increasing the pressure on Kia.

After losing their opening series to the Twins, the Tigers went on to split an important second series with the Dinos, 3-1, 2-5, only to face the Changwon club again on Saturday and take a 3-0 win. That win gave the Tigers some important breathing room in fifth, with a 4-3 win against the Lions adding to that on Sunday.

The Dinos' ongoing bid for a playoff spot took a hit last week as they split their opening series with the Bears, 2-8, 5-1, before heading into the tough matchup with the Tigers and KT.

The Giants, who trail one game behind the Dinos with an outside look at the wildcard spot — although with only six games left to play it would take something spectacular to get the Busan club back into contention — swept the Eagles, 8-6, 9-0, to start their week, before going on to split the difference with the Twins and lose to the Heroes.

The final game of the week saw the bottom two clubs face off on Sunday, with Doosan beating Hanwha 5-3.

With just a handful of games left to play and every team on the table apart from the Eagles still able to move, the number of games left per club will now play an increasingly important role.

As the only team left that can challenge for first place, the Twins also have the most games remaining, at 12. The Dinos, locked into that battle for the wildcard spot, and the Bears follow with 11 games to play each, with the Wiz and Lions both with nine games still to play.

The Tigers and Eagles each have eight games left to play, while the Landers have seven, the Giants have six and the Heroes only have five.

There will only be three games on Tuesday, as the Heroes take on the Dinos, the Bears face the Wiz and the Twins play the Eagles. The Bears and Wiz and Twins and Eagles will also play each other on Wednesday, while the Lions take on the Dinos.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]