There are only two teams left to win the championship, and this week’s “big matchup” is on.바카라
The Lotte Giants, who were in the top three at the beginning of the season, have fallen. The Giants went 1-2 in a three-game series in Jamsil against the LG Twins over the weekend. This is their sixth consecutive losing series.
Lotte was a scary team at one point, ascending to the top of the standings, but their pace slowed dramatically in June. After topping the monthly standings in April with a 14-8 record, Lotte is in last place out of 10 teams with a 6-16 record in June. Their win percentage is also 33-33, which is exactly 5%. As Lotte slipped to fourth place, they were now nine games behind first-place SSG Landers.
In fact, it looks like the race is narrowing down to a two-horse race between SSG and LG Twins. As of the 25th, only 0.5 games separate first-place SSG and second-place LG. Recently, the two teams have been moving back and forth between first and second place based on a single game win or loss. No one team is dominating. It’s that close.
On the other hand, at this point, I don’t see any team rising high enough to threaten SSG and LG. NC Dinos, who overtook Lotte to move into third place, are also a scary prospect, but NC has lost four straight games due to a string of injuries to key players, and the gap between them and the leaders has widened somewhat. They are 6.5 games out of first place.
Lotte’s fall has made the mid-table race even tighter. Only 2.5 games separate the fourth-place Lotte from the eighth-place KIA Tigers. A whopping five teams have moved up and down the standings in the space of a game or two.
As we approach the halfway point, the title race between SSG and LG is not surprising. SSG, last year’s overall winners, bring a wealth of experience and a blend of old and new. LG, the ‘challengers’, have been a force to be reckoned with this season, and the most common prediction is that they’ll be fighting for the title at the end of the day. At least as far as the race for first and second place is concerned, things are going according to plan.
As the first half of the season draws to a close, the two teams coincidentally face off this week. Starting on the 27th, SSG and LG will host a three-game series at the Incheon Stadium. It’s a “big match” for the fight for first place. The team that wins two or more games here will take a step forward in the race for the top spot. The best-of-three series will be worth more than two wins.
SSG’s expected rotation for the midweek three-game series is Oh Won-seok – Alternate Start – Kim Kwang-hyun. LG is likely to go with Lim Chan-kyu, Lee Ji-gang, and Casey Kelly. SSG has yet to finalize their starting pitcher for Game 2, as Kirk McCarty was scratched from the lineup once due to arm soreness. LG also lost Lee Min-ho to a slump, and Lee Ji-gang is likely to start.
One variable is the weather. With a full-blown rainy season front moving across the country, rain is in the forecast all week. With the weather being so changeable, at least one of the three midweek games could be canceled due to rain.