"No. 4 can't win forever." First WC Upset, scapegoated national hitter, "I'm sorry I haven't tried my best."
"No. 4 can't win forever." First WC Upset, scapegoated national hitter, "I'm sorry I haven't tried my best."
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For the first time in the history of the KBO League, the KT Wiz in the professional baseball made an upset in the wild card game. The Doosan Bears have fallen victim to history.
KT won 1-0 against the Doosan Bears in Game 2 of the wild card game of the "2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League" at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 3rd. KT, which won 4-0 in Game 1 on the 2nd, brought both Game 1 and Game 2 with the victory, making it to the 5th-ranked team's semi-playoff for the first time since the introduction of the wild card.
The wild-card game, introduced in 2015, when the KBO League was expanded to 10 clubs, never saw the fifth-ranked team advance to the semi-playoff until last year. This is because the fourth-ranked team starts the series with a huge advantage of hosting both games at its home stadium with one win. In the nine wild-card games, the fifth-ranked team never advanced to the semi-playoff, and KIA in 2016 and Kiwoom in 2021 were the only ones to win the first game.
However, KT overcame all these challenges to create a miracle. The overwhelming mound completely blocked Doosan's batters, leading them to advance to the semi-playoff. In the first game, starting pitcher William Cuevas led the team to victory by allowing no runs on four hits and nine strikeouts during six innings, while the bullpen pitcher Kim Min (⅓ scoreless innings), Son Dong-hyun (one ⅔ scoreless inning), and Park Young-hyun (one inning scoreless inning) also displayed scoreless pitching.
In the second game, starting pitcher Wes Benjamin posted a win without allowing three hits and six strikeouts in seven innings, while the bullpen pitcher Ko Young-pyo (one scoreless inning) and Park Young-hyun (one scoreless inning) also displayed scoreless pitching. KT has posted 22 consecutive scoreless innings in the wild card game, setting a new record of the most consecutive scoreless innings in history.
"I threw like when I was a good Benjamin," KT manager Lee Kang-cheol said in an interview after the game. "I thought I would throw well at least once. I thought I would throw well at least once because both Cuevas and Benjamin were in such bad shape, but I didn't expect that they would throw so well at least once. When there were only five games left in the regular season (due to poor performance of foreign pitchers), I wanted to cry. I wonder if they are protesting against me to renew my contract. He throws so well. That is how I saw him. I threw so hard for my team even though I lost a lot of physical strength," he said, welcoming Cuevas and Benjamin's pitching.
Coach Lee Kang-chul, who was confident of winning the second game after winning the first game, said, "I think I named the team well. I recorded well for the first time. The process of coming to the game from the game against Lotte was not a winning game, but I felt like I was making something to win. In the previous interview, I couldn't talk about it because I was worried that I would get excited, but as I kept turning it over and over, the momentum and atmosphere got better. I think coming up from the last game against Lotte gives me a lucky performance. I think I wanted to make something like this for the first time."
Unlike KT, which created a miracle, Doosan has become a victim of history. For the first time in its history, Doosan became the fourth-ranked team that failed in the wild card game. "It is sad and unfair to end this season here because we lost two games. We finished the season in fourth place. We ended the game scoreless in two games. It is regrettable that we failed to score a point. The victory or defeat of baseball depends on who plays the home ground the most, and we lost without even a single try," Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop said in a press conference after the elimination. 메이저놀이터
"I'm so sorry," said Lee, who apologized to the fans. "I'm the happiest when I come to the baseball stadium, and it's a stressful job for me as well as the players, but I thought I should help the players more as a manager when I saw them try to win. I feel sorry for the fans, and our players worked really hard from February 1 to today. I'm not good enough. The players worked the hardest. I'll also feel sorry for the fans who cheered for me."