The LG Twins have won their first KBO regular season title in 29 years. Manager Yoon Kyung-yup greeted the fans, players, and field and front office staff who made the championship possible, and expressed his firm commitment to the new goal of winning the title.
LG, led by Yim Kyung-yup, clinched the top spot in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League on Wednesday, regardless of the outcome of the rest of the season, as second-place KT Wiz lost 1-3 to the KIA Tigers and third-place NC Dinos lost 7-9 to the SSG Landers. LG, which had the day off from play, has a season record of 82 wins, 2 draws, and 51 losses with a winning percentage of 0.617.
Even if LG loses all nine of its remaining games, it will still finish with a 0.577 winning percentage. LG clinched the title early in the day, as second-place KT (74 wins, 3 draws, 60 points, 0.552 win percentage) would have a final win percentage of 0.574 even if it won all of its remaining games, and third-place NC (70 wins, 2 draws, 61 points, 0.534 win percentage) would have a win percentage of 0.570 even if it won all 11 of its remaining games.
This is LG’s third regular season title overall. After acquiring MBC Cheongnyong in 1990, LG won the regular season and Korean Series titles in 1990 and 1994, its first year of ownership. But after finishing runner-up in 2002, the team went into a long slump, not even making it to the Korean Series. Nearly 30 years.
Already rated as the strongest team in the league and tipped as the favorite to win the title, LG battled defending champion SSG Landers for the lead from the start of the season before taking sole possession of first place on June 27 and never relinquishing the lead to win the regular season title with ease.
With the regular season title secured, LG now has its sights set on the Korean Series title and the overall championship. Since 1989, when the KBO became a single-elimination league, the team that finished first in the regular season has won the Korean Series 27 out of 32 times, giving it an 84.4 percent chance of winning the title.
LG, which will play away games against the Lotte Giants at Busan’s Sajik Stadium on April 4 and 5, had a day off to watch the other teams play while traveling to Busan, and then celebrated on the bus as the team clinched the regular season title. It was also the first championship in the career of head coach Yeom Kyung-yeop, who first started managing the Nexen Heroes in 2013. After securing the title, Yeom reflected on the season and shared his feelings with the club.
“First of all, thanks to the fans who came to the away games for a year and supported us passionately at home, I think we won the pennant race for the first time in 29 years, so thank you,” he said, first of all thanking the fans who had been eager to see LG win for so long. Whenever we won one game and lost one game this year, he always gave credit to the fans.
“Secondly, I would like to thank and congratulate our players, especially our captains, Oh Ji-hwan and Kim Hyun-soo, and our pitchers, Kim Jin-sung and Im Chan-kyu, who worked hard and played their best game after game to win the pennant race,” he said.메이저사이트
“Thirdly, I would like to thank the coaching staff for leading the players well and guiding them in the direction we want to go, even though I was angry and nagged a lot during the year,” Yeom said, adding that he was also sorry and grateful to the field staff.
“Fourth, I would like to thank owner Koo Kwang-mo, acting owner Koo Bon-sung, CEO Kim In-seok, and head coach Cha Myung-seok for their support and belief in the field. Also, all of our fronts, starting with the team managers, tried to help on the field, and I would like to share this joy with the fronts who suffered together.”
“I’m very happy that we achieved our first goal. The second goal, the Korean Series, is the biggest one. From now on, we will organize our rest and training plans well and prepare well so that we can smile until the end.”