Can you imagine if the Yankees, after its playoff loss to the Indians, were asked to go play a rain makeup game versus the Devil Rays in Tampa two days later? Well it happened in the KBO this week when Hanwha  beat your last place Kia Tigers to  formally end the regular season.

And with that out of the way we can now  turn our attention to the Korean Series…

Doosan and SK finished two and one respectively in the regular season. SK hasn’t played a game since Oct. 5. Will they be well-rested? Whatever, the Korean series isn’t anything about rest. It’s about Game 1 starters  being asked to throw in the middle of Game 3. It’s ping ponging the ball in over-sized stadiums with manic fans supporting their teams regardless the situation or score.

During games SK manager Kim Sung-gun is famous for sitting behind his computer, to the point of  where he sometimes looks like he’s playing Baseball Mogul 2008. He’s well-known as the best prepared manager in the KBO. A stat junkie and, supposedly, a motivator unlike any in the league.

However, its difficult to ignore the fact that there are four very good starting pitchers between the two teams, and they are all foreign born. They  also play in home parks one can fairly call Petco and Chavez Ravine-east. This should be one  low scoring series.

Of course said pitching begins with Daniel Rios, who did his thing vs. Hanwha in Game 1 propelling Doosan to an 8-0 win. He was 4-1 with a wacky 0.23 ERA in games vs. SK this year. SK’s lineup is not as one-dimensional as Hanwha’s, but sheesh. In a seven game series, with Rios only having pitched once since Sept. 25 we could see the Spanish-born Cuban  three times in the series.

Matt Lander didn’t fare quite as well (1-1, 4,76 ERA vs. SK), but as we’ll see, not as bad as SK’s starters were vs. Doosan.

 Kenny Rayborn won 17 game  in a year that actually saw him demoted to the Korean minors for a spell. He finished solid at the end of the year, but still whined that unpires call a different (smaller) strike zone against him than they do for Rios.  SK’s number two guy Michael Romano on  was solid all year,  losing several close games which would explain his lower win total  (12).  

But the  catch  is that  Rayborn and Romano vs. Doosan this year were not good. In five starts Rayborn was 2-2  with a fat  5.08 ERA. Romano was even worse  with a 5.40 ERA and one win.

Game, series, match, right? No. Manager Kim has created a community mind set in Incheon, a  completely  selfless unit that, if you believe what the players say, will run threw walls for him.

For example take the bullpen led by Chung Dae-hyun (0.92 ERA) and Cho Woong-chun  (1.57 ERA), and followed by set up men Youn Kil-hyoun  (8 wins, 16 holds) and Jo Yeong-chul (9 saves, 15 holds). The pitching, and really the team, is built around the bullpen. It’s a big advantage for SK in the series.

SK didn’t have a single player over 20 HRs, yet the team led the league in home runs by a wide margin (112 to Doosan’s 78).   SK has solid  team speed, with Jo Dong-hwa, Jung Gun-woo, and Park Jae-sung all in the Top 10 in steals. Of course this is outdone by  the Bears who have  three of the top 4 theives in the league in Lee Jeong-wook, Goh Yeong-min, and Min Byung-hyeon, who absolutely wrecked havoc on the basepaths during the Eagles series.

Outlook:If you’re a fan of pitching duels (and being the Korean leauge, pitching changes), 3-2 games coming down to the wire, and  good fundamental baseball, this series is for you.

SK is the only KBO team in existence to have never won a championship.  It came close in 2003, but lost to  Hyundai in seven games. This team is a machine and plays in the loudest and biggest stadium in the KBO. It’s a big advantage and SK  plays near .700 ball at home.

Doosan demolished what what the hottest team in the league in Hanwha. They never trailed in the series and bookended the series with a pair of shutouts.

Prediction:Doosan 4-2.