The last time I did these rankings at the start of post-Olympic play I’d estimated Lotte, who were sitting in the fourth and final playoff position, might have to play .600 ball to hold off Kia and Samsung. Well, I guess playing .888 ball does the trick. The Giants have won 16 of 18 and are now tied with Doosan for second place as we head into what would ordinarily be the final series of the regular season.
However, as always there have been a number of rainouts in Korea, so play will continue into early October in order to complete a 126 game schedule. Hanwha, who are still statistically the best offense in the league, now find themselves in fifth and a game and a half out of the playoffs. The Eagles have already played 120 games as compared to Doosan, which has played ten fewer. Lotte has played eight fewer. Well, take a look for yourself — these are the standings going into Tuesday night’s play:
| GP | W | L | Win Pct. | GB | Streak |
| SK | 109 | 72 | 37 | 0.661 | 0 | 1 W |
| Doosan | 110 | 63 | 47 | 0.573 | 9.5 | 3 W |
| Lotte | 112 | 64 | 48 | 0.571 | 9.5 | 2 W |
| Samsung | 117 | 60 | 57 | 0.513 | 16 | 2 L |
| Hanwha | 120 | 60 | 60 | 0.5 | 17.5 | 1 L |
| KIA | 115 | 52 | 63 | 0.452 | 23 | 4 L |
| Woori | 111 | 42 | 69 | 0.378 | 31 | 2 L |
| LG | 116 | 42 | 74 | 0.362 | 33.5 | 2 W |
1. SK Wyverns (1) — Recently got even better with the edition of Esteban Yan, who the team has been using out of the bullpen after he made a couple starts. One run through 20 1/3 innings will probably work, regardless of where he ends up come playoff time. The rich get richer I guess. Yan now has two saves and is the ninth SK pitcher to pick up at least one save this season.
2. Lotte Giants (3) — Can’t deny it, the Giants are the hottest team in the league and the one club I can even conceive of toppling SK. The Giants play with a lot of emotion (as do their fans) and are probably capable of beating anyone on any given night, despite having the third or fourth best team in the league. David Cortez is still spotless through eight plus innings and the starting pitching keeps the team in games. Joh Sung-hwan has continued his hot August nights into September and is 19 for his last 37. He’s also added three HRs, 4 SB and has walked 8 times, giving him a nifty .847 slugging pct. for the month.
3. Doosan Bears (2) — Hammered Kia over the weekend to a 28-8 tune to win three straight and remain tied for third. There’s nothing to say the Bears won’t turn it back on as the season ends, but there’s just not a lot to get excited about right now. Remarkably free agent catcher Hong Sung-hoon, who I derided throughout the off season for whining that the team expected him to both play the field well and hit well, now has enough ABs to qualify for the batting title and is now tied with Kim Hyun-soo at the top of the league in hitting at .350. Hopefully someone will put a stop to that nonsense. Kim has had a fantastic breakout season and should get some light MVP consideration.
4. Samsung Lions (5) — Hanging around and looking to play spoiler in the playoffs. Started last week off with a very positive effort by John Ennis who 3-hit Doosan through six innings to pick up a win. He wasn’t as impressive on Sunday versus Lotte, but not as bad as the 9-1 final would indicate. He gave up just two runs through five innings before the bullpen killed it. Samsung has tried so desperately to get a decent foreign arm in the rotation. Solving that problem could be a key to it’s playoff future.
5. Hanwha Eagles (2) — Have scored one or zero runs in six of 12 games during September. Brutal. Welcome to fifth place Hanwha. Who’s to blame? Not HR leader Kim Tae-kyun, whose slugging .531 for the month. Lee Beum-ho is hitting .182, but still chipped in with a couple dingers and six walks. No, it’s you Doug Clark. He’s six for his last 75 going back to mid August. I think it’s safe to say Korean pitchers have found a weakness in Clark. He’s currently hitting out of the No. 6 hole. Kim Tae-hwan isn’t helping either slugging .195 for September. The Eagles start a crucial, must-win-both two game set with Lotte tonight and then don’t play again until Sept. 23 when they get SK. I’d say Hanwha is just about done.
6. Kia Tigers (6) — Completely farted away its playoff hopes over the last nine. In fairness to the Tigers, playing Lotte, SK and Doosan is a tough draw, but dropping 8 of 9 will surely end your worst to fourth ideas. When I last wrote these rankings I posed two questions regarding Kia — Can Choi Hee-seop contribute down the stretch and will Han Ki-joo rebound after a terrible Olympics? Han hasn’t allowed a run since the Olympics, but he’s only pitched five innings. He’s tired. Choi? Well, he hit .190 in August and is hitting .154 in September. I hate to point fingers…I hate to kick a man when he’s down…but, Choi is the No. 1 reason the Tigers find themselves out of the playoff picture.
7. Woori Heroes (7) — The Heroes are making a late run at last place and as big a fan I am of Ma Il-yeong and Jang Won-sam, I hope the Heroes make it. The Woori company never had any intention of running this team properly and they’ve turned it into debacle. I wouldn’t doubt the players are paying for their own food at this point. The KBO deserves a punch in the mouth as well for allowing it to unfold in the way it has. I have a feeling this will be the one and only season of the Heroes. Another off-season of hoping someone steps in and keeps the league at eight teams instead of seven and this when Korean baseball is on the cusp of a breakout. Snap up the novelty jerseys while you can.
8. LG Twins (8) — Should be commended for not throwing in the towel. The Twins are 2 1/2 games back of Woori with nine games left. Ah, who am I kidding? I still don’t like this team at all.
3 responses so far ↓
1 jose from mexico // Sep 21, 2008 at 8:20 am
HI there,please I need nelson cruz stats he was with the sk wyverns in 2006 and 2007,please if you have some stats let me know by email…thanks
2 Mike McStay // Oct 1, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Sir, the above article has 2 major errors in it and I would like to address them both at this time.
The Heroes.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2892009
Centennial doesn’t know how to run a sports team
Imagine that someone who owes you money misses the deadline to pay you back, but still has the gall to tell you the money will be on the way only if his demands are met.
Pretty silly, right? But that’s what Centennial Investment did.
The company knew that the KBO provided a lot of leeway in their entry into the league. The 12 billion won ($11.4 million) fees are the lowest ever for an expansion team and, as noted earlier, no team was told they could pay the fees in four payments over two years.
When other executives or fans questioned the financial viability of this company, the KBO stood by their men. And this is how Centennial thanks the league.
Centennial had no business running a baseball franchise in the first place. If the need for an eighth team weren’t so great, they wouldn’t have had the chance to sniff at KBO’s front doors.
Centennial introduced a great-sounding scheme called “naming marketing,” whereby they would allow a sponsor to lend its name to ads on uniforms and logos in exchange for money.
But now, that sponsor, Woori Tobacco, is as good as gone, with its president, Hong Won-ki, pleading with the Heroes to drop the name Woori. The tobacco company pledged it would honor its three-year, 30 billion won deal, but it’s doubtful the contract will be extended beyond that.
Centennial got themselves into this mess. Judging by the way they’ve handled the affair, it’s unlikely they will get out of it with any grace.
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Check other stories about the fiasco that has become the Heroes and its a joke for the fans and its players.
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2. Doug Clark.
Sir, I really wish you would have done a little investigating before you put the blame on the Hanwha Eagles Collapse on 1 person.
Clark has been playing injured since ,before the Olympic break. He has been trying to continue playing with the knee injury but his power has been reduced since the injury.
He was told by his trainer that this injury would have sidelined a Korean player for 2 weeks but you are ok . His average went from .312 to .243 and the injury needed rest and the Eagles refused to give it too him. He tried to tell the team but it did not work.
He was playing injured and it showed in his swing. He could not properly plant the leg and turn the knee for power.
To blame one man for any collapse in sad but to do it without the facts, is just lazy and bad writing.
Please check the facts next time.
3 Shinsano // Oct 2, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Hey Mike,
Thanks for taking the time to write such a long comment. Let me respond…
I’m guessing the error you’re talking about in reference to the Heroes is the fact that I blamed the Woori company for turning the franchise into a joke. I guess Centennial is technically the company to blame. I was blaming the franchise as a whole. Sorry to offend Woori Tobacco. I’ve written about Centennial several times, starting with the company buying the team. I questioned if it was indeed even a real company. I still do. Whoever owns that team has screwed up royally.
As far as Doug Clark…players get injured, players play through injuries, but all we can do is evaluate the result. It’s pretty clear that as Clark went the Eagles went. And recently, in the two weeks since I blamed Clark for the Eagles struggles — when the team had scored a run or less in six of twelve games — he’s picked it back up and is 11 for his last 21. Not surprisingly the Eagles have bounced back and have won three of four. Unfortunately the Eagles have already been eliminated.
I might have come off as harsh in what I said, but there was nothing lazy or untrue about it Mike.
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