Seoul: Trying to hold on to their postseason hopes, a trio of clubs will face a full slate this week in South Korean baseball with makeup games coming up. Starting Tuesday, teams in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will no longer play two sets of three games per week. They will spend the rest of September, the final month of the regular season, playing games that had been canceled due to inclement weather from earlier in the season.
According to Yonhap News Agency, this schedule adjustment will leave some teams with odd off days this week. The league-leading LG Twins, for instance, will play Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. However, three teams in the thick of a postseason race -- the SSG Landers, the NC Dinos, and the Kia Tigers -- will each play a full slate of six games, with plenty of travel involved.
The Landers, currently in third place, hold a record of 61-58-4 with a winning percentage of .5126, marginally ahead of the Lotte Giants in fourth place at .5124. The Samsung Lions, in fifth place with a winning percentage of .5122, recently completed a three-game sweep of the Hanwha Eagles.
The Landers will start their week at home in Incheon against the Kiwoom Heroes on Tuesday, travel to Gwangju to face the Tigers for two games, and then return to Incheon to host the Lotte Giants for two games. Their week concludes with a match against the Twins in Seoul on Sunday.
The Dinos, in seventh place with a record of 56-58-6, are 2 1/2 games behind the Lions for the final postseason spot. They have the most remaining games in the league due to early-season postponements following a tragic event. The Dinos will visit the KT Wiz in Suwon on Tuesday, then play the Hanwha Eagles in Daejeon the following day. They will finish the week with home games in Changwon against the Doosan Bears and the Tigers.
The Tigers, the reigning Korean Series champions, aim to maintain their postseason chances despite recent struggles. They will face the Eagles in Daejeon, play three consecutive home games in Gwangju, and conclude the week with a trip to Changwon. With only three wins in their last 10 games, the Tigers are in eighth place, 3 1/2 games out of the final postseason spot, following a narrow loss to the Wiz.
The Wiz, currently sixth with a record of 62-60-4, are half a game behind the Lions. They are seeking their sixth consecutive postseason appearance and will play four games against four different opponents this week.