Incheon: Both the SSG Landers and the Samsung Lions made significant lineup changes before opening their South Korean baseball postseason series Thursday. The two clubs will battle in the best-of-five first round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason starting Thursday at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, about 30 kilometers west of Seoul. The Landers will have the home-field advantage as the No. 4 seed.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Landers manager Lee Sung-yong moved slugger Choi Jeong down from his usual No. 3 spot to the No. 5 hole for Thursday’s game. Choi appeared in only three games as the No. 5 hitter during the regular season, and Lee said Choi’s poor track record against the Lions’ starter, Choi Won-tae, dictated the change. This year, Choi Jeong was 0-for-7 with two walks against the righty. “We will have other guys who had more success against Choi Won-tae batting ahead of Choi Jeong,” Lee said.

Those names include leadoff man Park Seong-han (3-for-7), No. 2 hitter An Sang-hyun (3-for-6), and No. 3 hitter Guillermo Heredia (8-for-11). Batting cleanup will be Han Yoo-seom (6-for-14). Lee also announced left-hander Kim Keon-woo will start Friday’s Game 2, not the team’s ace, Drew Anderson, as expected. According to Lee, Anderson battled a stomach virus earlier in the week, and he is not yet healthy enough to pitch. Kim has yet to pitch in a postseason game. He went 5-4 with a 3.82 ERA in 35 appearances, including 13 starts. He began the season in the bullpen before joining the rotation in late May. “He’s been pitching well of late, and since we’re going to use him as a full-time starter next year, we might as well give him some postseason experience right away,” Lee added.

Lions manager Park Jin-man also made changes to the lineup that fended off the fifth-seed NC Dinos in the wild card round this week. In Tuesday’s 3-1 win, the Lions managed just one hit — none after Lee Jae-hyeon’s leadoff single in the first inning. They lost Monday’s game 4-1 after recording only five hits. The Lions led the regular season with 161 homers but had just one against the Dinos. Second baseman Ryu Ji-hyuk will be replaced by Yang Do-geun, and left fielder Lee Sung-gyu will sit in favor of Kim Tae-hoon. “I wanted to shake things up because we didn’t swing the bat well in the wild card phase,” Park said.

“The Landers have such a great bullpen, and it will be tough to come back if we fall behind early. If our bats don’t come around, this will be a difficult series for us.” Park said he was at least encouraged by the way his players practiced Thursday, adding, “The guys looked pretty relaxed today. The pressure is going to be on the higher seed in the postseason,” the manager said. “We have nothing to lose here.”