“If a game is canceled on a Saturday or Sunday between August 5 and September 10, the game will be rescheduled for the immediately following Monday,” the KBO said in July. The Monday games were reinstated after more rainouts than expected this season in the wake of extreme weather.안전놀이터
Fortunately, the change didn’t take effect immediately. It didn’t rain on Saturday and Sunday, so Monday games didn’t take place for over a month, but a three-game series between the Doosan Bears and Lotte Giants on the first weekend of September ran into trouble. The first game was canceled due to heavy rain on the first day of the series, and then the next day was also canceled due to heavy rain, so the game was scheduled for the fourth day, a day off.
As a result, Doosan and Lotte were forced to play eight consecutive days in a ‘race to the death’. Doosan, which is battling for fifth place, will travel to Jamsil Stadium in Seoul for a three-game series against the Kia Tigers after the Lotte game on Thursday. They will then host the Samsung Lions from August 8-10. Plus, there’s a doubleheader on the 9th. All together, it will be a nine-game series.
Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop ahead of the nine-game series. [Yonhap].
The situation is the same for Lotte, which is looking for a last-minute comeback to qualify for the fall baseball season. After the Doosan game, they will play a three-game series against Samsung at Munsu Stadium in Ulsan, followed by a four-game series (including a doubleheader) against the NC Dinos and Changwon.
With nine games in eight days, the players are feeling the physical strain. With more than 100 games played this season, it’s easy to get injured with less rest. You might think that players are rested on rainy days, but you’d be wrong. Even on rainy days, the players still arrive early to train and prepare for the game.
Doosan and Lotte are playing a nine-game series, which puts a lot of pressure on their starting rotation. The nine-game series, which includes a doubleheader, will require adjustments to the starting pitching order. Lotte acting manager Lee Jong-woon said, “It’s hard to organize the starting lineup. It’s even harder because we only have four starting pitchers. Our pitching coach said, ‘My head hurts,'” said Lee. Lotte’s starting rotation consists of four pitchers, Charlie Barnes, Park Se-woong, Na Kyun-ahn, and Aaron Wilkerson. The team decided to play games 3-6 in this order before deciding on the next strategy.
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Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop was grim. “Starting with Brandon Waddell today, Raul Alcantara, Choi Won-jun, Kwak Bin, and Park Shin-ji will go out,” Lee explained, “followed by Kim Kang-ryul, who will come up to the first team the day after tomorrow, and Choi Seung-yong, who is still building up his body.” The bullpen will also have to pitch together. “I don’t want them to pitch as much as possible, but when the need arises, it’s hard to avoid it. We want to win the game, but we want to keep various possibilities open.”
Sixth-ranked Doosan and seventh-ranked Lotte faced off against each other at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Wednesday. Doosan won 2-0 thanks to a strong performance from starter Brandon, who threw 100 pitches over six innings, allowing five hits and striking out four. Doosan’s pitching trio of Park Chi-guk, Kim Myung-shin, and Jung Chul-won each pitched a scoreless inning. In the top of the eighth inning, with runners on first and second, Yang hit an RBI single up the middle. Brandon, who picked up his seventh win of the season, said, “A nine-game series is definitely a tough schedule. But if our players play as a unit, I believe we will have good results,” he said.