The Doosan Bears have suffered back-to-back shock losses, putting a red light on their chances of clinching third place. There’s no guarantee they’ll be able to hold on to fifth place, which is the minimum to qualify for fall baseball.
Doosan lost 3-14 to the Lotte Giants of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 11 at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan. With the second straight loss, Doosan falls to 71 wins, 2 losses and 65 draws on the season. At the same time, the gap between the third-place SSG Landers and NC Dinos widened to 1.5 games.
This is another shock loss after the one against KT WIZ on April 9. Doosan suffered a 4-5 shutout loss to the KT WIZ as then-closer Jung Chul-won gave up four runs (two earned) and four hits (one home run) in 1.2 innings, walking two and striking out one. They dropped from third to fifth in the standings.
For Doosan, winning this game was crucial. They needed a win to close the gap on a day when their top two rivals, NC and SSG, were not playing. Doosan’s advantage was expected, as their opponent was seventh-ranked Lotte, who was denied a spot in fall baseball.
However, the Doosan mound was unable to withstand a full-strength Lotte lineup and fell apart early. Starting pitcher Choi Won-jun, a right-handed sidearm, struggled with three runs in 1.2 innings and was removed early, followed by Park Shin-ji (5 runs in 2 innings), Lee Byeong-heon (2 runs in 1.1 innings), and Je Hwan-yu (4 runs in 2 innings), resulting in an 11-run loss.
With the loss, Doosan is now 1.5 games behind third-place NC and SSG. A step back in a tight third place battle.
The bigger problem for Doosan is that their remaining schedule is not going to be easy. With six games left in the regular season, Doosan will now travel to Jamsil to face NC on the 12th, the KIA Tigers on the 13th, and the LG Twins on the 14th and 15th.
NC and KIA are currently in a tight standings battle with Doosan, with the sixth-ranked KIA coming off an 11-0 win over the Kiwoom Heroes on Sunday to pull within two games of fifth-ranked Doosan. If Doosan loses against KIA on Nov. 13, the top-five battle will be further thrown into chaos.
The two-game series against LG is also expected to be difficult. LG, which clinched the top spot in the regular season early on, said early on that it would go all out in the remaining games due to equity concerns. For Doosan, which is 4-10 against LG this season, LG’s “all-out pitching” declaration is unwelcome.
It doesn’t end there. Doosan will face third-place contender SSG in the final two games of the regular season, scheduled for April 16-17 in Jamsil and Munhak respectively. For Doosan, every game is a struggle. 메이저사이트
Doosan suffered back-to-back shock losses in the first two games of the eight-game series from hell. The third-place fight is already red-lighted, and the fifth-place shootout is far from assured. Depending on how Doosan performs in the remaining games, the KBO standings will be in flux.