Doosan Bears did its best to win or stay ahead of the LG Twins, their “Jamsil rival” this season, just as the definition of the “Rival,” but they lacked skills compared to LG and did not follow their luck. Oddly enough, whenever they encountered LG, the mound collapsed, and defense errors continued to be hit hard and score points. As a result, they ended the game against LG with 5 wins and 11 losses.
Doosan drew attention in 2018 when it was a dynasty by dominating LG with 15 wins and one loss. It had won 17 consecutive games against LG from 2017 to 2018, but failed to win all 16 games as it was blocked by Cha Woo-chan’s strong pitching of one run and one run in nine innings in the final match. To that extent, Doosan’s performance against LG was overwhelming.
Since then, Doosan has maintained the winner status of its Jamsil rivals with 10 wins and 6 losses in 2019 and 9 wins, 1 draw and 6 losses in 2020. In 2021, it had a big game with LG for the first time in a long time, but it also had a seven-win, three draws and six losses advantage.
Doosan had suffered from “Twins Phobia” since last year when it humiliatingly ranked ninth for the first time in its history. Due to a series of power leaks and injuries sustained by foreign players, Doosan had to suffer from six wins and 10 losses.
There was no reversal in this year when Lee Seung-yeop took the helm. While LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop, who took the helm side by side with Lee, drew attention due to the “War of Yup,” the team was thoroughly lagging behind LG, the unified title. There were many major defeats, including April 14, 1-13, May 7, 1-11, and June 18, 3-15, and Doosan’s proud one-two punch, such as Raul Alcantara and Kwak Bin, became smaller whenever they encountered LG. It felt as if Doosan became LG in 2018. 에볼루션 바카라사이트
Looking back on his first year as a coach, Lee also expressed deep regret over his team’s overall inferiority to rivals. “We performed really poorly against LG this year. We were sluggish and couldn’t exert our utmost efforts. Losing a match is a disgrace,” Lee sighed.
It is not just that. Doosan failed to show off its prowess even against second-ranked KT (5 wins, 1 draw and 10 losses) and third-ranked SSG (4 wins, 1 draw and 11 losses), only clinching 14 wins against the top three teams. On the contrary, it was able to return to the postseason in two years by accumulating wins against lower-ranked teams such as KIA (12 wins and 4 losses), Samsung (11 wins and 5 losses), Hanwha (10 wins and 6 losses), and Kiwoom (12 wins and 4 losses). To rank higher than the fifth place in next season, it needs to accumulate more wins against LG, KT, and SSG.
“I was weak against top-ranked teams this year. I beat bottom-ranked teams and ranked fifth,” Lee said. “If I don’t win in matches against top-ranked teams, I can’t go up there. I will try to win matches. Losing matches is a disgrace. I will try to win matches this year and smile more next year.”
Doosan is expected to form a new rivalry with Lotte next year along with LG. This is because Kim Tae-hyung, the manager who founded the Doosan dynasty and handed over the baton to Lee Seung-yeop, has taken the helm of Lotte. It is already curious how the battle will unfold between Lee, who dreams of making a leap through many trials and errors in his first year as a new leader, and Kim, who knows Doosan better than anyone else.
“I will learn a lesson from Kim Tae-hyung. He is a great senior and a great coach. I will play with the attitude of learning,” Lee said. “I will make sure that we win more games. The conditions are the same regardless of whether we are old or young. You must not try to lose. No matter how veteran the opponent team is, I do not want to lose in the stadium. I will do whatever I can to win the Kim Tae-hyung derby.”