Kwak-Bin Kwak (25-Doosan Bears), tied for first place in wins in the 2024 season, will start the first game of the Wild Card Decision in the prelude to the fall season.
Doosan, which finished the 2024 KBO regular season in fourth place, will host either the KT Wiz or SSG Landers in the first round of the wild-card playoffs on Oct. 2 with one game in hand.
If Doosan wins or ties the first game, it will clinch a spot in the semifinals, while a loss will force a second game.
Doosan head coach Lee Seung-yeop has announced that Kwak Bin, who has established himself as a homegrown ace this year, will start the first game of the postseason (PS).
It’s an obvious choice.
Kwak is 15-9 with a 4.24 ERA this year, tied for first in wins with Won Tae-in (Samsung Lions). Won has a 15-6 record with a 3.66 ERA.
However, Kwak-Bin’s fall performance raises some concerns.
In five PS games so far last year, Kwak was 2-2 with a 6.00 ERA (13 runs and 12 earned runs in 18 innings).
The KBO introduced a wild-card deciding game for the fourth and fifth place teams in 2015.
Doosan will play in its third wild-card game this year, joining 2021 and 2023.
The starting pitcher for all three wild-card games will be Kwak-Bin.
In 2021, Kwak started the first game of the wild-card series against the Kiwoom Heroes and pitched 4⅔ innings with two hits and one run, but the team lost 4-7.
Doosan, which finished fourth in the regular season at the time, won the second game of the wild-card deciding series to advance to the semifinals.
Last year, Doosan entered the wild-card game in fifth place and lost 9-14 to the NC Dinos in the first round to exit the fall stage.
Kwak-Bin Kwak started and struggled, giving up five runs on four hits in 3⅔ innings.
Kwak was given the opportunity to start Game 1 of the third wild card deciding game.
If he can shake off the PS winless jinx, Doosan can end the wild-card race in one game and prepare for the semifinals against the LG Twins.
Doosan’s foreign pitcher Jordan Balazovic is also a key player in this wild card game.
Manager Lee Seung-yup plans to utilize Balazovic as a middle reliever in the wild card game.
Since July, Balajovic has pitched for Doosan, posting a 2-6 record with a 4.26 ERA in 12 games.
After starting 11 games, Balajovic made a relief appearance in the team’s final regular-season game on Sept. 28 against the Changwon NC, allowing one run (unearned) on two hits in one inning of work.
The game was a warm-up for the wild-card game.
Doosan expects Balajovic, who throws a fastball that tops 155 kilometers per hour, to be more effective in short innings. 토토사이트 추천