After knocking off the top teams and entering the top half of the standings confidently, the real test comes for KT.
KT is 12-3 in the second half of the season, with an 8 percent winning percentage. One after another, the top teams have taken KT’s punches and fallen. After a 2-1 start against bottom-ranked Samsung, KT has since swept all of the teams in the first through fourth place: it took two of three from LG starting on July 25, swept a three-game series from then fourth-ranked NC, swept a three-game series from second-ranked SSG, and took two of three from third-ranked Doosan.
KT, which began its race for the top spot in earnest with a victory over Doosan on April 4, moving up to third place for the first time since April 19, is currently in fourth place with no points off of third-place NC. They are four games behind second-place SSG, but one game behind fifth-place Doosan and two games behind sixth-place KIA.
Now that they’ve cleared the top teams, it might seem like they can take a breather from their schedule. They face Hanwha on the 8th.
KT is tied with first-place LG at 5-5 since the start of the season, while second-place SSG is 8-4. The only two teams KT is behind in the head-to-head standings are Hanwha and KIA. They have a 1-1 draw with Hanwha and a 1-6 loss with KIA. Even after June, when they were struggling due to injuries, they lost two games to Hanwha and one to KIA.
KT’s strongest point is its pitching staff, which had a 5.00 ERA in six games against Hanwha, the worst among the nine teams. The one win against Hanwha this year came from the released Bo Schuler.
If there’s a variable, it’s that it’s been more than a month since KT and Hanwha met. When the teams last met in Daejeon on June 27-28, Hanwha was on a winning streak and its offense was exploding. After sweeping the two-game series from KT, Hanwha went on a six-game winning streak and then an eight-game winning streak.
Conversely, KT’s mound is currently peaking. The starting lineup has been so steady that all seven wins from July 28 against NC to July 4 against Doosan were won by starters. In the second half of the season, KT is balanced with the No. 1 ERA (2.71) and No. 4 team batting average (0.280). Hanwha’s batting average is currently 0.228 in the second half and 0.210 in August.
The rematch with Hanwha is important because they have the most games remaining. KT has played every other team by more than 10 games, but has the most games against Hanwha with 10 and KIA with nine. At a crucial time when they need to consolidate their position at the top of the standings, they face two teams with the most games remaining, but who have had a particularly weak record against them.
After the midweek three-game series against Hanwha, KT will face third-place rivals NC and Dusan. They will then play Hanwha again in Daejeon on the 18th and 20th before hosting KIA on the 22nd and 24th. KT head coach Lee Kang-cheol sees the three-game series against KIA as the most important.메이저사이트
They need to make up ground in the second half of the season to have a chance of staying in the top half of the standings. The three-game series against Hanwha on Aug. 8-10 is crucial. Hanwha will have their foreign one-two punch of Sanchez and Peña on the mound. KT will also have Cuevas, Uhm Sang-baek, and Choi Jeong-seong.