Professional Baseball PS Begins with NC-Doosan WC Deciding Match... ‘Yang Eui-ji Series’

At Changwon on the 19th, 4th place NC - 5th place Doosan, wild card decision 1st game.

Doosan → NC → Doosan Attention is focused on Yang Eui-ji's performance

NC Dinos and Doosan Bears will open the 2023 Korean Professional Baseball KBO League Fall Festival.

NC, which finished the regular season in 4th place, and 5th place Doosan will play the first wild card match at Changwon NC Park at 6:30 pm on the 19th.

NC, which advanced to the wild card game with 'one win', will obtain a ticket to the semi-playoffs (quasi-PO) if it wins or draws in the first game. 카지노사이트탑

If Doosan wins on the 19th, the second game will be held at the same location on the 20th.

Doosan must win two games in a row to be able to face SSG Landers, who finished in third place.

Since 2015, there has never been a case where the 5th place defeated the 4th place in the wild card match introduced by the KBO and advanced to the semi-playoffs.

The 4th place team, which started with ‘1 win’ in all 8 rounds, advanced to the semi-PO.

NC will play the wild card match for the third time in history, following 2017 and 2019.

In 2017, when they were 4th in the regular season, they defeated SSG in the first game, and in 2019, when they were 5th, they lost their first game to the LG Twins and exited the fall stage.

Doosan took 4th place in 2021 and played the wild card match, losing the first game to Kiwoom Heroes, but won the second game to rise to semi-PO, and advanced to the Korean Series with momentum.

This is the fifth time NC and Doosan have faced each other in the postseason.

In the 2015 playoffs, Doosan defeated NC with 3 wins and 2 losses, in the 2016 Korean Series, Doosan defeated NC with 4 wins, and in the 2017 playoffs, Doosan defeated NC with 3 wins and 1 loss.

However, in the 2020 Korean Series, NC won 4 wins and 2 losses over Doosan, achieving its first combined championship (regular season and Korean Series championship).

A lot has changed in three years.

The biggest change is the team that the best active catcher, Yang Eui-ji (Doosan), belongs to.

Yang Eui-ji led NC to a comprehensive victory in 2020 and was selected as the Korean Series Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Yang Eui-ji, who wore a Doosan uniform in the 2016 Korean Series and won MVP against NC, created the 'first case' of winning Korean Series MVP for two teams.

In 2023, Yang Eui-ji will again take charge of Doosan’s home defense.

Yang Eui-ji, who started his professional career at Doosan in 2006, signed a four-year, 12.5 billion won contract with NC as a free agent (FA) in 2019, and chose to return to Doosan this year for a maximum of 15.2 billion won for six years (4+2 years).

Ironically, Yang Eui-ji will face NC players in his first postseason game after returning to Doosan.

Yang Eui-ji played an active part in the NC game this season with a batting average of 0.349, 2 home runs, and 5 RBIs.

As soon as Yang Eui-ji signed with Doosan, catcher Park Se-hyuk, who left Doosan and signed a four-year free agent contract with NC worth up to 4.6 billion won, will also play his first postseason with Doosan after his transfer.

However, recently the NC catcher's mask has been worn more often by Kim Hyeong-jun, who struck gold by participating in the Hangzhou Asian Games, so there is little chance that a catcher match between Yang Eui-ji and Park Se-hyuk will take place.

Currently, in addition to Park Se-hyuk, NC has a lineup of players who wore Doosan uniforms against NC in the 2016 and 2020 Korean Series, including outfielder Park Geon-woo and closing pitcher Lee Yong-chan.

Both teams announced Tanner Turley (NC) and Kwak Bin (Doosan) as starters in the first game of the wild card decision.

NC used up Eric Peddy, who swept the league in wins (20 wins), ERA (2.00), and strikeouts (209) this season, in the game against the KIA Tigers on the 16th.

If they lose in the first game with 'second starter' Tanner, they may be pushed out by Doosan in the starting battle in the second game when Song Myung-ki takes the mound.

Tanner appeared once against Doosan this season and earned the starting win, allowing 7 hits and 3 runs (1 earned) in 6 innings.

Doosan, who is playing a game on the brink, can aim for an 'upset' in which 5th place defeats 4th place for the first time in the history of the KBO wild card game by appointing Brandon Waddell as the starter in the 2nd game if Kwak Bin holds out in the 1st game.

Kwak Bin posted an ERA of 3.07 with 1 loss in 3 games against NC this year, and Brandon has never met NC in the regular season.

NC coach Kang In-kwon, who took command of the first team for the first time this year, and Doosan coach Lee Seung-yeop will play their first postseason in the wild card game, an 'ultra-short match'.

Both coaches are trying their best to shake off the regret of missing the direct ticket to Jun-PO.

Although only one or two games will be held, the wild card match, which is full of stories, will begin soon.