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| Hanwha won 2-1 at Gocheok Sky Dome on the 4th. Ponce and Kim Seo-hyun are sharing joy with the coaching staff. Gocheok = Reporter's book@sportschosun.com/2025.07.04/ |
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| KBO League Kiwoom and Hanwha at Gocheok Dome in Seoul on the 6th. Hanwha won Kiwoom and achieved a series sweep. Coach Kim Kyung-moon is sharing high fives with Weiss after the game. Gocheok =Reporter Song Jeong-heon@sportschosun.com/2025.07.06/ |
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"It's not easy to meet the first to fourth starters in Hanwha, it's almost 70-80% of the winning card." There was nothing unusual about it."
Lotte Giants Manager Kim Tae-hyung talks about starting lineup for this year's Hanwha Eagles I threw my tongue out. The four players, Cody Ponce, Ryan Weiss, Ryu Hyun-jin, and Moon Dong-ju, are running too solidly. The only flaw is that Um Sang-baek, who was recruited for a large amount of 7.8 billion won ahead of this season, is also struggling in the fifth starting position. Still, since the rest are not easy to attack, Um Sang-baek's poor performance is covered to some extent.
With three games left in the first half, Hanwha's starting lineup has an ERA of 3.35, ranking first in the league. It is no exaggeration to say that Hanwha is the biggest driving force behind the lead. Ponce won 11, and Weiss won 10. Hanwha is currently the only club with more than two 10-win pitchers in the first half.
Lotte, LG Twins, and KIA Tigers are diligently chasing Hanwha. Lotte and LG, which are tied for second, have a gap of 3.5 games, and KIA, which is fourth, has a gap of four games. Baseball's popularity is bound to be hotter than any other year as the traditional popular club 'ElloG' is shown fighting at the top and chasing Hanwha, which has been at the bottom for a long time. This is why it was the first time in KBO history to surpass 7 million spectators in the first half.
Of course, the parties are walking on thin ice day by day.
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| Lotte-KIA match held at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 6th. Reyes rushed home in the top of the fifth inning when Jeon Min-jae had a hit with two outs and runners on first and second bases. When the referee declared out, head coach Kim Tae-hyung, who requested a video review, is waiting for the result. Gwangju = Reporter Jeong Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.7.6/ |
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| Lotte-KIA match held at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 5th. KIA won 13-0. The players are giving high fives. Gwangju = Reporter Jeong Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.7.5/ |
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Director Kim Tae-hyung laughed, saying, `It's not fun, but those who do it stop the blood.' `Because they're similar to each other. If he doesn't lose in a row, he will keep going back and forth in this ranking. It is a battle between who will win consecutive games."
How long will the bloody ranking fight last. Veteran coach Kim expected to draw the same pattern until the end of the second half.
In particular, KIA is the most dangerous team to break the three-way race between Hanwha and LG and Lotte. Last year's integrated championship team KIA was evaluated as the first round again this year, but after moving around in the lower ranks due to a large number of key players, including Na Sung-beom, Kim Do-young and Kim Sun-bin, due to injuries, it has now begun to return to its original position. The depth became very thick as the 1.5th and 2nd-tier players, who filled the vacancy of the injured players, grew rapidly. With the team on the rise since June, if the injured join one after another in the second half, it is expected to be as dangerous as Hanwha.
Coach Kim said "Almost until the last 10 games? I think we're going to have a ranking fight until the end. The difference between the top two teams is not large, and the difference between the fourth and seventh places is within three games. We don't know what the ranking fight will look like." He did not rule out the possibility of a larger change in rankings in the second half of the year.
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| The match between the Samsung Lions and the LG Twins at Daegu Lions Park on the 6th. The winning LG players are happy. Daegu=Park Jae-man Reporter pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.07.06/ |
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
