Winning Regular Season Is Just Up There

“The chasing and the chased.”

Actually, the chased is disadvantageous in that they feel more anxious than the chasing. Nonetheless, the chasing feel almost the same since catching is tangling in front.

That’s what appropriately describes the race between Kia and Samsung for the 1st position in the pro baseball league. Kia leads the race now with 65 wins, 4 ties, and 42 losses (Avg. 0.607), one game up ahead from Samsung 64 wins, 4 ties and 43 losses (Avg. 0.598), which ranks second. But the total number of games both have taken so far is the same: 111.

But it’s not so easy to turn over than meets the eyes. If Samsung wins, Kia wins, too. And If Kia loses, Samsung also loses. Managers of both teams, Kim Sung-han (Kia) and Kim Ung-ryong (Samsung), are delighted and disappointed every day, depending on the other’s performance.

What has maintained Kia’s lead for 96 days ever since June 9th comes from its strong mound. Two mercenaries defend its mound invincibly. One is Keeper who ranks second high with 15 wins. The other is Rios who now pitches not as a reliever, but as a starting (5 winning streak so far). In addition, Kim Jin-woo, who is the most promising candidate for Rookie of The Year, teamed up with them, would not let his team lose in a row.

Of course, Kia once faced crisis. One of its aces Choi Sang-duk was pulled down to the Minor League due to the injury on his shoulder. Thus Kia’s strong mound got to be threatened. Manager Kim, however, conjured up an idea: he decided to put Rios in the starting line-up. After his position was changed, he has snatched up 5 wins (no loss) in 6 games. Excited, Kim decided, “I will use Rios as a starting in the Post-season.”

The situation is not so easy for Samsung, either. On Sep. 12, the situation was demonstrated. In the game against LG at Chomshil, Manager Kim Ung-yong had Lim Chang-yong take the mound in the 5th when the score was 3-3. Lim usually pitches as a starting member. But Kim’s decision brought his team a victory. By this, we could feel how badly Samsung wishes to win the season.

These two teams are scheduled to take on each other twice in Kwangjoo, and three times in Daegoo. Thus the final winner comes out of this series of games. If both ended up tie, it will be decided based on the win/loss rate between the two.

So far, Samsung is prevalent with 8 wins over Kia. Thus, if all things are equal, a team, which scores more, will win the race.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com