SK to Compete against Chunichi on Thursday

It has been the greatest season yet for SK. By leading the league with the most wins during the season and also winning the Korean Series, SK has proved that it belongs in the record books of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

SK plans to continue its winning ways through to the Konami Cup Asia Series 2007 held at the Tokyo Dome from November 8 to 11.

The Konami Cup Series is the event in which the champions of the professional leagues of Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the Chinese national team battle for the crown. In this upcoming series, the third Konami Cup Series, SK, Chunichi Dragons, Uni-President Lions (Taiwan), and the national team of China will be competing. After playing in the preliminaries for three days, the teams with the best and second best records will duke it out one last time in the finals.

In the first Konami Cup Series (2005), Japan’s Lotte Marines was crowned champions, and the Nippon Ham Fighters won the second Konami Cup Series. Korea’s Samsung managed to earn second place and then third place respectively. SK is shouldered with a heavy responsibility for a must win.

SK has no prominent superstar players. But compared to Samsung, SK has displayed superior teamwork powered by a smoothly orchestrated offense, defense, and base running. During Lotte’s championship run during the 2005 Nippon Series, manager Kim Seong-geun of SK was a part of Lotte’s coaching staff.

Tyrone Woods and Kosuke Fukudome’s absence may be a blow to Chunichi’s invincible batting lineup, but with sluggers like Lee Byeong-gyu and outstanding pitchers like Kenshin Kawakami and Kenichi Nakata as well as superstar Hitoki Iwase, there’s no slowing down for the team.

Tilson Brito, who once played in the KBO, is a key member of Taiwan’s Uni-President Lions. He was the season leader with 33 home runs and 107 RBIs. Pan Wei-lun, who led the team with 16 wins and two losses, is also set to make his mark in this Konami Cup Series.

MBC Sportscaster Heo Gu-yeon said, “With an outstanding pitching lineup of Kenny Rayborn, Mike Romano, Chae Byeong-yong, and Kim Gwang-hyeon, SK should aim to beat Taiwan and pull out all the stops in the finals.”

At 6:00 p.m. on November 8, SK will take on Chunichi at the Tokyo Dome for the first preliminary match.

creating@donga.com