Friendly baseball rivals could contend for trophy in Japan series

Oh Seung-hwan from Hanshin Tigers and Lee Dae-ho from Softbank Hawks, Korean baseball players who are playing for the Japanese baseball teams, are close friends but could become rivals if Hanshin from Central League and Softbank from Pacific League advance into the Japan Series.

A former Samsung Lions player who won five championships rings, Oh, now Hanshin closer, has been invited to play at the autumn event in his first year in Japan.

When the Hiroshima Carp lost to the Yomiuri Giants at the final regular season game on Monday, Hanshin luckily placed itself as No. 2 at the Central League. In the meanwhile, Hanshin ended this season with 75 wins, one tie and 68 losses, beating Hiroshima that had 74 wins, two ties and 68 losses.

Beginning in Saturday, Hanshin will play all three games of Climax Series First Stage at its homeground. If it wins the first two games or makes a tie (one win, one tie and one loss, or three ties), Hanshin who is currently second ranking, will qualify for the Final Stage.

Oh has become Japan`s best closing pitcher this year with two wins, four losses and 39 saves with an average of 1.76 earned runs. He recorded the biggest number of saves among Korean pitchers who joined Japan professional baseball league. "I`m determined to throw long innings in the post season," he said.

Lee is starving to win. When he was playing at Lotte Giants in Korea for 11 seasons, he was never able to rise to top. At the Orix Buffaloes where he played for two years, he also failed to get the chance to win.

However, after moving to Softbank, Lee grabbed his first win since debut. A week earlier, his team won Orix at the final regular season game and he became the Pacific League champion. He recorded batting average of 0.300 with 19 homeruns and 68 RBIs this year, and is now hoping to become top in Japan Series. Softbank will compete with the winning team between Orix and Nippon Ham Fighters starting from October 15. At the Climax Final Stage, the competition will have six games with the team, making four wins becoming the winner.