A coincidental but intriguing matchup. The Lotte Giants and SSG Landers will share a crucial start for the second time in a row.
Spring training for the KBO’s 10 teams is halfway through. Exhibition games begin next month on March 9, and the regular season pennant race begins a week earlier than usual on March 23.
Lotte and SSG will face each other on March 9 in the opening game of the exhibition series and on March 23 in the regular season opener. On March 9-10, the two teams will play the first two games of the exhibition series at Busan Sajik Stadium, followed by the regular season opener at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on March 23-24.
The teams in the spotlight. Both teams changed managers after the 2023 season. Lotte resigned head coach Larry Sutton midway through last season due to health reasons and played the remainder of the season under acting coach Lee Jong-woon. After the season, the team named former Doosan Bears manager Kim Tae-hyung as its new head coach.
In his eight seasons at the helm of Doosan,
Kim led the team to the Korean Series in all but one of his last seven seasons and won three championships. Kim, who worked as a baseball commentator for Yayin Baseball after his contract with Doosan expired, will take over as Lotte’s manager after just one year, taking the reins from last year’s final camp.
SSG also parted ways with former coach Kim Won-hyung, with whom they won the 2022 season title, and appointed a new coach after intense internal discussions. Former player and KT Wiz head coach Lee Sung-yong, who also served as head coach of KT, took over as the new head coach. Appointed in November, Lee was unable to lead the final camp, but has been leading the training of the first team since the Florida camp.
A former infielder for the Hyundai Unicorns-Heroes, 온라인카지노 Lee has won championships as a manager at KT, but this is his first time as a head coach. Lee will face off against Kim Tae-hyung, a veteran manager with eight seasons of experience, in his debut season as a head coach.
It’s also a hotly anticipated matchup between the two teams’ parent companies, which have become known as “retail rivals. Lotte and Shinsegae will face off for pride.
In terms of team performance and championship experience, SSG is the favorite.
The former SK Wyverns built a “dynasty” from the late 2000s and early 2010s, dominating the league’s top tier, and won the regular season and Korean Series in 2022, their second season after being acquired by SSG. It was the KBO’s first “wire-to-wire” championship, as the team never lost first place from the start of the regular season to the end.
However, after finishing third in the regular season last year, the team was forced to retool after a disappointing regular season and postseason exit. SSG began a major reorganization with the appointment of a new head coach, Kim Jae-hyun as general manager and Son Si-heon as second team manager. The front and field managers were replaced at once, and the team is trying to make changes in a bone-crushing effort. After winning the championship just two years ago, the team has taken a long-term view.
Lotte, on the other hand, is too thirsty for success. With the LG Twins winning their first Korean Series title in 29 years last year, Lotte, which hasn’t won a championship since 1992, is in an even lonelier position. The Achilles’ heel of being the longest-tenured team in the league was the catalyst for the hiring of Kim Tae-hyung, a winning coach, so expectations are high for this season.