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Cleanup Trio
All about Korean baseball
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Samsung Lions
Samsung Lions franchise was founded in 1982. It is one of the 2 teams in the league that did not change its homeground location and franchise name. It is owned by the famous company Samsung.
Ballpark:
The Lions' ballpark is Daegu Samsung Lions Park, located in North Gyeongsang Province (Gyeongsangbuk-do). It opened in 2016 and it is one of the newest ballpark in the country. The stadium is painted blue due to the team's identity colour. When the team is winning at home, outer lightings of the stadium turns blue and when they are losing it turns red. It has the largest seating capacity in Korea with 24000. The ballpark design is sampled from the Phillies' homeground design (Citizens bank park).
Mascot:
Bleo (Father), Leni (Daughter), Laon (Son), PinkLeo (Mother)
In the early days, only Bleo was the mascot for the Lions. It was in fact a team consisting 2 male lions named sadoree and 2 female lions sasoonee. They were well known for their ridiculously funny and legendary performances which made the fans delighted. The 4 of them retired in 2015 and the Bleo family above has been the Lions mascot since 2016.
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Fun fact:
The Lions in the early 21st century were the strongest team in KBO. The Lions dynasty won the regular season 4 times in a row from 2011 to 2015 and they won the Korean series during these 4 seasons. The Lions franchise is known to be one of the strongest teams in KBO history (before their downfall in the past few years).
Star Player:
Koo Ja Wook (31, Outfield) has been a loyal Lions player throughout his entire career. Despite the downfall of the Lions during his career, he was the key batter in the lineup and had the second highest batting average in the league with 0.336 in 2023. His WRC+ 5th highest in the league with 153.2. One thing he should improve on is his number of homeruns and RBI which were only 11 and 71 respectively. Despite his height of 191cm, he lacks in the number of homeruns and while also considering that Lions Park has one of the shortest outfield.
Performance in 2023:
The Lions continued to remain in the bottom half of the league. The Lions had the worst pitchers in the league and the team had the highest overall ERA of 4.61. They also had the worst bullpen ERA of 5.16. They have failed to develop any rookies well this season and collapse of the entire pitching team resulted in an awkward 8th position in the league.
Outlook in 2023:
The Lions have to boost their bullpen to avoid another catastrophic season. With continuous failure in rebuilding programmes, the main solution is to spend money to buy FA players. The team cannot depend on few star players like Koo and they need to trade actively to bring in crucial players into the team. They also have to scout foreign players to cover the gap created due to the departure of their ace, David Buchanan. If such efforts fail, their hopes for post season will be crushed.
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Hanwha Eagles
Hanwha Eagles franchise was founded in 1986
The franchise started off with the name Binggre Eagles, owned by Binggre, which is a food and beverage company. Binggre Eagles changed its name to Hanwha Eagles in 1993 (Binggre was under Hanwha Group before their separation in 1992).
Ballpark:
The Eagles' ballpark is Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park, located in South Chungcheong province (Chungcheongnam-do). It was opened in 1964, and it is the oldest baseball stadium in South Korea. There are only 3 stadiums in MLB that are older than the Eagles Park (Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium). It is the smallest stadium in Korea, with a capacity of only 13000.
Mascot:
Viney (Mother), Soori (Son), Hoodi (Soori's friend), Winey (Father)
Fun fact:
Eagles has produced Hyun Jin Ryu from the Bluejays. The Eagles last won the Korean Series in 1999, and they are known to be the poorest-performing team in the league. They have only made one postseason appearance in the past 15 years. Their poor performance made the fans 'numb' about game losses, and the Eagles' fans are well known for their patience and passion for their team.
Star player:
Roh Si Hwan (23, 3rd baseman) is seen as the future key of the Eagles lineup. He had the highest number of home runs in the league (31) and RBI (101). For a player at such a young age, he is set to become the best power hitter for the next generation. The only thing he has to improve on for now is his defence at 3rd base. He has made 19 errors in the season, which is the 4th highest in the league across all positions.
Performance in 2023:
The Eagles have finally broken their streak of 3 consecutive seasons in last place. However, things did not change that much in the past 3 years. The depth of the team is too shallow, and they rely too much on key players. The organisation is terrible at operating the baseball team too. Their batting average is the lowest in the league, and they have a terrible head coach who is very sloppy in changing pitchers and using pinch hitters.
Outlook for 2024:
The Eagles look fairly optimistic for next season. They have completed some FA signings, and their rookie pitchers are expected to improve immensely. But the team's transformation seriously depends on how the general manager and his team of front office staff carry out trading and signings. If the team fails to sign decent foreign players and develop rookies from the minor league, the team is probably doomed for the next season too.
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Kiwoom Heroes
Kiwoom Heroes franchise was founded in 2008.
One special thing about the Heroes is that their club name changes according to their main sponsor. Its first name was 'Woori Heroes' and the naming rights were sold to Nexen Tire and they were called 'Nexen Heroes'. In 2018, its rights were sold once again Kiwoom Securities and now they are called 'Kiwoom Heroes'.
Ballpark:
The Heroes' ballpark is Gocheok Sky Dome located in Seoul and it is the only club that owns an indoor ballpark in the KBO. It has a relatively small capacity of 17000 seats.
Mascot: Teokdori (Mr Jaw)
Fun fact:
Kiwoom Heroes is the team that produced Jung Ho Kang and Ha Seong Kim. MLB fans will definitely know these 2 starplayers. Kang has unfortunately retired due repetitive drink and driving offences while Kim is still a key player in the Padres. Thanks to these outputs, the Heroes have earned large sum of compensation fees.
Star player:
Lee Jung Hoo (25, outfielder) is currently the best hitter in the KBO. He was the rookie of the year in 2017 and the MVP for 2022 season being the leader in batting average, RBI, OPS and WAR. His nickname is 'grandson of the wind' because his dad, Lee Jong Beom who is a KBO legend is called 'son of the wind' (Lee Jong Beom had 84 stolen bases in the 1994 season).
Lee is now an outfielder in SF Giants with a massive contract of 6 years $113m starting from 2024.
Performance in 2023:
The Heroes finished 10th in the league last season. Despite making it to the Korean Series in 2022, which they unfortunately lost, their collapse in the following season was absolutely unexpected.
They only homered 61 times throughout the season (lowest) and their OPS was merely 0.685 (second lowest).
Not only was their team batting statistics terrible, their bullpen ERA was the second highest (4.94) with their bullpen WAR being only 1.37 (lowest).
Outlook for 2024:
Their future looks extremely bleak with Lee Jung Hoo leaving the team. The Heroes are most likely to be the last in the league as they do not have any outstanding star players in both batting and pitching positions. They currently do not have any FA signings also.
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Introduction to KBO
What is KBO?
KBO stands for Korean Baseball Organisation. It was founded in 1982. It is the first professional sports league that was started in South Korea.
Back in the 70s, baseball was extremely popular amongst the high school students (partly because of the American influence too) and high school baseball leagues attracted the attention of the general public. But popularity was not the main reason behind the launch of the professional league. Dictator Jeon Doo Hwan wanted to 'distract' ordinary citizens from politics and prevent further protests against his regime. At the same time however, the government was unwilling to set aside budget for the league and hence made major companies like Samsung to create their own baseball clubs and operate them. (The government did actually provide small monetary benefits to these firms)
In 1982, it started out with 6 teams and they are:
-Samsung Lions (Owned by Samsung)
-OB Bears (Owned by Oriental Brewery)
-MBC Chungyong (Owned by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation)
-Sammi Superstars (Owned by Sammi Group)
-Haitai Tigers (Owned by Haitai Foods)
-Lotte Giants (Owned by Lotte)
Just like the Major League Baseball, each baseball clubs are located in different provinces (some are in the same province but in different cities).
The times have changed and the league has undergone numerous alterations to its systems and its teams . Today, there are 10 teams in the league and most of the teams mentioned above do not exist anymore. Despite such transformations, there is still one thing that remains unchanged - the baseball league is the most popular sports entertainment in South Korea.
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