With no managerial experience, Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop took the helm of the ninth-ranked team and reached the postseason in his first year. But there were no cheers or congratulations. Instead, Lee was booed when he appeared on a video of the departure ceremony, denying him the recognition he deserved for his fifth-place finish.
The Doosan Bears clinched fifth place in the regular season with a 2-3 loss in the 15th game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the SSG Landers at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on April 16.
In both games, the difference in power between last year’s champions and the Bears was stark, especially in the seventh inning, when the Bears were unable to score a single run against SSG starter Roenis Elias. Heo Kyung-min, who hit an RBI double in the fifth inning, was the only Doosan batter to reach second base.
Trailing 1-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Doosan kept its chances alive when pinch-hitter Kim In-tae hit a solo home run off SSG closer Seo Jin-yong. With the bases loaded, Yang reached on an error by first baseman Oh Tae-gon and stole second, and Yang Seok-hwan drew an automatic walk, but Kang Seung-ho, who came up with runners on first and second, struck out swinging.메이저사이트
With this result, Doosan clinched fifth place in the regular season with a one-game lead over NC, which lost to KIA and dropped to fourth place. If Doosan wins its final game against SSG on Oct. 17 and NC loses to KIA at the same time, it will tie NC with 75 wins, two draws and 67 losses, but will finish fifth due to its superior head-to-head record (NC 66 points, Doosan 64 points). The high goal differential comes into play because the teams have split their 16 head-to-head meetings this year with eight wins and eight losses.
After the game, Doosan held a postseason departure ceremony to thank the home fans and announce their intentions for fall baseball.
The controversial moment occurred in the top of the first inning. Doosan showed a special video on the Jamsil Stadium scoreboard to conclude the 2023 season. In the middle of it, a video of Lee Seung-yeop’s inauguration ceremony last October appeared with the words, “New manager Lee Seung-yeop inaugurated,” and some fans booed instead of cheering and encouraging. It was a scene that is rarely seen at postseason departure ceremonies where the team enjoys the joy of entering fall baseball. On the other hand, the fans cheered enthusiastically for the return of our favorite pitcher, Yang Ji.
Why the national slugger was booed by fans after leading the ninth-ranked team to fall baseball in his first year in charge.
The manager, who took the helm of Doosan for a total of 1.8 billion won ($1.8 million) over three years, has already played 143 games. After taking over a team that finished ninth last year, he quickly cleaned up the mess and achieved his primary goal of returning to the postseason in two years. His inauguration as a manager with no managerial experience was met with more skepticism than expectations, but he proved to be just as capable as a leader, finishing in the top five of the 10 clubs.
However, the batsman was self-deprecating. He said, “There are more things that I was disappointed with. There were some immature things. I think we’re in this position because I wasn’t good enough in terms of integrating the players and playing the game. If I had been more disciplined, I wonder if we would have been ranked higher than we are now.”
He continued, “I was also in my first year, so there were definitely some inexperience. I also had a lot of experience this season. I will do my best until the end of the season and then try to be a better leader next year.”
Doosan will play the first game of the wild card deciding series against the fourth-place team in the regular season on May 19 at the home of the fourth-place team. The KBO’s wild-card deciding series, which can last up to two games, is designed to give the fourth-place team a one-game lead. The fourth-place team needs only one win or one tie to advance to the semifinals, while the fifth-place team must win both games to qualify for the semifinals.
No fifth-place team has ever beaten a fourth-place team to advance to the semifinals in a wild-card game since 2015. In LG (4th)-KIA (5th) in 2016 and Doosan (4th)-KIUM (5th) in 2021, the fifth-ranked team won the first game to set up the second, but the fourth-ranked team advanced to the semifinals without upset.
Doosan will likely start Kwak-Bin Kwak in Game 1 and Brandon Waddell in Game 2 in the wild-card decider. It will be interesting to see if they can pull off the first-ever upset of a fifth-place team with their two best pitchers in the second half. It will also be interesting to see if the boos for Lee turn into cheers.