Kiwoom Heroes were the undisputed favorite to finish last

The Korean Baseball Organization’s Kiwoom Heroes were the undisputed favorite to finish last before the season. With 59.9% of the season’s schedule played, Kiwoom is ranked 10th, as expected. However, the numbers show that they’re not your typical last place team. It’s an “exceptionally strong” last place team with a whopping 4.4% win rate, just five games out of fifth place.

Kiwoom won 5-4 against Hanwha in Gocheok on April 11, thanks to Ronnie Dawson’s walk-off double in the bottom of the 11th inning. After giving up four runs in the top of the first inning, the pitchers held on until the 11th inning before the bats came alive to pull off the comeback.

With the win, Kiwoom improved to 37-47 on the season with a 4.4 winning percentage. They are just 0.5 games behind ninth-place Hanwha and are within striking distance of the top two. With only five games separating them from fifth-place SSG, they are also within striking distance of the postseason. With the power leveling, the battle for the top spot is more bitter than ever, and Kiwoom, the “last place team that doesn’t look like last place,” is at the center of it all.

Kiwoom’s 4.4 win percentage is the best among the bottom teams in history.

Until last year, the strongest last-place team in the KBO League’s 42-year history was Lotte in 2001. That year, they won 59 games, lost 70 games, and drew 4 games for a winning percentage of 4.057. They were only two games behind fourth-place Hanwha, which was the postseason cutoff at the time.

After Lotte 23 years ago, Kiwoom’s winning percentage this year is the second-highest among the bottom teams in history. Of course, at their current pace, it’s unlikely that Kiwoom will finish the season in last place. It’s been a strong start, far exceeding pre-season expectations.

Kiwoom effectively went into “tanking” mode midway through the season last year. When Lee Jung-hoo was ruled out for the season due to ankle surgery, 카지노사이트 they traded key starter Choi Won-tae to LG and received future resources such as Lee Joo-hyung. As a result, the team finished last year in 10th place for the first time in its history. It was their second worst season after finishing eighth in 2011.

The team was also weakened this season, as homegrown ace Ahn Woo-jin underwent elbow ligament graft surgery and joined the military. Since he won’t be back until next year, it seemed like a good time to develop prospects in time for Ahn’s return in two years. Before the season, almost all experts picked Kiwoom to finish last, and their opening four-game losing streak proved them right.

After the four-game losing streak,

Kiwoom sparkled early on with a seven-game winning streak, but two seven-game losing streaks in April and May put a damper on their performance. On May 30, they seemed to continue their “tanking” mode when they traded star infielder Kim Hui-jip for two rookie draft picks (1st-3rd round).

The team has rebounded to 8-2 in its last 10 games, though it looked like it might be stuck in the 10th spot since June 2. The youngsters in the Tuta have continued to ride the momentum and have become a team that is not easily broken.

A trio of foreign players has been a big reason for this. Pitchers Ariel Hurtado (8-4, 3.36 ERA) and Enmanuel De Jesus (10-5, 3.14 ERA) have combined for 18 wins, making them the best one-two punch in the league, while slugger Ronnie Dawson leads the team in batting average (.363) and hits (118).

Dawson is joined in the top 10 by Kim Hye-sung (.338), Song Sung-moon (.345) and Lee Joo-hyung (.279) in the 1-4 left-handed batting lineup, which has proven to be unstoppable once it gets going. The return of closer Cho Sang-woo to the rotation has provided the team with a late-game cushion, as he has been dominant in his last 15 games with a streak of 14⅔ scoreless innings.

During that span, Kiwoom has saved 11 games leading up to the seventh inning.

The internal competition is also heating up as new faces continue to pop up in the pitching staff, including second-year catcher Kim Gun-hee, rookie infielder Ko Young-woo, outfielder Won Sung-joon, pitcher Kim Yoon-ha, pitcher-turned-fielder Jang Jae-young, and rookie-eligible starter Kim In-beom.

The challenge for Kiwoom, which is on the verge of breaking through, is to overcome its natural enemies. Their record this season has been particularly weak, with 2-7 losses to SSG and Doosan, 1-6 losses to KT, and 1-4 losses to KIA. Starting next week, they will face KT, SSG, Doosan, and KIA, so their chances of a top-five finish will depend on how well they hold up here.

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