Although it boasted its strongest capability in the regular league, it was inferior to three of the nine teams it faced. The KIA Tigers, who won the title for the first time in seven years, recorded another record.
Kia ranks first in the 2024 Shinhan Sol Bank KBO League, which has been conducted so far on Tuesday, with 85 wins, two draws and 55 losses overall in the season. It is 7.5 games behind the second-ranked Samsung Lions (78 wins, two draws and 63 losses), and has already clinched the regular season title.
Kia is the only team in the league to have a winning percentage of over 60 percent. It was the only team with a batting average of over 300 percent, and the only team with an earned run average of under 4.5 percent. With the harmony of pitching and hitting, the team was able to overcome a number of crises including injuries to key players.
What is interesting, however, is that KIA, the ‘best team in the league’, was inferior to the other team than expected.
Looking at the 34 seasons that were played as a single league until last year, there were many cases where the first-place team was usually inferior to one team. There were only six cases in which all teams had a full advantage against each other: Haitai (the predecessor of the KIA) in 1991, LG in 1994, Samsung in 2002, Hyundai in 2004, SK in 2008 and SK in 2010.
There were not many cases where the team was inferior to the two or more teams. There were eight cases including LG that won the title last year.
However, Kia has been confirmed to be inferior to three teams this season. Kia fell behind fourth-ranked Doosan with six wins, one draw and nine losses, while it lagged behind fifth-ranked SSG with six wins and 10 losses. Although there is one more game left against Lotte, whose post-season frustration was decided, its inferiority has already been confirmed with six wins, one draw and eight losses.
Samsung in 2005 has been the only case where the first-place team in the single league has been inferior to the three teams so far.
At that time, Samsung was lagging behind second-ranked Doosan with eight wins, one draw and nine losses behind third-ranked SK with seven wins, two draws and nine losses, while Hyundai, which ranked seventh, also had only eight wins, one draw and nine losses. Nonetheless, Samsung was able to win the regular league title thanks to its accumulation of wins among fifth-ranked Lotte (14 wins and four losses) and lowest-ranked KIA (15 wins and three losses).
This year’s KIA is recreating Samsung’s case for the first time in 19 years. However, the only difference is that KIA has shown a stronger side to its strong team.
KIA also had more wins than ninth-ranked NC (11-4) and lowest-ranked Kiwoom (11-5), but the teams that had better records were Samsung at the second and LG at the third. The team overwhelmed Samsung with 12 wins and 4 losses and LG with 13 wins and 3 losses.
Kia used to gain strength by winning a showdown with the runner-up even at the moment when it creaked while leading the pack, but this is also clearly demonstrated in its opponent’s record. Fans were interested in it as a curse of catching a tiger’s tail.
This can lead to confidence in the Korean Series.
Due to the nature of the postseason, which is conducted in a step-by-step manner, second-ranked Samsung and third-ranked LG are relatively likely to make it to the Korean Series. It is a background for KIA to prepare with a more comfortable mind because it was overwhelmed in the regular season opponent.
However, if SSG fails to advance to the post season, it will become the holder of the “first record” that it is not happy about. Samsung was inferior to three teams in 2005, but Hyundai was the only team that failed to make it to the post season.
On the other hand, KIA is inferior to Lotte, which has already been confirmed to be eliminated from the postseason, and if SSG falls, it will be the first time that the first-place team has been inferior to the two teams that failed to go to autumn baseball. 안전놀이터
