baseball-club
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| ▲ In this file photo from Sept. 15, 2021, members of the Doosan Bears celebrate their 6-2 victory over the KT Wiz in a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ In this file photo from Sept. 15, 2021, Kim Jae-hwan of the Doosan Bears (R) bumps fists with his third base coach Ko Young-min after hitting a two-run home run against the KT Wiz in the bottom of the first inning of a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ In this file photo from Sept. 15, 2021, Park Kun-woo of the Doosan Bears celebrates his two-run single against the KT Wiz in the bottom of the third inning of a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ In this file photo from Sept. 12, 2021, Heo Kyoung-min of the Doosan Bears hits an RBI single against the LG Twins in the bottom of the fourth inning of a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. (Yonhap) |
baseball-club
Firing on all cylinders, Bears soar into KBO playoff position
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- Even after a seven-game undefeated streak, the Doosan Bears still found themselves in seventh place in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on Sept. 13, the same spot they'd occupied since June 25.
They stayed in seventh after losing on Sept. 14, but their record dropped to 49-51-3 (wins-losses-ties), 1.5 games out of the fifth and final postseason berth.
And they haven't lost since.
Now at 54-51-5, the Bears have jumped to fourth place. The NC Dinos and the Kiwoom Heroes, the two clubs that once sat above the Bears, have dropped four straight and six straight games, respectively. They are tied for fifth place now, 1.5 games back of the Bears.
The Bears, with an 11-1-3 record over their last 15 games, aren't just sniffing a playoff spot. The third-place LG Twins appear to be going through their annual September swoon, and the four-game gap between the two Seoul-based rivals no longer seems so insurmountable, with more than a month's worth of games left.
So how are the Bears getting it done? Let's just say they can do no wrong these days.
Since Sept. 5, the start of their current 15-game run, the Bears have the KBO's highest batting average (.297), slugging percentage (.471), second-most runs (96) and second-most steals (12). The Bears' lineup has also struck out the fewest times in that span with 86.
On the pitching side during this stretch, the Bears have the lowest ERA with 2.47 and most quality starts -- at least six innings pitched with no more than three earned runs allowed -- with 10. No team has done a better job at keeping the ball in the park than the Bears, whose pitchers have only served up eight homers in the past 15 games. Only the league-leading KT Wiz have a lower opponents on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) than the Bears' .647 in that span.
Baseball can be a really simple game when you can pitch, hit and run like these Bears. And manager Kim Tae-hyoung also thinks his players have been doing the simple things right for the past two or so weeks.
"We're getting great performances from our starting pitchers, and our bullpen has been rock solid," Kim said before Wednesday's 8-0 victory over the Dinos. "And guys in the heart of our lineup have been swinging the bat well."
The shutout win provided the perfect encapsulation of what makes the Bears so good these days.
Starter Walker Lockett struck out 10 Dinos over six scoreless innings. Three relievers that followed held the Dinos without a hit.
The offense pounded out 16 hits, with three players putting up three hits apiece. Former league MVP Kim Jae-hwan was one of those three, as he batted 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored out of the cleanup spot.
When manager Kim spoke about production from the middle of the order, he was referring to the lethal trio of Park Kun-woo (fourth in the league with a .328 average), Kim (fourth with 87 RBIs) and Yang Suk-hwan (tied for third with 26 home runs).
And few have been as hot as Kim, who leads the KBO with a 1.163 OPS, 29 hits and nine doubles in September. He is batting a video game-like .397/.451/.712 this month.
For the season, Kim is slashing .295/.395/.536, his best numbers across the board since his MVP campaign in 2018. Those numbers were sitting at .270/.382/.491 at the end of August.
"I've got teammates playing well behind me, and so I am not thinking about doing everything by myself," the captain of the Bears said. "I try to get on base as much as I can. I always tell myself to make good contact and not to swing the bat hard all the time. It's much easier said than done."
Though he's been the Bears' best hitter for weeks, Kim credited his teammates for the team's remarkable stretch.
"The guys have done a great job staying prepared and motivated," Kim said. "To make us even better, I have to hold up my end of the bargain."
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