Seoul: As they try to run away with the regular-season title, the Hanwha Eagles are a victory away from making franchise history. The Eagles are coming off a 10-0 rout of the KT Wiz on Sunday for their ninth straight victory, which pushed their record to the league-best 55-33-2 (wins-losses-ties).
According to Yonhap News Agency, they also won 12 games in a row from April 26 to May 11 this year. With one more win, the Eagles will have two winning streaks of at least 10 games in the same season for the first time in club history. In the 43-year history of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), only the 1985 Samsung Lions, with an 11-game streak followed by a 13-game run, have accomplished that feat.
The Eagles will open the new week with a three-game series against the Doosan Bears starting Tuesday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. The Bears are still stuck in ninth place at 38-49-3, but they have won three straight games.
With a sweep of the Bears, the Eagles will extend their streak to 12 games, two shy of matching the franchise record set in 1992, when they were called the Binggrae Eagles under different ownership. They will then have a chance to break that mark during a three-game weekend series against the SSG Landers (43-43-3) at home in Daejeon, some 140 kilometers south of Seoul.
The LG Twins (50-39-2) are trailing the Eagles by 5 1/2 games in second place, and they will visit the fourth-place Kia Tigers (46-40-3) at the start of the new week in Gwangju, about 270 km south of Seoul. The Tigers played only one game out of their four-game set against the NC Dinos last week due to heavy downpours in their home city. And in their 3-2 victory Sunday, the Tigers welcomed back three stars from injuries: Starter Lee Eui-lee made his season debut after recovering from an elbow surgery, while outfielder Na Sung-bum and infielder Kim Sun-bin drew back into the lineup after missing several weeks with leg injuries.
Sitting between the Twins and the Tigers are the Lotte Giants (48-41-3), who will try to pick up some wins against the last-place Kiwoom Heroes (27-62-3) starting Tuesday at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. The KT Wiz (45-44-3) are clinging to fifth place after dropping three straight games. They will visit the Dinos (40-41-5), who are in eighth place but are only one game behind the Wiz, at Changwon NC Park in Changwon, 300 kilometers southeast of the capital.
The Landers and the Samsung Lions (44-44-1), tied for sixth place, will go at it for three games starting Tuesday at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, about 235 km southeast of Seoul. The Lions enjoyed a wild, 15-10 win over the Heroes at their home stadium Sunday, behind a season-best seven home runs. The Lions lead the league with 100 home runs -- no other team has even hit 90 yet -- and 74 of them have come at Daegu Samsung Lions Park.
For the Friday-Sunday series, the Twins will take on their Jamsil co-tenants, the Bears. The Giants will bring home the Tigers in the southeastern city of Busan for a battle between teams jostling for positions in the league's top four. The Wiz will host the Lions at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, some 30 km south of Seoul, while the Dinos will close out their six-game home stand against the Heroes in Changwon.