Incheon: The South Korean baseball postseason schedule has been affected by inclement weather for the second time this month. Game 2 of the first-round series in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason between the Samsung Lions and the SSG Landers, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, 30 kilometers west of Seoul, was postponed due to rain. It will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday at the same venue.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the start of the postseason had been pushed back from Sunday to Monday when rainy conditions disrupted the final stretch of the regular season. The Landers, as the No. 3 seed, own the home field advantage in this best-of-five series, but the fourth-seeded Lions won the opener in Incheon by 5-2 on Thursday.
The Lions will host Game 3 and, if necessary, Game 4 at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, 235 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Monday and Tuesday. The winner of this series will advance to the second round, where the No. 2 seed Hanwha Eagles are waiting. Game 1 of that series is scheduled for next Friday. If the first round ends in three or four games, then the second round will start as scheduled. However, if the Landers and the Lions go the distance, then the start of the next round will be pushed to Oct. 18.
Neither team will change their starting pitcher for Game 2 following the postponement. Landers manager Lee Sung-yong said Friday, before the game was postponed, that he will stick to left-hander Kim Keon-woo. Kim, 23, was thrust into the starting assignment -- his very first KBO postseason game -- with the team's ace, Drew Anderson, still recovering from a stomach virus. Though an extra day of rest could have given Anderson enough time to get ready for a Game 2 start, Lee said Anderson is now lined up to take the ball for Game 3 on Monday.
Kim only has 43 regular-season appearances under his belt since his KBO debut in 2021, and 35 of them came this year. He began the season as a reliever and joined the rotation in late May. He allowed just two earned runs over 10 1/3 innings and struck out 16 across his final two regular-season starts to earn himself a spot in the postseason rotation. Lions manager Park Jin-man is sticking with right-hander Gerson Garabito as they try to take a 2-0 stranglehold on the series. As a midseason arrival, Garabito went 4-4 in 15 starts with a 2.64 ERA. He threw seven scoreless innings and had six strikeouts in his only regular-season meeting against the Landers on July 23.