NC and Doosan, who fought for third place until the end of the season, will face each other in the wild card match, excluding Ace. One team suffers the bitter taste of being eliminated from fall baseball without even being able to use an ace. 토토사이트
NC and Doosan’s entries were officially announced on the 18th ahead of the first game of the 2023 KBO wild card match held at Changwon NC Park at 6:30 pm on the 19th.
The number of first-team entries in the regular season is 28, but in the postseason, the number of entries increases by 2 to 30. Excluding the two players who did not participate, only 28 players can participate.
NC left-hander Tanner Turley and Doosan right-hander Kwak Bin were announced as starting pitchers for the first game, while both teams’ aces, Eric Peddy (NC) and Raul Alcantara (Doosan), were excluded.
Fighting for third place until the end… Excluding NC Pedi and Doosan Alcantara
NC and Doosan, along with SSG, fought for third place until the end of the season. As SSG became the winner of the battle for third place, NC finished the season in fourth place and Doosan finished the season in fifth place. Doosan was confirmed to be in 5th place after losing against SSG in Jamsil on the 16th, which was the 143rd game of the season, and NC was placed in 4th place due to losing against Gwangju KIA on the 17th, the final game of the season.
Both teams wasted a lot of energy as they fought for third place until the end. If it hadn’t been a fight for third place, we could have saved the ace and prepared for the wild card, but things didn’t go that way.
NC selected Peddie as the starter for the Gwangju KIA match on the 16th, when NC was able to secure 3rd place on its own. Peddie pitched well in 5⅔ innings, allowing 3 hits, no walks, 5 strikeouts, and no runs, but he was replaced after being hit on the right forearm by Go Jong-wook’s batted ball in the 6th inning, and NC, whose bullpen collapsed, lost 2-4. Fortunately, Peddie avoided a major injury due to a simple bruise, but regardless, he threw 90 pitches and had a difficult time making a wild card appearance for up to two games on the 19th and 20th.
Doosan also used Alcantara as a starter in the SSG match on the 16th, igniting its will to take at least 4th place. Alcantara fought back with a quality start in 6 innings, allowing 2 runs, 4 hits, 3 walks, 1 base on balls, 3 strikeouts, but he could not smile. Doosan, whose batting lineup was not successful, lost 2-3. Alcantara threw 92 balls that day, making it impossible for him to pitch in the wild card game.
NC, including Park Geon-woo, who has knee problems… It’s dangerous if you lose the first game
NC’s entry consisted of 13 pitchers, 2 catchers, 8 infielders, and 7 outfielders. Rookies included pitcher Lee Jun-ho and outfielder Park Han-gyeol.
Park Geon-woo, who was excluded from the first team entry in the final game of the season against KIA the previous day (17th) due to discomfort in his right knee, will play in the wild card match. He received injection treatment in Seoul and came down to Changwon, but whether he will play as a starter will have to be determined based on his condition on the day. If center hitter Park Geon-woo is left out, NC will suffer a significant loss of power.
The exclusion of Yoon Hyeong-jun, who split the first base spot with Oh Young-soo this year, is also notable. Hyungjun Yoon recorded a batting average of .252 (55 hits in 218 at-bats), 5 home runs, 27 RBIs, and an OPS of .676 in 82 games this year. He was decent with a batting average of .300 (9-for-30), 3 RBIs, and an OPS of .731 in 9 games against Doosan, but he performed poorly since August with a batting average of .100 (.164) and no home runs.
NC will be in danger if it does not finish in the first game with Tanner as the starter. Song Myung-ki is likely to be the starting pitcher for Game 2, but he is probably inferior to Doosan foreign pitcher Brandon Waddell. If they lose the first game, they could become the victim of an upset for the first time in nine wild card games since 2015.
Will Doosan’s three catcher system cause WC’s first upset?
Doosan’s lineup consisted of 13 pitchers, 3 catchers, 7 infielders, and 6 outfielders. Overall, it didn’t deviate much from expectations, but the three-man catcher system is different from NC.
Doosan often used a three-man catcher system this season to manage veteran Yang Eui-ji’s physical strength. As Yang Eui-ji complained of accumulated fatigue at the end of the season, fall baseball also begins like this. Jang Seung-hyeon and Ahn Seung-han support Yang Eui-ji.
In the eight wild card matches so far, No. 5 has never defeated No. 4. Six of the eight times ended in a dull manner after just one game, with the 4th place team winning in the first game. In 2016, KIA won the first game against LG, and in 2021, Kiwoom won the first game against Doosan, but lost in the second game. They were unable to overcome the handicap of the 5th place team, which had to win both games.
However, this time, as they battled for third place until the end of the season, there was a variable in which both teams faced each other without their ace. The blow to NC, which has weak domestic starting pitchers, is slightly greater. There are predictions that if Doosan manages to recover from the downturn that has taken place after falling to 5th place, the first wild card upset will not be impossible.