10-10-10-10th place? That’s not good enough.
Hanwha dropped to 10th place after losing to Changwon NC on the 10th. 캡틴토토 After taking all four games of a four-game series against Gochuk last October, Hanwha seemed to have stabilized in the battle for the top spot, widening the gap between them and 10th-place Kiwoom to seven games.
However, they plummeted to 6-17 in their next 23 games and were upset by Kiwoom for the first time in a month. Homegrown ace Moon Dong-ju ended his season prematurely due to innings restrictions, and center fielder Noh Si-hwan was unable to fill the void after missing 13 games due to a call-up to the Hangzhou Asian Games. Both bats struggled to find their groove as their power declined.
Kiwoom’s loss to Gwangju KIA on the 11th dropped Hanwha, who did not play that day, to ninth place by 0.5 games. With Kiwoom’s final game against SSG in Munhak on the 13th, Hanwha has three games left. They play their final three games at home against Lotte in Daejeon on Nov. 14-16.
If Kiwoom wins the SSG, Hanwha will need two wins and one loss to clinch the title. If Kiwoom loses to SSG, Hanwha can avoid the bottom spot with just one win and two losses. However, if they drop all three games, Hanwha will finish last even if Kiwoom loses. Worst-case scenario.
Hanwha has been on a bad run lately with six straight losses. Their opponent, Lotte, was also eliminated from the Fall Baseball League on October 10, but under acting manager Lee Jong-woon, they are doing everything they can to redeem themselves. Lotte is also very strong against Hanwha this year, with a 9-4 record.
It’s unfortunate for Hanwha to be in this situation. Hanwha, which sacked coach Carlos Suvero in May for poor performance and switched to Choi Won-ho, went on an eight-game winning streak from June 21 to July 1 and jumped into the mid-table race.
The team finished the first half in eighth place (34 W, 40 L, 4 D, .459 winning percentage), 2.5 games behind fifth-place Lotte, raising expectations for the second half. However, the limitations of their thin depth were evident in the second half, with eight straight losses and six straight defeats. The team went 22-39-2 (.361 winning percentage) in the second half of the season, good for ninth place.
If Hanwha finishes in 10th place again, it will be the fourth consecutive year since 2020 that it has finished in last place. The last team to finish last for four consecutive years was Lotte. They finished eighth for four straight years from 2001-2004, when they were an eight-team organization. No team has ever finished last for four consecutive years in the 10-team system. Hanwha could have the honor of being the first. Together with Lotte, they have the most last-place finishes in the history of the league with nine, and at this rate, it could be their first 10th.
In terms of the rookie draft, 10th place is better than 9th place, which would have gotten them the first overall pick. While last place is better on paper, it’s a different story when you’re Hanwha, who has the first overall pick in the nation and the best rookie in the entire draft for three years in a row. Finishing last again at a time when the team is supposed to be taking a leap forward after a long rebuilding period is hard to swallow for Bosal fans. In their final three games against Lotte, they must somehow avoid the worst possible disgrace. They only need two wins on their own.