On the 1st, there was a professional baseball game between LG and Doosan in Jamsil. Doosan, which had been lagging against LG all season, had an opportunity to sweep the three-game series. Moreover, it was the day when foreign ace Raul Alcantara was put on the starting mound.안전놀이터
Alcantara threw a three-way strike in the first inning with only 9 balls, using a fastball with a maximum speed of 155 km/h. From the perspective of the Doosan bench, it was truly a ‘feeling’ good day. However, after two outs in the second inning, he allowed consecutive doubles and gave up the first run, and ended up being the losing pitcher with poor performance of 13 hits and 7 runs in 6.1 innings. Doosan lost the most likely winning matchup as a starting matchup during the three-game series against LG.
The match against LG on this day was a game that Alcantara had to prepare for from various angles. Alcantara, who made a U-turn from Japanese professional baseball to Doosan this year, regained his ace status this season with 13 wins, 8 losses, and an average ERA of 2.66, but it was because he struggled against LG. Alcantara has 3 losses and an ERA of 7.88 in 3 games against LG this season. His hitting percentage reaches 0.382.
There is a foreign ace with Alcantara and ‘same disease’. KT right-hander William Cuevas became the first pure starter in the KBO League to have a 100% win rate with 12 wins and no losses even after joining midway as a replacement foreign player this year, but his memory against LG was not very good. He recorded an ERA of 11.45 in 3 games against LG this year with no wins or losses. His hitting percentage reaches a whopping 0.429.
KT, which has secured second place, and Doosan, which is competing for third place, are opponents that LG can face in the Korean Series. Although not immediately, if the meeting becomes a reality, the two teams’ method of using foreign aces is expected to become a hot topic.
Another potential partner that LG can meet is NC foreign ace Eric Peddy, who is an orthodox right-handed pitcher like Cuevas and Alcantara, but his history against LG was significantly different. Peddie met with LG three times this year, recording 2 wins, 0 losses, and an average ERA of 2.12. He also had a solid hitting percentage of 0.226.
There are various analyzes inside and outside of each club regarding the extreme ‘difference’. Some point out that ‘pitching habits’, which can predict pitch types, are read, but it is difficult to achieve an opponent’s batting average in the .400s just by looking at ‘habits’ and hitting. Inside LG, while avoiding specific diagnoses at a strategic level, the differences in ‘pitching trajectories’ are carefully highlighted. There is a high probability that the pitching trajectories of Cuevas and Alcantara, who use fastballs and sliders that combine lateral and vertical movements, will properly match the swing trajectories of LG’s main left-handed hitters. Although Peddie’s fastball trajectory is slightly different, he is different from the two pitchers in that he uses a sweeper with extreme lateral movement as his deciding ball.
SSG, another team competing for third place, has a different point of observation compared to these teams in terms of relativity with LG. The main starting lineup consists mainly of left-handers.
We still don’t know which team will run as the last runner against LG, which started first in the Korean Series. However, one potential battleground that will be highlighted by then is the fall season. This is not just a problem with the pitcher and LG’s main hitter. It appears that this will be a Korean series in which the ‘brain battle’ of each team’s bench may result.