Crisis has struck LG, which is challenging for the top spot this season, with a five-game losing streak that has put a red light on first-place Suwon.

The LG Twins fell to a 3-4 defeat against the KT Wiz of the 2023 KBO Baseball League at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Saturday, giving up a walk-off hit to Moon Sang-chul in the 12th inning.

The loss, which snapped a five-game losing streak and left leader LG with 33 losses (49 wins, two draws), left them half a game behind second-place SSG Landers (48 wins, one draw, 33 losses), who defeated the Samsung Lions 8-7 on the same day.

This year, LG finished the first half of the season with 49 wins, two draws, and 30 losses, thanks to a strong showing in both the pitching and batting departments. While they didn’t reach the 50-win plateau, they were still in sole possession of first place in the standings, 2.5 games ahead of second-place SSG. It was the first time in 26 years and the first time in the 21st century that LG had finished the first half in first place since 1997, so naturally a lot of attention was focused on their performance.

However, in the second half, LG has faltered dramatically. Since their 12-3 win over the Lotte Giants in Busan on April 8, the last day of the first half, they have been without a win for 19 days.

LG’s sudden slump has been largely attributed to frequent rainouts that have made it difficult for the team to maintain its performance. LG hasn’t played a full three-game series since a weekend series against the KIA Tigers in Anbang from March 30 to 2. The subsequent three-game series against Jamsil KT (April 4-6) and Busan Lotte Giants (April 7-9) both lasted only two games, and the final series of the first half, against the Jamsil Hanwha Eagles (April 11-13), lasted only one game.

Even in the second half, which began with a week off, LG was unable to play as planned. They played only one game in the three-game series against Jamsil SSG (April 21-23) and have only played two games so far in the away KT series.

As the irregular schedule continued, the players’ performance gradually declined, with the batting lineup being the most noticeable. During the losing streak, LG’s team batting average is 0.214, the lowest among the 10 clubs. While it’s hard to make simple comparisons due to the small sample size, it’s a stark contrast to the 0.285 team batting average LG posted in the first half of the season. The team hasn’t hit a single home run, and the bullpen, which boasted a salty 3.61 ERA in the first half of the year, has also been susceptible, with a 4.14 ERA.

In this situation, the result of the 26th game against KT in Suwon is even more painful for LG. The game went into the 12th inning, and the bullpen of Kim Jin-sung, Ham Deok-ju, Jung Woo-young, Baek Seung-hyun, Choi Dong-hwan, Yoo Young-chan, and Ko Woo-seok, including starter Im Chan-kyu, could not get the win.

LG, which plays its final game of a three-game midweek series against KT on the 27th, faces a tougher opponent in its three-game weekend series. The protagonists are the Doosan Bears, the ‘Jamsil rivals’ who have been on a tear lately. Doosan saw their 12-game winning streak snapped with a 2-7 loss to Lotte in Jamsil on the 26th, but they are arguably the team with the best vibe of the 10 clubs right now. The best-case scenario for LG is to somehow snap the losing streak against KT on the 27th and quickly turn things around to prepare for the series against Doosan.온라인바카라

William Shakespeare once said, “He who wishes to wear the crown, bear the weight of it.” This is a perfect sentence for LG right now. It’s a phrase that fits LG perfectly right now. Will LG be able to overcome this sudden crisis and achieve their goal of becoming the highest ranked team in the KBO this season?