The KIA Tigers won the regular season title for the first time in seven seasons. They will go straight to the Korean Series and try to win the overall championship.
KIA lost 0-2 in the SSG Landers match held in Incheon on the 17th, but Samsung lost in the match between the Samsung Lions and the Doosan Bears at the same time, erasing the magic number that had one left. Under the leadership of Lee Bum-ho, a novice coach, KIA will hunt for the 12th Korean Series championship of the Tigers franchise.
There must have been a number of reasons for KIA to rank No. 1 in the regular season, but we cannot talk about the 2024 season without mentioning Kim Do-young. Explaining what Kim accomplished one by one hurts. Simply put, it was "crazy mode." If you join the club with 40 home runs and 40 steals, which is the second goal in the history of the KBO League, you can reach the peak of your career. It is no exaggeration to say that Kim has already won the MVP award. Some say that it is unanimous.
But other than Kim Do-young, there is a player that reminds me of whether KIA could have won the title without Lee. Ace Yang Hyeon-jong? No. 4 hitter Choi Hyung-woo? Hwang Dong-ha comes to mind.
Kia has not only sought to blossom into the championship. It faced countless crises. Among them, what gave Lee the most difficult time was injuries sustained by starting pitchers. The ambitious foreign pitcher Crow and left-hander Lee Eui-ri were out of the team in the first half. Even Yoon Young-chul, who had been holding out well, collapsed. In the end, ace player Nail got hit on the chin by the opponent team's ball and took the surgery table. Yang was the only one left among the five starting pitchers. 안전놀이터
With the starting team almost collapsing, manager Lee and KIA held on with their gums. If it was another team, it was common for the entire team to collapse if the starting team broke down like this, but KIA held on.
That's why Hwang Dong-ha was important. There is a short-term substitution system for foreign pitchers, but there was no answer when native players left. Manager Lee first gave Kim Geon-guk a chance when his objection was missing, but he was not satisfied. Hwang Dong-ha dug into the gap.
It was not overwhelming, but I was proud of him for consistently rotating the rotation. He was a rookie player who played 13 games in the first division last year. He also showed improvement throughout the match. After Lee Eui-ri, Yoon Young-cheol also fell out, making Hwang Dong-ha's position more solid. At first, he was a temporary starter of five, but in fact, he served as a fourth starter.
As mentioned above, Hwang may look humble but has lost five games and lost six games with an ERA of 4.39. However, it is hard for anyone who knows Kia to say that Hwang did not do well. In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say that he is a hidden MVP.