Lions move closer to ending title drought as defending champions falter

By knocking off the defending champions in South Korean baseball Saturday, the Samsung Lions gave themselves a chance to end a 10-year title drought. The Lions beat the LG Twins 1-0 to take the best-of-five series in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason in four games. The victory at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul sent the Lions to the Korean Series, where they will face the top seed Kia Tigers beginning Monday. It will be the Lions' first appearance in the Korean Series since 2015, when they lost to the Doosan Bears in five games. The Lions had won four consecutive titles from 2011 to 2014. This is also the fourth Korean Series meeting between the Lions and the Tigers, one of the storied rivals in the KBO. The Tigers won the first three meetings -- 1986, 1987 and 1993. Lions skipper Park Jin-man, who won six Korean Series rings as an All-Star shortstop, will be in his first Korean Series as manager. "I am walking on clouds right now," Park said after Saturday's win. "At the start of this se ason, I never even dreamed of reaching the Korean Series. My players have done wonderful work and I am grateful." The Lions won the first two games at home, Daegu Samsung Lions Park, by a combined score of 29-9. They pounded out 28 hits, including eight homers, in the most hitter-friendly stadium in the KBO. But at Jamsil, they lost Game 3 by 1-0 before winning the clinching game by that same score. In those two games, they managed just eight hits, though they did have one home run. Starter Denyi Reyes won the first and the fourth games of this series, giving up just one earned run in 13 2/3 innings combined, and Lions manager Park Jin-man praised the work of both Reyes and Game 2 winner Won Tae-in. Those two starters did a great job, and we took advantage of our power at our home stadium early on," Park said. "This was a nerve-wrecking game from the first inning. Our bats went cold and I figured it would be a difficult game because of that. We have to hit better in the Korean Series." Park leaned on jus t three starters to get through the Twins series, with Hwang Dong-jae getting the nod for Game 3. But he could do that because of extra days off provided by two rainouts. Park admitted he will need an extra starter for the best-of-seven Korean Series and will also consider making other roster changes. Park essentially ruled out right-hander Connor Seabold, who went back to the United States to get his injured shoulder treated during the Twins series. "Unless he's on a flight back to Korea right this moment, it'll be difficult," Park said with a wry grin. "We'll discuss his situation later." The Lions played the Twins without veteran reliever Oh Seung-hwan, who was kept off the roster due to ineffective performances late in the regular season. Oh is the all-time KBO saves leader with 427 and had 27 saves to rank second overall this year, but Park didn't bring him for this series after Oh surrendered nine runs in his final two games, covering 1 1/3 innings. We will have to look into the situation from many different angles," Park said of Oh's possible inclusion. "For both pitchers and position players, my coaches and I will go back to the drawing board." As for facing the Tigers, Park said he hopes to ride the good wave from the series win over the Twins. "If we have the momentum behind us, our young guys can make a difference," Park said. "We're going to face the challenge head on." The Twins, on the other hand, failed to reach the Korean Series a year after ending their 29-year drought. They had the best regular-season record last year and earned a bye to the Korean Series, but had to begin this year's postseason in the first round after finishing third in the regular season. The Twins squeezed past the KT Wiz in five games in the opening round, but went down in four games against the Lions. Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb said having to play the extra five games in the early stage made a huge difference this time. "I am sure the players realized that it takes a big toll to have to claw our way up from t he bottom," Youm said. "We will try to start the postseason at a higher place next year." The Twins' bullpen wasn't as strong as last year, with key players having departed for military service or, in case of closer Go Woo-suk, for Major League Baseball, Youm had to scramble to get starters Elieser Hernandez and Son Ju-young to work in relief. "Our middle relievers didn't develop at the pace we would have liked," Youm said. "And we didn't have a great offense, even when the rest of the league enjoyed good offensive production. We will have to address these issues during the offseason." The Twins' elimination ensured that the KBO will have a different champion for the eighth consecutive season. The 2015-2016 Bears are the last team to win back-to-back Korean Series titles. Source: Yonhap News Agency