At that time, the opponent of the Korean Series was the NC Dinos. Park Gun-woo, Park Se-hyuk, and Lee Yong-chan also belonged to Doosan when NC beat Doosan in the Korean Series in 2020. In the 2020 Korean Series, Lee Yong-chan did not make the entry due to injury.
They will face Doosan as NC players in the wild card game, which will kick off the fall festival of the Korean professional baseball in 2023. NC, which finished fourth in the regular season, will play the first game of the wild card decision against fifth-ranked Doosan at Changwon NC Park on the 19th.
NC, which advanced to the wild card game with ‘one win’, will advance to the semi-playoff without playing the second game if it wins or ties on the same day. The 19th is also the day when the first postseason game will be held at Changwon NC Park, which opened in 2019.
In 2020, when NC won the overall title, the Korean Series was played at Gocheok Dome to minimize movement to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The wild card game is called the “two-will series.”
Yang Eui-ji led NC to the combined victory in 2020 and was selected as the MVP of the Korean Series. Yang Eui-ji, who was named MVP in the 2016 Korean Series against NC wearing a Doosan uniform, made the “first event” of being named MVP of the Korean Series in two teams.
In 2023, Yang Eui-ji will be in charge of Doosan’s home turf again. Yang Eui-ji, who started his professional career at Doosan in 2006, signed a four-year free agent (FA) contract with NC in 2019 for 12.5 billion won, and chose to return to Doosan for up to 15.2 billion won in six years (4+2 years) this year. 스포츠토토
Although Yang Eui-ji is attracting a little more attention, this wild card game is also the “Park Gun-woo, Park Se-hyuk, and Lee Yong-chan Series.” All three began their professional careers at Doosan and moved to NC after qualifying as free agents.
Lee Yong-chan, who became an FA after the end of the 2020 season, but was rarely able to find a bird nest due to injury, signed a 3+1-year contract with NC in May 2021 for up to 2.7 billion won. Park Kun-woo signed a six-year, 10 billion won contract in 2022. Park Se-hyuk completed a four-year contract with NC for up to 4.6 billion won shortly after Yang Eui-ji chose to return to Doosan.
NC advanced to the postseason three years after the Korean Series against Doosan in 2020. Park Gun-woo, Park Se-hyuk, and Lee Yong-chan will ironically meet Doosan on the fall stage for the first time since moving to NC. Park Kun-woo and Park Se-hyuk struggled against Doosan this season.
Park Kun-woo’s batting average against Doosan is 0.184 (9 hits in 49 times at bat), which is 0.135 lower than his 0.319 batting average for the season. Park Se-hyuk also had a batting average of 0.167 (6 hits in 36 times at bat) against Doosan. However, the two with a lot of short-term experience can change the mood with a decisive shot. There is also more information about Doosan than anyone else.
NC closer Lee Yong-chan pitched well with one win, two saves and a 1.23 ERA in seven games against Doosan this year. If NC wins the wild card game, the last pitcher is likely to be Lee Yong-chan.
Lee Yong-chan threw the last ball at Masan Stadium in Game 4, when Doosan confirmed the Korean Series title in 2016. NC expects Lee Yong-chan to throw the ball to confirm the first postseason victory at Changwon NC Park.