2 wins, 1 draw, 11 losses in September… A team with a winning percentage of .100,
recorded an ERA of 6.91, the ‘lowest’.
‘Defending champion’ SSG Landers, who won the 2022 season without losing first place for the first time in history, is falling repeatedly. Now we have to worry about advancing to fall baseball.
Ahead of this season, SSG was assessed as being able to rise to the top, even if it is not a contender for the championship.
Until the middle of the season, they were in the top two with the leader LG Twins. On the last day of July, they were in second place, only 2.5 games behind LG, and the gap with the Doosan Bears, who were in third place at the time, was 6 games.
SSG maintained second place until mid-August, but then fell into a slump and its ranking gradually declined. SSG, which fell to 3rd place on August 19th, fell to 4th place on the 7th of this month, and to 5th place two days later on the 9th.
SSG’s fall did not end here. From the Incheon KT Wiz game on the 12th of this month to the Jamsil LG Twins game on the 17th, they lost 5 games and fell to 6th place.안전놀이터This is the first time since the start of this season that SSG has been pushed out of the top five.
SSG’s performance since September is truly miserable. In 14 games, they had 2 wins, 1 draw, and 11 losses, with a winning percentage of only 0.154.
The last 10 games have 1 win, 1 draw, and 8 losses. There has been no victory except for a 6-5 win in the Suwon KT game on the 10th thanks to Park Seong-han’s come-from-behind two-run gun.
SSG’s aimlessly shaking mound is the main cause of its recent slump. The starting pitchers and bullpen all collapsed.
Since September, SSG’s team ERA is the lowest at 6.91. Among the 10 teams, they are the only one with an ERA in the 6-point range. The starting ERA (6.95) and bullpen ERA (6.87) are both in the 6-point range.
In September, it is difficult to find a pitcher who can play his part in the SSG starting lineup. Since September, starting pitchers have pitched only 4⅔ innings per game. Out of 14 games, the starting pitcher recorded a quality start (6 or more innings and 3 earned runs or less) only three times.
Foreign pitcher Kirk McCarty, who played the role of ace until mid-season, fell into extreme slump in September. He played in 6 games in the month of August with 2 wins, 1 loss, and an average ERA of 2.08, but in the 3 games he pitched in September, he had no win, 1 loss, and an average ERA of 13.11.
Korean left-handed ace Kim Gwang-hyun, who had ups and downs throughout the season, continued to show signs of not finding stability, recording an ERA of 4.30 in September.
Left-hander Oh Won-seok also performed poorly in three games in September, with no wins, one loss, and an ERA of 7.98. Moon Seung-won, who changed his position from bullpen to starter at the end of August, suffered losses in both of his appearances in September, and his average ERA reached 10.38.
At least Roenis Elias did his part with an ERA of 2.84, including two quality starts in three appearances in September.
The starting pitcher’s early rejection led to an overload of the bullpen, and as the bullpen fell into a slump, the number of come-from-behind losses increased. In September alone, they suffered eight upset defeats. It was the most among the 10 clubs.
In the game against Doosan in Jamsil on the 14th, starting pitcher Elias fought back by allowing 8 scoreless innings, but closing pitcher Seo Jin-yong, who appeared in the bottom of the 9th inning, collapsed after allowing 3 runs in ⅔ innings, resulting in a bitter defeat.
In the first game of the doubleheader against LG on the 17th, the team continued to play evenly, leading 3-2 until the 5th inning, but lost 3-8 as Noh Kyung-eun allowed 2 runs in 1 inning and Lim Jun-seop allowed 3 runs in 1 inning.
Closing pitcher Seo Jin-yong, who had shown a solid showing without a blown save (a tie or comeback allowed) in 50 consecutive games, is drifting to an ERA of 8.44, including three blown saves since September.
The current state of SSG’s bullpen is relying on Noh Kyung-eun, born in 1984, and Ko Hyo-jun, born in 1983. Even Choi Min-jun, who played a great role in the victory group, was out of the team once due to an injury and has not been able to find stability since returning.
SSG, in crisis, will face the Hanwha Eagles on the 19th and the Samsung Lions on the 20th, and then face leader LG on the 21st. From the 22nd to the 24th, they will play a three-game series against the Lotte Giants.
SSG must turn the situation around against Hanwha and Samsung, which are ahead in their head-to-head records. The gap with 7th place Lotte is not large at 4.5 games, so if they do not rebound, they may be further away from fall baseball.