[Issue Plus] The Korean Series will be postponed again in the fall rain.Who's more advantageous?

■ Host: Lee Yeo-jin, anchor Jang Won-seok
■ Starring: Lee Jong-hoon, sports critic

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN News PLUS] when quoting.

[Anchor] The first game of the Korean Series between KIA and Samsung, whose suspended game was declared for the first time in postseason history due to rain
, has been postponed again to tomorrow. Let's take a look at which team the variables brought by the fall rain will favor with sports critic Lee Jong-hoon. Welcome. For the first time in the postseason, it was postponed because of rain, but it was postponed again today.

[Jonghun Lee]
I've never seen anything like this before. There was a suspension in the suspended situation, but in today's situation, it took about 3 hours to maintain the ground, so I could do it if I wanted to play the suspended first game. But the problem is that the rain notice has been issued since 6 o'clock. As a result, the KBO finally announced that both the suspended first game and the second game will be postponed to tomorrow after various considerations.

[Anchor]
Those of you who watched yesterday's broadcast will know, but it was a mud field. Even if it stopped raining because it was squishy, yesterday's game would have been difficult, so it's been postponed like this. Suspended, if you could explain this for those who don't know well?

[Jonghun Lee]
Many people are asking why yesterday's game didn't end with a Kangho Cold win, but why did it end with a suspended declaration? Here's why the suspended game was declared. So if Samsung scored before the 5th inning, a strong cold will be formed. However, in the Samsung Lions, Kim Hyung-gon scored with a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning. It's the top of the sixth inning, but the game was suspended at the top of the sixth inning. The game was suspended due to heavy rain, and to put the referee's expression as it was, it was too difficult for the referee to see the front, so even in the case of the referee, rainwater continued to fall on the mask. So there were complaints that the players didn't have a clear vision, so they ended up stopping the game in a hurry, but the Kia attack didn't proceed at the end of the sixth inning. Didn't Samsung score in the top of the sixth inning? To be fair, you have to give Kia a chance to attack at least once. So, this game can be established properly only when you play at the bottom of the sixth inning, but the victory or defeat can be determined. Because it was not established, the attack in the bottom of the sixth inning was not played, so the game was postponed, not Kang Ho-cold. It starts again in the same situation at the beginning of the sixth inning. I set another day and start again, so suspended is coming out now, and as you mentioned earlier, it is the first suspended game in the history of the postseason Korea season.

[Anchor]
I think Samsung will be very dissatisfied because it was winning.

[Jonghun Lee]
I have a lot of complaints. Because it is important that Samsung is winning, but from Samsung's point of view, the starting mound and bullpen mound are considered the weakest points in the Korean Series. It's pitching power. Samsung's most reliable card is Won Tae-in, who tied for first place in multiple games this season. He started yesterday. The situation is blocking the powerful Kia Tigers without losing a point. In addition, it was only 66 pitches thrown by Won Tae-in until the sixth inning. What this means is that Won Tae-in can go up to the 7th or 8th inning. Director Park Jin-man had the best scenario. However, as this game is suspended, Won Tae-in's card is bound to be a card that has already been abandoned. Even if Won Tae-in wants to, it is practically impossible for him to play in the suspended game of Game 1 tomorrow.

From that point of view, from Samsung's point of view, it remains uncomfortable that it has not confirmed its victory even with the most reliable ace. Another problem is that Samsung also has to play a double-head game because the suspended game and the second game will be held on the same day, so to put it as coach Park Jin-man expressed it. We have to play a double-head game, but as you know, the players are very tired. However, the Kia Tigers have been resting all along, but they have been resting first in the Korean Series, but Samsung came up after playing the fourth round of the playoffs. The players' fatigue is accumulated and it is a difficult situation. However, if we play a doublehead game here, it's not a problem for Samsung to give up the first and second games, but all the following 3-4,000 and 5th and 6th games will inevitably have difficulties in player management, so coach Park Jin-man was seen venting his anger in front of reporters in the press room after the game was suspended yesterday.

[Anchor]
Since the weather is chilly, there is a risk of injury if the players are too much. From Samsung's point of view, it would be a shame because the bullpen has been sluggish this season, as coach Park Jin-man said, but rather postpone it or at Gocheok Dome, Kiwoom's home stadium.
[Lee Jong-hoon]
You can't do it at Gocheok Dome. Gocheok is a neutral zone, so we could do it because of the COVID-19 special situation, but now we are not in a situation where we can play in Gocheok. Now the question is this. This is why KBO pushed ahead with this game yesterday. In other words, the Samsung Lions beat the LG Twins in Game 4 of the playoffs on Saturday, and not only me but many people saw the weather forecast for the Korea Meteorological Administration on Saturday. What will be the schedule for the first and second games of the Korean Series? I saw the weather then. I had bad news on Monday evening, and I had bad news all day on Tuesday. So I thought I might not be able to play the first and second games. But yesterday, in the rain, KBO's referees and game supervisors said they would proceed with the game.

Of course, the game started about 7:42 after an hour and a half, but the game didn't start immediately, but we also had a ceremony. Then the game time was pushed back, but the problem was that it had been raining since the first inning yesterday. So, as the raindrops became thicker, the control of the Kia Tigers player was unstable, but it was a question of why they stopped the game when it was raining. I shouldn't have done it in the first place. But from the KBO's point of view, there must be something like this. So if the Korean Series can't play the first game today, especially on Tuesday, with rain forecast, as of yesterday. If we don't make it today, we have to convene a national team to prepare for the Premier season in the future, but the schedule for the call-up of Samsung and Kia players may be delayed. These problems can occur. The other problem is that a lot of spectators have already come in and we've called VIPs for the event. I called the VIPs and guests, but it's not easy to cancel them today and call them again the next day. So, from the KBO's point of view, I can't help but think that they didn't think of the players first, but that they pushed ahead with the event for the event. Because it was the same situation as this in the fourth round of the last playoff. I canceled the fourth round of the
playoffs because there was a rain forecast. I canceled the rain. So there was no game that day. On the contrary, at that time, there was an evaluation that Samsung was at a disadvantage, so many reporters asked Park Jin-man, but at that time, Park Jin-man said it was raining, so what should we do, we should do it accordingly. I said I'd accept it even if we were at a disadvantage. However, many baseball fans are angry about the fact that KBO made different decisions under the same conditions and conditions.

[Anchor]
Since the Korean Series is best-of-seven, we can win four times, but in fact, both teams are putting a lot of winning points in the first round, right? Because the winning team in the first round of the Korean Series has a very high probability of winning until the end with 71%.

[Jonghun Lee]
So 70% of them have a chance of winning, so I think the first round is very important. Also, one of the characteristics of the Korean Series is that the No. 1 team in the national series is on a first-come, first-served basis in the Korean Series.
But you have to keep playing and come up from the second place team or lower. So, as I said before, the more you go back, the more physical the second-place team in the regular series or the team that came up after the postseason. It's not that easy to get close to winning. So the goal is to catch the first game, and on the contrary, the teams that won the first place and went straight to the Korean Series have a little poor sense of play. So, because of the clutter in the first game, there can be a difficult situation, but yesterday, Kia Tigers made mistakes in the first game and were in a mess. However, as coach Lee said, the suspension of the game due to suspension gave us another opportunity to play the first game. In short, it's living twice. Because of that situation, I'm saying that it's not bad for the Kia Tigers, it's good.

[Anchor]
I think managers will also have a lot of worries about how to handle the rest of the innings. I'll be back after hearing a little bit. It starts at first and second base with no outs in the top of the sixth inning tomorrow.

[Jonghun Lee]
The same situation as yesterday. Samsung Lee enters the car seat and starts the ball with 5 counts.

[Anchor]
Kia blocked a home run now, but they threw it well. Then who will Kia put on the mound now?

[Jonghun Lee]
First of all, I think Jang Il-soo won't be in the same situation tomorrow. So, considering that Kim is a left-handed batter from Kia's point of view, Kwak Do-kyun, a left-handed specialist, can be put on the mound, but on the contrary, Kwak Do-kyun was put on the first and second bases with no outs. If you force a sacrifice bunt here, Kwak Do-kyun's card becomes meaningless. First of all, the head fight between the directors begins. Whether to order Kim Young-woong to sacrifice bunt or not, if you think about this variable, you have to think about the number of very complex cases in the case of manager Lee Bum-ho and Kia Tigers pitching coach Jung Jae-hoon. In the case of the Samsung Lions, they have no choice but to think of various game options because they think they have to pick an additional point in the sixth inning to take the flow of the first game of the suspended game tomorrow.

[Anchor]
Then, what is the decisive factor for both teams to win or lose?

[Jonghun Lee]
The decisive factor that determines the victory or defeat of both teams is the bullpen fight as well. Especially in tomorrow's suspended game, it's very important how the bullpen fight will be. First of all, Samsung manager Park Jin-man says he will put all bullpen pitchers in an all-out fight, but the problem is that the bullpen of the Samsung Lions is anxious about their waistline that can easily prevent the sixth and seventh innings. If so, you can pitch other players such as Ja Seung-hyun or Choi Chae-young, but in the case of Lee Seung-hyun, who is like a left-hander, you have to think about the second game. Since Lee played as a starter this season, he is playing as a bullpen in fall baseball, but if he thinks about the second game, it will be a considerable concern to put in Lee Seung-hyun. On the contrary, in the case of the Kia Tigers, they say they are confident in raising the volume or mound in the bullpen. As such, he has often scored points in the regular season by beating Samsung's bullpen.

We have this confidence that we are stronger in the Samsung bullpen than in the front, and these can affect the second game, which will follow an hour later, depending on how they change the flow tomorrow or not. I think tomorrow, in some cases, there may be teams that sweep the first and second games.

[Anchor]
Who will be the team that makes you laugh at the end? Is it a tiger or a lion?

[Jonghun Lee]
I can't predict that exactly. Because the weather variable looks like this right now. On the contrary, as it became suspended this time, the Kia Tigers actually gained a lot of advantage in an objective situation. It's already advantageous, but it's more advantageous. That's why the Kia Tigers are now expressing that the sky of the Korean Series is helping. It is clear that hunger is in such an advantageous situation that some even raised such conspiracy theories as "supporting hunger" with the suspended declaration yesterday. But baseball is a battle of moods. It's a mood fight and I don't know if the Samsung Lions take the suspended Game 1.

Especially in the case of the Samsung Lions, they have many home runs this season, so didn't they actually score the first point with a home run in the first game yesterday? Home runs are actually a battle of moods. If Samsung begins to gain momentum, there is no law that Samsung should not take it in the first and second games. In that case, I think Samsung could finish this Korean Series. So, in my opinion, this Korean series is quite likely to end in Game 5.

[Anchor]
I see. I just talked about the Korean Series, but the World Series is also very noisy. Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees met for the first time in 43 years, how are both teams' records?

[Jonghun Lee]
Baseball fans in the U.S. are very excited because it is a showdown between prestigious teams representing the east and west of the U.S., but the two teams have met 11 times in the World Series so far. I met him 11 times, and the Yankees are leading with 8 wins and 3 losses. The Yankees are ahead in the opponent's game, but the last face-off was in 1981. But the Los Angeles Dodgers won the last face-off. And the Yankees are going to the World Series for the first time in 13 years, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to the World Series for the first time in four years. From that point of view, in fact, the team closer to the 21st century World Series is the Dodgers rather than the Yankees. The Yankees are a 20th century World Series team, you can see it like this. In that respect, this game between the Yankees and the Dodgers, which will face off for the first time in the 21st century, is the World Series. I can tell you that data is just data.

[Anchor]
Besides, isn't this World Series even hotter with the match between Ohtani and Judge? The two league MVPs and the two league home run No. 1 players face off.

[Jonghun Lee]
In fact, this is the first time in the history of the World Series that two teams have hit more than 50 home runs since the World Series was first born in 1903. So this is the first time that teams with hitters who hit more than 50 home runs will face off. So they're saying it's a competition of the century and a competition of dreams. However, both players seem to be a little slow in the postseason fall baseball. The same performance in the regular season does not come out. If you look at the fall baseball performance alone, Ohtani is a little more ahead of Judge. However, both players are new to the World Series. So, attention is being paid to who will wear the World Series championship ring first on the World Series stage for the first time.

[Anchor]
It would be nice for baseball fans to have a lot of exciting games left. It was Lee Jong Hoon, a sports critic. Thank you.