The NC-SSG battle for 'third place' is now a quasi-PO war
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NC defeats Doosan in wild-card decider
SSG to start best-of-three semifinals on Nov. 22The NC Dinos and SSG Landers, who battled for position until the final day of the regular season, will meet again.
NC and SSG will play a best-of-five, best-of-three semi-playoffs (Semi-PO) at SSG Landers Park in Incheon on April 22.
The two teams battled for the third spot until the end of the season.
The winner was SSG. SSG won two straight games against the Doosan Bears in the final two games of the season, while NC lost two straight to KIA.
The third-place finish sends SSG directly to the semi-postseason, while the fourth-place finisher starts fall baseball with a wild-card game.
After falling out of contention at the end of the season and having a weaker starting rotation than fifth-place Doosan, there were concerns for NC.
But NC turned that assessment on its head. NC won the first game of the wildcard decider against Doosan 14-9 on the 19th. With the win, NC punched their ticket to the Semi-Finals after sitting in fourth place with one game in hand.
By quickly wrapping up the Wild Card Decider, NC secured an extra day of rest.
A sweep of Doosan kept morale high.
The rediscovery of Seo Ho-cheol, who dazzled in a short game that required a "crazy player," is even more welcome for NC.
After joining the first team in 2020 and emerging as a hit product for NC this year, Seo made his fall baseball debut his own. Seo went 3-for-4 with a game-winning home run, six RBIs, and two runs scored. The six RBIs are the most in a single game by a Wild Card in history.
Wearing a catcher's mask, Kim Hyung-jun also did his part at the plate. With two home runs, he broke the record for the youngest player to hit a home run in a Wild Card game (23 years, 11 months, 17 days).
Now they'll face SSG, a team they couldn't get past in the regular season.Defending champions SSG, who never dropped out of first place last year and finished wire-to-wire to win the overall title, fell out of contention in the second half of the season.
However, after a strong 10-2 run in the last month of the regular season, they managed to hold on to third place. SSG will be able to open fall baseball with more time to spare than NC. The bullpen pitchers, such as Noh Kyung-eun and Seo Jin-yong, who had accumulated fatigue from frequent appearances, were able to take a break and their shoulders were lighter.
SSG coach Kim Won-hyung said, "At the end of the regular season, we entered the Semi-Po with a good mood, focus, and a unified will to win. We will prepare well so that we can continue to show that in this series." 19가이드03
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