SSG Landers tumble to fifth as KBO enters final stretch

The reigning champion SSG Landers fell to fifth place on the KBO table last week, barely holding on to a postseason ticket with just two wins in their last 10 games. The leading LG Twins fared better, holding on to a comfortable 5.5 game lead

A packed crowd watches the first game of a Nakdong River Derby double-header between the Lotte Giants and NC Dinos at Changwon NC Park in Changwon, South Gyeongsang on Saturday. [YONHAP]

The reigning champion SSG Landers fell to fifth place on the KBO table last week, barely holding on to a postseason ticket with just two wins in their last 10 games.

The leading LG Twins fared better, holding on to a comfortable 5.5 game lead, but still falling below the dreaded .500 line over their last 10 games.

Second-place KT Wiz also look decidedly shaky, managing just three wins over their last 10 games to find the NC Dinos just a single win behind them in third place.

The Dinos, meanwhile, are eight-for-two and looking good as fall ball kicks in, with the fourth-place Kia Tigers also enjoying the same success rate over the last 10 games.

Surprisingly, the eighth-place Hanwha Eagles are the only other team on the table with as good numbers, going 8-0-2 over the last 10 games with an emphatic four-game sweep over the weekend.

The Dinos were the only team to pull off a sweep in the week, beating the last-place Kiwoom Heroes: 2-1, 8-2, 6-1.

Every other midweek series ended up with a two-to-one win, with the sole exception of the clash between the Tigers and sixth-place Doosan Bears, which faced a rain cancelation on Tuesday and ended up split with the Tigers winning 7-1 on Wednesday and the Bears 3-0 on Thursday.

Elsewhere in the KBO, the Twins edged out the Wiz in a first-second clash, winning 5-4 on Tuesday and 11-4 on Thursday with a 4-3 loss on Wednesday. The Eagles added to the Landers’ woes, coming back from an 11-6 loss on Tuesday to win 6-5, 4-3 to take the series.

The Giants rounded things off for the midweek action, beating the ninth-place Samsung Lions: 10-3, 2-7, 2-1.

Things got more complicated moving into the weekend, with four double-headers scheduled on Saturday meaning that the clash between the Landers and Wiz was the only three-game series.

Even that series was indecisive, with the two teams unable to find an edge in an 8-8 draw on Saturday, leaving them to split the series with the Wiz winning 16-7 on Friday and the Landers taking Sunday 6-5.

The Eagles, meanwhile, pulled off one of the biggest series wins in KBO history, beating the Heroes four times over a dramatic weekend: 6-5, 11-2, 3-1, 9-8.

Down in Gwangju, the Tigers also made short work of the league-leading Twins, losing 12-2 on Friday but coming back to win the following three games: 7-6, 12-7, 8-7.

The Dinos continued their midweek momentum in the Nakdong River Derby, winning 4-3 on Friday, before dropping Saturday’s opening game 5-2 and coming back to win 6-5 and then 3-1 on Sunday to take the series.

The clash between the Lions and Bears in Seoul went the same way, with Doosan winning the opener 8-7, Samsung taking the second game 5-1 and the Bears returning to win 4-0, 8-2 to round off the series.

The weekend action rounded off the last of the regularly scheduled games, with the KBO now pivoting to a month of make-up games to cover fixtures that were previous postponed due to rain or pollution levels.

That all starts on Tuesday, when the Bears hold the Eagles at Jamsil, the Wiz visit the Landers in Incheon, the Dinos face the Giants in Busan and the Tigers and Lions face off in Daegu.

The Bears will then face the Landers on Wednesday while the Wiz take on the Dinos and the Giants face the Tigers. The Bears and Landers will continue their face-off through Thursday, as the Wiz take on the Lions, the Twins face the Dinos and the Giants play the Tigers.

Most teams will then get to play a series through the weekend.

The Heroes will visit Busan to take on the Giants for a two-game series on Friday and Saturday, a schedule that will be mirrored by the Lions and Dinos.

The Bears and Tigers will play a traditional three-game series, while the Twins will take on the Eagles on Friday before playing a three-game series against the Landers over the weekend with a double-header on Sunday.

The Giants will also face the Lions on Sunday in a one-off game, while the Wiz and Eagles will play a double-header on the same day.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]