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Andrew also sat down with Brian and about 200 noisy cicadas (Matt is away this week) to discuss KIA Tigers’ closer Yoon Suk Min, ways to help globalize baseball after news broke that the KBO commissioner was in New York for that same reason, and the three different divisions which have developed in the current league standings.

If you haven’t already, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and our YouTube channel. We should have new videos up soon. You can also get in contact with the show through Twitter, Facebook, or via grandslamkbo@gmail.com.

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We simply won’t be able to gauge how much of an impact the Asia Games are until the teams resume play on September 4th. Normally, the first-placed team goes on to win the Korean Series despite nearly a month of no competitive baseball in October. However, this situation is different because every team is afforded 3 weeks of rest and Doosan Bears are the bulk suppliers to the national team.

If the wheels come off Doosan’s season in September, they’ll have legitimate gripes with the timing of the Games. Nonetheless, everyone knew the state of play when the season began and the Bears could conceivably be well out of sight by then anyway.

Here are 3 big questions for the next half of the season.

Can the Hanwha Eagles hold on?

Sometimes I have to keep checking the Naver standings to try and make sense of Hanwha’s season. Is this really happening? When will they hit a patch of bad form? Surely they’ll be found out soon? At the time of writing, Hanwha Eagles are second in the KBO standings, just 6 games back from leaders Doosan Bears. They are 2 clear of SK Wyverns in 3rd, 4 clear of LG Twins in 4th and a whopping 8.5 ahead of Nexen Heroes, who hold onto the final play-off spot. KIA Tigers, in 6th, are 10 games back from Hanwha.

The Eagles’ ambition now shouldn’t be holding onto a coveted place-off spot, one they haven’t enjoyed for a decade. They are on course for their best ever season and finishing second or third would represent a monumentally good season. Doing so would also afford them a short break after the regular season is done. With a second placed finish, they can put their feet up for at least a week as the wild card followed by the first round of the play-offs get under way. Hanbat will be waiting for whoever advances that far, and no team will enjoy it.

Such has been their success, Hanwha could afford to drop Jason Wheeler and pick up ex MLB pitcher David Hale at a crucial point in the season. Mid-season replacements don’t always work out as players struggle to adjust to a new league. However, Hanwha have enough breathing space over their rivals to make this work. They’re the third current top 5 team – after Doosan and Nexen Heroes – to make an alteration to their foreign staff in 2018.

Hale has a 10-10 MLB record and a career 4.49 ERA in 70 games for Atlanta Braves, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees. In 172 minor league games, Hale has a win-loss of 37-46 with a 4.20 ERA. The Eagles know these changes are unpredictable but this is a gamble they feel they need to make.

Who will make a charge from the chasing pack?

Every year, a team comes from south of mid-table and makes an unexpected charge towards a play-off spot. In recent seasons, LG Twins have made 2 post-season appearances having been effectively written off at this point. In 2017, Lotte Giants powered their way from mid-table mediocrity all the way to third, before a shattering first round loss to NC Dinos.

Even Doosan Bears advanced spectacularly after All Star last season, coming from 9 games back to almost snatch the pennant race on the final day of the season. The teams currently outside the top 5 are;

• KIA Tigers: 6th. 41-45. 58 games left.
• Lotte Giants: 7th. 38-2-47. 57 games left.
• Samsung Lions: 8th. 53 games left.
• kt wiz: 9th. 56 games left.
• NC Dinos: 10th. 53 games left.

Tigers (more on them below) are probably the best equipped team to make a charge given their undoubted pedigree, but they’ve been so wonderfully underwhelming in 2018 that a painstakingly slow death would seem the most reasonable outcome.

Lotte Giants were heavily tipped to finish high up the table, but an awful start put them on the back foot immediately. Lotte have one of the best batting cards in the league but their team is rather lob-sided. In June, they broke records, but not all were good. Their bullpen is poor, even by KBO standards. They can challenge, but they need to stop blowing saves.

The Giants batters weren’t the only ones setting records in June – the bullpen also got its name in the history books. The pitchers allowed an embarrassing 10 come-from-behind victories in June and recorded an astounding eight blown saves. As a result, the Giants is the only club in the KBO to have its bullpen ERA above 7, at 7.01.

Samsung Lions still look like a team in transition mode and are lacking too many top class players to make a legitimate push. Their starting pitchers are all just about okay but the line up really lacks depth.

kt wiz and NC Dinos make up the table, and both are surely too far back now to threaten a play-off position. For kt, finishing somewhere other than 10th would represent their best ever KBO season for final league position. Bottom would represent NC’s worst ever final position.

KIA or Lotte to make a run but the odds are stacked against Lotte.

Are the defending champions a busted flush?

As we discussed last week, KIA Tigers are doing just enough to stay in the conversation, but are so uninspiring in 2018 that any hopes and dreams for retaining their trophy have already been quashed. They’re just not very good right now, with almost every player experiencing a dip in form. They suddenly look like an old team, which is probably why manager Kim Ki-tae has spent much of the last month blooding new talent.

They have some of the necessary ingredients to pose problems. Their offense – led by second baseman An Chi-hong – is stacked with experienced, championship winning players. KIA have a settled look to their line-up and some of their starting pitchers are damn good. Whisper it gently, but even Yoon Suk-min is beginning to find his feet.

But, the rest of the bullpen is either substandard or off-form. Moreover, some key players from 2017, like Lee Myeong-ki, Kim Min-sik and Na Ji-hwan, are bouncing between the first team and the minors. And, they have really struggled all season to get their players fit for even a short period of time. Their season isn’t done, but now’s the time to start showing like they are contenders. KIA ended their pre All Star schedule being swept by NC Dinos. That can’t happen again.

This could well be the least impressive title defense since 2010 when the champions went on an epic franchise-record 18 game losing run to end up in the bottom half of the table. The team? Yeah, you guessed it. KIA Tigers.

KIA have a 40-45 record and are 17.5 games back from the team, Doosan Bears, they beat to win the Korean Series last season. Lotte Giants are also in the running for the league’s most useless team, having suffered a sweep of their own. Lotte are 2-8 in their last 10, but then they’ve been stuck in the basement for most of the year. KIA really shouldn’t be losing all three games in Masan.

Fortunately, there is still plenty of time left, but a combination of form, injury, bizarre bullpen changes and general flatness across the team has left most fans feeling very pessimistic.

The harsh reality is none of the front-line Tigers, who powered the team to first spot early in 2017 and kept them there despite a resurgent Bears in the second half of the season, are performing to the same level in 2018. With one exception.

Second baseman An Chi-hong. Before the All Star break, An was batting a league second .373 (having stood at a whopping .412 a few weeks previously), with 16 home runs (team best), 70 RBIS (league 6th), 1.039 OPS (league 3rd), .444 RISP and a WAR of 3.53. With roughly half the season to go, An is well on course to break his personal record of 21 home runs and 93 RBIs. He is striking out less than 2017, too.

The decline is form has been dramatic for some players. DH Na Ji-hwan hasn’t featured in the line up since one at bat on July 3rd. Na has a cult following for his weird on-field demeanor, but he’s batting just .241 with 12 home runs and 40 RBIs. 3B Lee Beom-ho has shown glimpses of form, but, at 37, the Tigers are starting to look at his replacement. Choi Hyeong-woo, likewise, has been solid but definitely a dip from 2017.

Then there’s catcher Kim Min-sik and RF Lee Myeong-gi. They formed part of a massive 4-for-4 trade with SK Wyverns in April 2017. Little was expected but both delivered to help KIA win the championship last October. Lee, a decent-if-unspectacular OF with the Wyverns, filled the roles of RF and lead-off which KIA have lacked since Lee Yong-kyu defected to Hanwha Eagles 4 years ago. Kim filled a hole behind home-plate that has existed since the beginning of time. In June, both players were sent down to the minors and only just came back.

Roger Bernadina was also sent down in June, with the official line from the club being injury. Some reports suggested the team wasn’t overly happy with his form, as Bernadina had committed 3 errors in the early part of the season, compared to 0 last time. However, the popular CF in back in the line-up and is in contention of joining the 30-30 club, having just missed out in 2017. He has 23 stolen bases already (league first) and is 15 short of the milestone for homers.

In the pitching department, the Tigers are again woefully under-performing out of the bullpen. But, that’s nothing new. Amazing to think the defending champions don’t have a single reliable arm to unleash in the 7th inning to hold a slender lead. That, however, is for another day.

Pat Dean, the RHP who bounced back from a shaky start to his KIA career to play a vital role in Korean Series, looks another bad start from an early release to his contract. Ace lefty Yang Hyeon-jeong (9-7) is still one of the league’s best pitchers with a k/BB of 4.42 and 3.62 WAR (league second).

KIA Tigers are quite an old-team with a string of disappointing draft picks since 2009, but if there has been one shining light in 2018, it the sheer number of young players who are getting game-time now. We’ll write about this again some time, but consider the following names were present during the series loss to NC Dinos.

Choi Won-jun (1997); Ryu Seong-hyeon (1997); Han Seung-taek (1994); Shin Beom-su (1998); Yoo Seung-cheol (1998).

The Tigers need to put together a run soon, or they’ll be cut adrift. Nexen have barged their way into contention, adding the considerable experience of Eric Hacker to an already well-oiled machine. Here are their season records against the other 9 teams. Some make for depressing reading.

• Doosan Bears. 5-6.
• Hanwha Eagles. 2-6.
• SK Wyverns. 5-4.
• LG Twins. 5-7.
• Nexen Heroes. 5-7.
• Lotte Giants. 2-4.
• Samsung Lions. 3-2.
• kt wiz. 6-5
• NC Dinos. 5-6.

The Tigers have 59 games left to play. There’s a long break in August to re-charge their batteries, so time is on their side. But, form isn’t. They can forget about retaining their title for now. They have a huge battle just to make 5th.

*Feature image of An Chi-hong, by Yonhap News.

The greatest moment of Philip Humber’s career occurred at Safeco Field, Seattle, during the Chicago White Sox’ 5-0 win over the Mariners. Humber’s accession to the top, in terms of the greatest individual achievements, was as sharp as his decline. Trawling through the comments below that YouTube video gives a perfect insight into the minds of most baseball fans at the time.

Here’s a flavor.

So many pop-ups. This is like the Internet Explorer of perfect games.

As a Sox fan I still don’t understand how Humber pulled this performance out of his ass. Incredible.

The most improbable perfect game in the history of baseball. As a Sox fan, I couldn’t believe it then and can’t believe it now.

After that extraordinary achievement, backed up by his teammates on the field, Humber was firmly in the spotlight. There was a sit-down with David Letterman and a call from US president Barack Obama. He had had a good week, on and off the field, but then it began to unravel. Southside Sox said “you’ll never see a career like Philip Humber’s again.”

Like a lot of other perfect game pitchers, Humber struggled thereafter, so much so that his ERA in his 5 starts after the perfect game was the highest of any pitcher in the previous century. 7.86 with an 0-2 record and 3 no decisions. Bleacher Report asked if there really is a “Perfect Game Curse.”

Before the end of the year, his time in Chicago was up. Houston offered him a deal but by now, his career appeared to be in free-fall.

Korean baseball comes calling

And then it was announced in December 2014, two-and-a-half-years after pitching a perfect game in the Majors, Humber had signed a one year contract with KBO club, KIA Tigers. The KBO isn’t a graveyard league where washed up old pros would see out the remainder of their careers earning a tidy amount of money. Not any more. Eric Thames had shown that excelling in Korea could earn you another opportunity in the big leagues.

According to Danny Kurtz on myKBO, Humber’s contract was worth $400,000 per year, but as we’ve come to find out recently, player salaries are rarely, if ever, correctly reported. His signing bonus was $200,000.

It was a surprise when Humber’s arrival was announced. But, also, there was pure excitement. The KBO was about to welcome a perfect game pitcher to these shores. It hadn’t happened before. The KBO hasn’t even experienced a perfect game in its own league. It didn’t matter that Humber had gone through a couple of difficult years in MLB. He is the caliber of signing we have come to expect, but he also brought with him a unique piece of history.

The Tigers, Korea’s most successful baseball club, were struggling at this time. Years of stagnation on the field was in stark contrast to their development off the paddock. They moved across the road from a dilapidated and dangerous 13,000-capacity Mudeung Stadium to a gleaming new Champions Field. All they needed was a team to match their ambition.

Brett Pill, KIA’s immensely popular first baseman, was going to stick around for another season. Yang Hyeon-jeon, their ace lefty, would also return after spending the off-season trying to engineer a move to the US. With a name like Philip Humber on the roster, too, optimism was high for the Tigers. And then, after a bright start to the 2015 season, nothing happened.

Faltering Tigers

The season started so well for the Tigers, as they raced into a 6-0 start. It then took them another 12 games to win 6 more and after that, they just began sliding down the table. Humber made his debut in game 2 of the season versus LG Twins in Gwangju. His start was steady, allowing 2 earned runs off 5 hits and 2 walks in 4 innings. He struck out 4.

I was at that game, with this site’s co-founder Brian Richards. In all honesty, I remember nothing of Humber’s performance. What stood out in this game was a dramatic 9th inning finish.

Below are highlights of Humber’s KIA debut, which include a walk-off 2 run homer from first baseman Brett Pill. You can also see them here if the link isn’t working.

He collected his first win in his second start against kt wiz in Suwon, one of only 2 occasions he lasted 6 innings. In all, Humber’s opening 4 games were reasonably okay for a new pitcher in the league but when Lotte Giants came to Gwangju on April 22nd, 3 years and 1 day since his perfect game, Humber’s KIA career hit the rocks. 7 earned runs (2  home runs) in 5 innings began a poor spell of form culminating in Humber allowing 25 earned runs in 23 innings.

Humber was sent down to the Future’s League, the KBO’s version of the minors, on May 17th for a couple of weeks. Another chance followed, but in his next 3 appearances, he went 1-1 with a 5.19 ERA, giving up 5 earned runs in just 8.2 innings.

His final outing for the KIA Tigers was June 26th against Doosan Bears. He stayed out there for less than 1 inning, giving up 2 earned runs whilst collecting the loss. The following day, he was sent down for the second time and never received another call up. On July 20th, the Tigers let him go.

Personally speaking, the last thing I remember about Humber with the Tigers was this outing against Doosan Bears on May 16th 2015. He was sent down the next day after 4 innings, 4 earned runs and 107 pitches thrown.  It was during this game that the cautious optimism I experienced when Humber arrived made way for despair and resignation. It just wasn’t working out for him. We wanted him to be great, to show us something of those White Sox days. But it wasn’t to be.

Humber left Korea with 3-3 record from 12 games (11 starting). His ERA was 6.75 and his WHIP just shy of 2.00. In a league which relies heavily on starting pitching pitchers to go deep due to inadequate bullpens, Humber completed 6 innings (and no more) just twice. On average, he stayed out on for mound for 4.2 innings.

Philip Humber wasn’t the first pitcher in KBO history to be released early from his contract. It happens often as the deadline to change foreign players is the end of July. If you let go of a player after that time, a replacement can not be sought.

When asked about the experience of pitching in a hitter-friendly league, Humber admitted that “the whole time there wasn’t easy, but I’m glad we went. Like my wife said on the airplane home, ‘If we can get through that, we can get through anything.'”

Maybe he wasn’t fully fit. Or, perhaps, he needed longer to settle into Korean life. Was he really good enough? Who knows for sure. Humber retired from baseball in March 2016. We may never see another perfect game pitcher in the KBO again.

*Feature image of Philip Humber from HMG Journal.

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*We apologies for the sound issues in this podcast, Skype recording is a new art for the editing team…they have been duly punished.

Let’s just consider this: with over half the season done, Hanwha Eagles are second with a record of 48 wins, 33 losses and 0 ties. That’s a 60% win-loss record for a team many expected to be rooted to the bottom of the table.

The Eagles are 6 games back from Doosan, but despite tough games against Kia Tigers (6th – away), SK Wyverns (3rd – away) and Nexen Heroes (5th – home) all before the short All Star break next week, Hanwha should follow Doosan above the 50-win mark and continue to set the pace for those chasing the Bears.

Incredibly, the Eagles are 5-1 against the defending champions, Tigers, this season. They also notched their first Kia sweep in over 2,000 days earlier on this season. Against the Wyverns, Hanwha are 3-6 but versus Nexen, they hold a slender 6-5 lead.

To put this into perspective, last season Hanwha finished 8th with 61 wins from 144 games. With a month to go before the Asia Games break, they have ample time to smash their entire 2017 record.

In 2015 and 2016, the Eagles recorded 68 and 66 wins respectfully. Before then, it was a Daejeon nightmare.

2014: in 128 games (9 team league before kt wiz were participating), the Eagles ended the season with 49 wins, 77 losses and 2 ties for a .389 record.

2013: 42-85-1 for a ghastly .331 record.

2012: in a 133 game 8 team league before NC Dinos joined, 53-77-3 for a .408 winning percentage. 3 straight seasons of last place finishes before kt joined the league.

It is exactly 10 years since Hanwha last finished with a winning record. A 64-62 return saw them in 5th spot, just one game away from defending champions SK Wyverns. It wasn’t good enough for a spot in the play-offs as only 8 teams made up the league. Since then, it has been a string of poor finishes.

In between all that, there was the wheelbarrow load of money they received when Ryu Hyeon-jin swapped Daejeon for Los Angeles. They invested some of that in championship winning players, like Jeong Gun-woo from SK and Kia Tigers’ lead off Lee Yong-kyu. They seemed like wise investments at the time but a combination of injury and poor form saw Hanwha continue to struggle.

On other free agents, money was wasted. In signing Song Eun-beom, the veteran pitcher from the Tigers, Hanwha lost a great prospect. Sidearm righty Im Ki-yong would go on to win the Korean Series with the Tigers in 2017, starting Game 4 in Jamsil versus Doosan Bears.

So, a decade has passed since their last respectable finish and 11 years since they tasted postseason baseball. In 2007, Hanwha ended in 3rd spot, 7.5 games from top with a 67-57-2 record. Sadly, Doosan swept them in the best-of-5 so this has been a very long time between drinks.

Why are they so good this time?

Looking at team and individual numbers, Hanwha are definitely better than the sum of their parts. They have the best closer in the league, one of the best batters and a couple of steady starters. But they seem to be flourishing at aspects of the game which don’t have a number; confidence, teamwork and attitude.

Jung Woo-ram is their 33 year old closer. This season he has 24 saves from 33 games. He has faced 125 batters in 31.2 innings pitched, allowed 6 walks, given up only one home run and 7 earned runs. His WHIP is 0.92 and his BB/9 has dropped dramatically this season. Last year, he finished with 26 saves. In 2012 for SK, a career high 30.

With the bat, Jared Hoying was recruited in the off-season and has proved an instant success. Hoying is 3 hits shy of 100 and is second in RBIs with 75. Eagles fans often salivate over his excellent fielding and throwing as much as his 21 home runs for the season.

Hoying collected more All Star fan votes than any other foreign batter in the league, with 424,665. His peers also recognised him with 144 player votes. Teammate Jung collected 54.13 All Star points, the most of any player on the Nanum team.

And then there’s Seo Kyun, the little known right handed relief pitcher. This is Seo’s second season in the KBO and he also heads to next week’s All Star having swept the popularity voting. He sneaks into the top 10 for holds, whilst maintaining impressively low ERA and WHIP stats.

Despite a few other notable examples, Hanwha look a team that is hugely over-achieving. Credit for this surely lays with manager Han Yong-duk, the slightly bearded 53-year-old former pitcher who spent his entire playing career with the Eagles. This is his first season as manager.

According to people who watch Hanwha regularly, Han has just simplified their baseball. He makes intelligent, rational decisions which have made the games fun and brought a smile back to the faces of the players.

As the humid summer days roll in and players get injured or lose form, we’ll get a clearer picture of where the Eagles stand this season.

However, at least the controversial days are over under the depressing regimes of Kim Eung-yong and Kim Seung-geun. Those who have followed this league for a long time will recall the savage boot camp training sessions on muddy Japanese fields in winter. Filthy players dragged through the mud which would do little to improve their fortunes.

There were also painstakingly slow pitching changes that regularly saw Eagles games go beyond 4 hours. Kwon Hyuk was a championship winning pitcher with Samsung. Hanwha used him so often from the bullpen that he was matching some starters for innings pitched.

Throw in the accusations of using cameras to spy on the Tigers bullpen during a game in Cheongju, farcical fielding errors and many more. All in all, a recipe for disaster. This was what had become known of the Eagles.

Internationally, Hanwha made the headlines when Ryu left for the Dodgers and when robot fans were introduced. This season, the Eagles are writing new headlines and new scripts. I doubt there’ll be a baseball fan in the country who’d wish against a sustained title challenge for the long-suffering Eagles.

Added to all that, they have the coolest uniforms in the league! Hanwha Fighting!

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There is still a long way to go and as Doosan Bears showed in 2017, it doesn’t matter how far back you are at this point of the season. Every team in the KBO is capable is going on a tear and roaring back into play-off contention. The Asia Games break, for 3 weeks in August and September, could potentially kill the momentum of those at the top.

6. Nexen Heroes. 38-40-0. 14 GB.

The Heroes shocked the league by announcing the signing of Eric Hacker, formerly of NC Dinos, until the end of the season. Hacker is a proven KBO stalwart, surprisingly jettisoned by NC last fall and not picked up elsewhere. Nexen swooped when Esmil Rogers got injured, and have collected Hacker for an absolute steal; $300,000 for the rest of the season.

And injuries have been key to explaining why Nexen are sitting outside the top 5. They’ve suffered more than anyone with, for example, Seo Geon-chang, Park Byeong-ho, Kim Ha-seong and Lee Jong-hu, all missing at some point. Getting these guys back to offer run support for Jake Brigham (3-5 in 16 starts) and Hacker is crucial. Meanwhile, Nexen could do with spending some time out of the media for the wrong reasons!

Verdict: C. Brigham is confident they’ll be okay. I fancy them to pip SK to the last play-off spot.

7. Lotte Giants. 33-38-2. 15.5 GB.

The season started in wretched fashion, picked up for a bit, collapsed again, and now has stabilized, although they are in a thoroughly unsatisfactory position. There’s a ton of impressive batting quality and yet they’re weak at catcher, shortstop and third. This is as lop-sided a roster as you’ll ever see.

Lotte are also a Lee Dae-ho injury from chaos. Lee has a 0.348/0.630/0.423 slash with 20 home runs, 68 RBIs and 0 stolen bases (okay, that’s not fair). Son A-seop is brilliant, as usual, although it probably highlights the problem with their lower order than Son has fewer RBIs now than Shin Bon-gi, despite having about 70 more plate appearances. The Giants’ team ERA is 5.12, with only 11 saves (joint fewest). But they do top the league in 2 areas: blown saves and errors.

Verdict: D. They will not be making the play-offs this term, unless there are drastic improvements.

8. Samsung Lions. 34-42-1. 17 GB.

A week or so ago, Samsung threatened to disturb the top 6 but fell away again. Samsung are okay with the bat, but are last for home runs and slugging. Lee Seung-yeop is still a massive hole in their line up. Darin Ruf has 15 homers, which is respectable, but they need a lot more.

Pitching, though, has been an absolute disaster. A 5.59 team ERA is horrible, and yet they’re one of the most likely teams to record a save in the 9th. They give up a lot of home runs (102), walks (237) and HBP (60). These stats firmly place them among-st the worst. Sad to see a great veteran like Yoo Seung-hwan struggle towards the end of his career.

Verdict: C. They are placed where many would have expected. Their pitching isn’t strong enough to challenge any further than 7th.

9. kt wiz. 29-46-1. 21.5 GB.

After only ever finishing 10th in their short KBO lifespan, 9th was a realistic target at the outset because there were plenty of clubs we thought would struggle. No-one expected one of those to be NC Dinos, but it is very important for kt to finish above 10th, and hopefully with a better record than last season.

Admittedly, the play-offs are beyond them which is a minor disappointment given some of the class they possess. They have good batters in Hwang Jae-kyun, Mel Rojas Junior,  Yoon Suk-min and Park Gyeong-su, but none of them are really dominating now. Kang Baek-ho has a good chance of being rookie of the year. Their pitching staff includes Dustin Nippert (5-4, 4.86 ERA) and Ryan Feierabend (1-5, 4.22 ERA) with plenty of no decisions.

Verdict: C. Their fight looks to be staying in 9th. It takes time to build a new roster from scratch, hopefully they continue to build for next season.

10. NC Dinos. 27-49-0. 24 GB.

With half the season done, NC are one loss shy of 50. They have a .355 winning percentage, and have already parted ways with their revered manager, Kim Gyeong-mun. From usually possessing the best bullpen in the league and the best performing foreign trio, they are rooted to the bottom, beyond despair.

What has gone wrong? NC were in decline from August last season. They fell into the play-offs and then showed their experience by squeezing past SK Wyverns and Lotte Giants before Doosan ended their charge. Their form from August has continued and now they have the weakest bullpen in the league. After years of challenging at the top, so soon after creation, life looks stale in Masan, They need changes.

Here’s a stat. NC have the same number of blown saves now (11) as they did in all of 2017. They had 13 the year before, and 11 before that. Extraordinary. The bottom 2 in the KBO are the league’s expansion teams. Is there enough (pitching especially) quality to satisfy a 10 team league?

Verdict: F. I had NC for 4th or 5th. This season has been a nightmare.

In reality, it doesn’t quite feel like we’re there yet, as the league takes almost a month off in July and August. The All Star break, in Ulsan, is over the weekend of July 13th. Following that, from August 16th to September 3rd, the league shuts down for the Asia Games, taking place in Indonesia.

Nevertheless, here is how GSKBO ranks the teams midway through their grueling season. Part 1, the top 5.

1. Doosan Bears. 50-24-0. 0 games back.

Already 6.5 games clear of Hanwha Eagles in 2nd, the Bears have been the undisputed best team in Korea this season. They’ve been top since week 1 and it would take a brave man to bet against them reclaiming the title they lost to KIA Tigers last October.

Doosan are solid in offense and defense, boasting league best for team batting average, on-base average and slugging. Even more remarkably, they’ve done so without a foreign bat all season. They have the most valuable hitter in the league in Kim Jae-hwan, who leads the league in home runs (26), RBI (74) and WAR (5.88). Pitchers Seth Frankoff and Josh Lindblom have 11 and 9 wins respectfully, putting them top of those stats. Doosan have also recorded the joint most number of saves (25).

Verdict: A. All Star and Asia Games might slow momentum, but Doosan look close to the complete package right now.

2. Hanwha Eagles. 44-31-0. 6.5 GB.

Honestly, who saw this coming? Hanwha Eagles, tipped by many to be cut adrift in 10th spot, are second in the table and not running out of gas. There’s still a long way to go, but the Eagles are full value for their current position and there won’t be too many people hoping for a Hanwha collapse from here.

On paper, they don’t have a roster that looks capable of sustaining a title challenge, but sometimes it takes a new manager to release potential. Han Yong-duk, an Eagle during his entire playing career, moved to Daejeon from Doosan in the off-season and the former pitcher, who struck out over 1,300 batters in a 17-season career, has been an inspired pick up.

Hanwha also have one of the league’s most important players in Jared Hoying. The former Ranger continues a long tradition of excellent batting acquisitions for Hanwha. Currently, he’s batting .341 with 20 home runs, 68 RBIs (joint 3rd in the league) and a 1.065 OPS. Keeping lead-off CF Lee Yong-kyu fit was crucial and Lee has responded with his best season in a long time. Oh, and they have Jeong Woo-ram, who’s way out with 23 saves thus far.

Verdict: A++. The season’s most intriguing prospect, a first play-off spot in over a decade is dangling in front of them.

3. LG Twins. 43-34-1. 8.5 GB.

Another surprise package this season, LG are also showing the benefits of an off-season managerial change. Ryu Joong-il was a champion manager with Samsung Lions and the Korean national team, before moving to Jamsil last winter. The transformation has been swift, with a small group of very key players launching LG to 3rd spot.

Kim Hyun-soo was the most high profile FA pick up and he hasn’t disappointed. Kim leads the league in hits and doubles, and is second on RBIs (69).  Ace pitcher Henry Sosa is having his best season in Korea with 14 quality starts in his 16 games. Meanwhile, legendary  #33 Park Yong-taek is breaking records as he continues his career which started back in 2002. The Twins definitely look good for a play-off spot.

Verdict: A+. A showdown with flatmates Doosan Bears would be a wonderful spectacle this fall.

4. SK Wyverns: 40-33-1. 9.5 GB.

Much like 2017, the Wyverns hit a disgusting number of home runs – currently, they’re on 126, a full 26 clear of 2nd placed kt wizz. Choi Jeong (26), Jamie Romak (25), Han Dong-min (21) and Kim Dong-yeop (18) are all near the top of the line. Team batting is a lowly .279 and their RBIs are 6th in the league overall, which suggests they might be hitting a lot of solo shots.

Their pitching stats are probably slightly better than their fans think. They give up the fewest number of free passes, and their pitching WHIP is collectively the best in the league.  The rest of the key stats are all pretty okay, almost. The one stat which does jump off the page are the 12 blown saves, behind only Lotte Giants. Also, their 56 errors are nearly 20 more than Doosan Bears.

Verdict: B. SK are doing fine but if I had to pick one team in the top 5 likely to drop out, it would be the Wyerns.

5. KIA Tigers. 36-37-0. 13.5 GB.

Seemingly forever trapped between 5th and 6th and a .500 winning percentage, the Tigers look like a team that’s, at any moment, gonna go on a tear kick on. Then they get swept by LG Twins and they’re back to square one. The reality is that none of the key players from 2017 are out-performing last season, with the exception of second baseman An Chi-hong. KIA look the tired, aging team they are fast becoming. Still, there’s enough quality there for now.

Wins have dried up for star lefty Yang Hyeong-jeong, every game looks like it could be Pat Dean’s final one and Yoon Suk-min and Im Ki-yong are both struggling after injury. The bullpen is, as expected, a mess, with a very few saves and holds but a lot of blown saves. Teams are also batting 0.290 against KIA, which puts them level with 10th placed NC Dinos. They don’t have that dominant figure at bat that a lot of their key rivals have either.

Verdict: C. Tigers have shown signs recently that a late season charge is possible, but for now, they are looking over their shoulder and not ahead.