It’s deja vu all over again in the top South Korean baseball league as it enters the All-Star break, with a familiar face sitting pretty in first place despite recent hiccups.
The Samsung Lions, the three-time defending champs of the Korea Baseball Organization, are at the top of the standings in the nine-team league at 49 wins, 27 losses and two draws.
They’re 3 1/2 games ahead of the Nexen Heroes, despite losing the final four games of the first half.
The Heroes, who made their first postseason appearance last season, are on track to return to the playoffs this year at 48-33-1.
The NC Dinos, playing in only their second KBO season, are in third place, only half a game back of the Heroes at 46-32. After surprisingly finishing in seventh place in their inaugural season in 2013, the Dinos have been the darling of the KBO so far, racing to the top in the early going and falling below third just once after April 2.
The top three have put some distance between themselves and the mid-tier clubs. The Lotte Giants, hoping to return to the postseason after missing out last year, are in fourth place at 40-38-1, six games behind the Dinos.
The KBO awards playoff spots to the top four regular season teams. If the season ended today, the Doosan Bears, the runner-up last year to the Lions, would be on the outside looking in. They are underachieving at 38-42, three games out of fourth place.
The Kia Tigers are making a run at the playoffs. They were the biggest disappointment last season, going from a trendy preseason contender to an also-ran that finished with a worse record than the expansion Dinos. This year, they are half a game back of the Bears at 38-43, with a fighting chance to make the playoffs.
The LG Twins finished second in the regular season a year ago and entered the 2014 season with hopes for better things to come. Instead, their 4-13-1 start cost manager Kim Ki-tai his job. New manager Yang Sang-moon has righted the ship somewhat, as the Twins have gone 25-21 under him to keep their fading postseason hopes alive. (Yonhap)
