Wyverns Still Best Team in Korean Baseball
By Jonathan Sanfilippo
Staff Reporter
After winning the Korean Series championship last year, it may have seemed like the SK Wyverns couldn't get any better.
But this season, they have.
The Wyverns are dominating the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) once again as they've compiled the best record in the league at 69-36 as of Thursday. Their record gives them a .657 winning percentage, which is an improvement from last year when they finished the regular season with a league-best mark of 73-48-5, a winning percentage of .603.
The Wyverns have a 9 1/2-game lead in this year's KBO standings over both the second-place Doosan Bears (60-46) ― the team they beat in six games to win last year's Korean Series ― and the third-place Lotte Giants (61-47). The top four clubs in the eight-team league will qualify for the postseason, which begins in October.
The Wyverns appear to be in position to make another run at the championship, as they boast a balanced team with a strong batting order to go with solid pitching and defense.
Offensively, the Wyverns lead the KBO in runs scored (553) and batting average (.288). Park Jae-hong is hitting .325 with 16 home runs and 65 RBIs, Choi Jeong .320 with nine homers and 49 RBIs, Lee Jin-young .315 with eight homers and 53 RBIs, Kim Jae-hyun .312 with nine homers and 56 RBIs, and Jeong Keun-woo .304 with seven homers, 50 RBIs and 34 stolen bases.
Meanwhile, the Wyverns' pitching staff has a league-best ERA of 3.44. Their ace, Kim Kwang-hyun, has a 14-4 record with a 2.74 ERA and 116 strikeouts. Kim Won-hyung is 10-5 with a 3.50 ERA and 31 strikeouts, while Chae Byeong-yong is 8-2 with a 2.98 ERA and 64 strikeouts. Reliever Chong Tae-hyon has a 2.79 ERA and 20 saves.
The Wyverns also have a proven coaching staff, led by veteran manager Kim Sung-keun, who led the team to its first KBO title last year and earned his 1,000 career victory earlier this month. The staff also features bench coach Lee Man-soo, a former star catcher in the KBO who worked as a bullpen coach in U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Chicago White Sox before joining the Wyverns.