‘Lion King’ Lee Seung-yeop (46) will play at Samsung Lions’ home Daegu Stadium after 5 years. Now, as a coach rather than a player, he is wearing the Doosan Bears uniform, which is a bit unfamiliar to him.
On the 20th, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) finalized and announced the 2023 KBO regular season game schedule.
The biggest concern is Doosan’s schedule. After the end of the 2022 season, Doosan surprised many by parting ways with manager Kim Tae-hyeong, who had led the team for a long time, and appointed Lee Seung-yeop, the KBO league’s “national hitter,” as coach.
Coach Lee was a franchise star who only played for one Samsung team in the KBO league, and it was an even more unconventional choice because he had no on-field coaching experience after his retirement as a player.
Lee’s debut game, which is drawing a lot of attention, is against the Lotte Giants. On April 1st and 2nd, two consecutive matches will be played at Jamsil’s home stadium.
Afterwards, he faced NC Dinos, KIA Tigers, Kiwoom Heroes, LG Twins, Hanwha Eagles, and KT Wiz in turn, and then coach Lee’s 8th opponent team was Samsung, his own team.
Coincidentally, the first match between manager Lee and Samsung as an enemy was held at Daegu Samsung Lions Park, Samsung’s home. It is a schedule to play three consecutive matches during the week from April 25th.
Daegu Samsung Lions Park, which opened in 2016, has a short history. Samsung has won the Korean Series seven times, but all of them were using the Daegu Citizen Stadium as their home stadium, and they have never been in the Korean Series since moving their home stadium.
However, coach Lee ended his career here. From 2016 to 2017, the year after, the last flame was lit at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, and after a grand retirement ceremony, he bid farewell to his home fans.
And coach Lee, who met Daegu fans after a long time, faced Samsung as an ‘enemy’. His retirement match was on October 3, 2017, and the schedule to meet again is April 25, 2023, so about five and a half years have passed. It is expected that the match will be a highly anticipated match as to what strategy Lee Seung-yeop, the “coach”, will come up with against the team he has a lot of affection for.
It is also interesting to see the first match between the players who moved to free agency and the former team.
In particular, it is worth watching the first confrontation between Yang Eui-ji and NC, who transferred to Doosan for 15.2 billion won in 4+2 years, the largest contract ever in this free agency market, which was called the ‘catcher match’.
The first match between Doosan and NC is to play a three-game series at Jamsil Stadium on April 4-6.
In fact, for Yang Eui-ji, this transfer can be said to be a return to the ‘parent team’. It is because he has been playing for Doosan ever since his debut and transferred to NC after obtaining FA qualification four years ago and then came back. Attention is focused on whether Yang Eui-ji, the ‘special catcher’ who led both teams to victory, will be active.토토사이트
NC has catcher Park Se-hyuk, who transferred from Doosan. Park Se-hyeok was also released as a free agent this offseason, but he was able to sign a contract with NC only after the destinations of Yang Eui-ji, Park Dong-won (LG), and Yoo Gang-nam (Lotte) were decided. Park Se-hyeok, who is aiming to restore his honor, also has a special meaning in his first confrontation with his former team, Doosan.
Kim Sang-soo, who vowed to remain a ‘Samsung Man’ forever, but made a new nest with KT Wiz through an FA contract, also stands out in Daegu’s away game. The first schedule for KT to play an away game in Daegu is a three-game series on May 26-28.
In addition, it is also worth watching that LG coach Yeom Kyung-yeop, who took the helm again after two years, faces his former team, SSG Landers and Kiwoom. April 4-6 Kiwoom away game, April 25-27 SSG home game is the first confrontation.