Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop, who was recruited by the LG Twins as a "winning contractor," put LG at the top of the regular league for the first time in 29 years in his first year in office.
Like LG, manager Yeom, who was thirsty for a championship, enjoyed the joy of going straight to the Korean Series for the first time.
As KT Wiz and third-place NC Dinos, who rank second in the regular season, lost to KIA Tigers and SSG Landers on the 3rd, respectively, LG, which had no game on the day, erased the magic number "1," which confirmed the regular season title.
While LG has 82 wins, two draws and 51 losses, second-place KT (74 wins, three draws and 60 losses) with seven games left, and third-place NC (70 wins, two draws and 61 losses), with 11 remaining games, cannot reverse the ranking even if it wins all the remaining games.
It is the first time in 29 years since 1994 that LG won the regular league on a single league basis, except for the post-war league (1985-1986) and the two major leagues (1999-2000). It is the third regular league first in history, following 1990 and 1994.
In addition, LG will be on the Korean Series stage for the first time in 21 years since 2002 when it won the runner-up prize.
The Korean Series is still left to completely solve the 29-year-old desire for victory, but LG achieved its half goal by going straight to the Korean Series.
This is also the first time for manager Yeom to rank first in the regular season and go straight to the Korean Series.
Yeom had a brilliant career as a front desk and leader.
Coach Yeom, who served as the Hyundai Unicorns front and Hyundai coach after retirement, served as a scout, operations team leader and defensive coach at LG from 2008 to 2011, served as the Nexen Heroes coach in 2012 and became the Nexen head coach in 2013.
Coach Yeom, who led Nexen to advance to the postseason for four consecutive years between 2013 and 2016, served as the general manager of SK Wyverns, the predecessor of SSG Landers between 2017 and 2018, and took over as SK manager between 2019 and 2020 after former coach Trey Hillman, who led SK to win the Korean Series in 2018, left for the U.S. after refusing to renew his contract.
Coach Yeom experienced winning the Korean Series in 2018 when he was the head of SK, but he has never won the regular season or the Korean Series as a head coach.
In the regular season, putting Nexen in 2014 and SK in second place in 2019 was the best performance.
2014 was the only time he stood in the Korean Series as a coach. However, it did not reach the championship. Nexen went straight to the playoffs and beat LG with 3 wins and 1 loss, but finished second in the Korean Series, falling behind the Samsung Lions with 2 wins and 4 losses.
In 2019, SK won a direct playoff ticket, but failed to reach the Korean Series after losing three consecutive games to Kiwoom.
At the time of his appointment, he said, "I've won as a player and general manager. Coach Yeom, who said, "My last dream is to win from the coach's point of view," laid the groundwork for his thirst to win the Korean Series as he experienced his first regular season victory as the head coach.
LG, which used to be a champion, has become a stronger team under coach Yeom.
The LG bullpen, which Ko Woo-suk and Jung Woo-young endured, was originally strong, but it became stronger as manager Yeom discovered a new face.
Coach Yeom led their growth by hiring Yoo Young-chan and Park Myung-geun in preparation for Ko Woo-suk and Jung Woo-young's transfer to the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games national team. Yoo Young-chan has developed into a reliable bullpen pitcher with six wins, 10 holds, and one save, and Park Myung-geun has made five saves and nine holds.
Contrary to expectations, he persuaded Casey Kelly, a foreign ace who had been sluggish, to revive the value of changeup pitches, leading the rebound.
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In addition, he planted mobility baseball in LG by ordering aggressive baserunning and performing various operations. There is a side effect that the success rate is the lowest at the same time as running first in stolen bases, but running baseball has become a powerful weapon for LG.
Having solved half of their long-cherished dream, LG and manager Yeom are now looking to win the championship. Coach Yeom, who overcame the pressure of the word "winning contractor" and led him to the top of the regular season, now dreams of being rinsed after winning the Korean Series.