"Unfair," they said, but "still in first" → Carrying the gold medal, they race again for individual titles

*This content was translated by AI.

They are still in first place.

Baseball national team players who returned from winning gold at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games are now running again toward KBO League individual titles. They are Kim Do-young (23, KIA Tigers), Choi Min-seok (20), and Gwak Bin (27, both Doosan Bears).

Initially, it was expected that national team players would be at a significant disadvantage in the title race during their absence from their respective clubs. This is because cumulative statistics such as home runs, wins, and strikeouts can increase with more games played. It was to the point where Hillyard (32, KT Wiz), a rival in the home run race, said, "It is unfair for Kim Do-young."

However, even after the two-week call-up period (the 14th–28) has passed, they are still holding onto first place in their respective categories.

Kim Do-young remains in the lead with 40 home runs. Austin (33, LG Twins), who is second by one home run, failed to add a single home run in seven games during the Asian Games period, remaining at 39. Meanwhile, Hillyard has been on an upward trend, hitting five home runs in 10 games, closing the gap with Kim Do-young to just one.

Choi Min-seok also maintained his tie for first place in wins. Lim Chan-gyu (34, LG), who shares the lead with 14 wins, recorded only one loss without a win in two games during this period. Go Yeong-pyo (35, KT) emerged as a new competitor by adding two wins (one loss) in three games. Choi Min-seok is also leading in winning percentage with 0.778 (14 wins, 4 losses).

Gwak Bin, who delivered brilliant pitching in two Asian Games matches, did not allow any overtaking in strikeouts (186). Over the past two weeks, Rodriguez (28, Lotte Giants, 180) added 18 (in 2 games), and Go Yeong-pyo (170) added 21 (in 3 games), but neither surpassed Gwak Bin. Gwak Bin is also in first place with an ERA of 2.26, heading toward a double crown.

The variable is the number of remaining games. In the pitching categories, Choi Min-seok, Gwak Bin, Lim Chan-gyu, Rodriguez, and Go Yeong-pyo are each expected to make two more starting appearances, meaning they will compete under the same conditions.

In home runs, Kim Do-young is now actually in a favorable position. Currently, KIA has 12 games remaining, which is more than LG (13 games) and KT (12 games).

There are more points of interest to watch. It will be interesting to see how much Kim Do-young can extend the current record for the most home runs in a single season by a Tiger player (Sanders, 40 in 1999), and whether Gwak Bin can become the first domestic pitcher in Bears history to reach the milestone of 200 strikeouts.

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*This content was translated by AI.