The U.S. and Japan don’t face this, but KBO must also be cautious about deploying new faces → Manager’s bitter remark: “A bittersweet reality; I’m not sure what the right answer is…”

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

For lower-ranked teams whose chances of making the postseason have been dashed by the end of the season, the remaining games are a valuable opportunity to evaluate promising players and scout “new faces” in preparation for the next season. However, in the KBO League, such team management is repeatedly carried out without full freedom, as clubs must constantly be mindful of outside perceptions. In this context, Lee Seung-yong (55), manager of the SSG Landers, candidly shared the frustration and anguish felt by on-field managers amid the late-season race for standings.

Ahead of the final home game against the Samsung Lions at Incheon SSG Landers Field on the 9th, Manager Lee Seung-yong met with reporters and expressed regret regarding player deployment in the remaining games. “Of course, from the club’s perspective, it is natural to give opportunities to new players. In a way, you could even say this is part of the spectacle, but…”

This is because, when a team heavily deploys backups or rookies in a matchup against a specific opponent during an intense standings race, it can trigger unnecessary misunderstandings—such as accusations that the team is going all out against one opponent while holding back against others—along with sharp criticism from fans and public opinion. This season, in particular, the KIA Tigers and LG Twins are competing for third place.

These concerns were clearly reflected in the management of the starting rotation as well. SSG announced that right-hander Choi Min-jun (27) would start against the KIA in Gwangju on the 10th. Manager Lee said, “I did consider putting right-hander Lee Jun-gi (24) in the starting role to test him, but after much deliberation, I ultimately decided that we should give it our all until the end, so I chose Choi Min-jun.” Although he wanted to test a young pitcher’s potential as a starter, he feared that doing so might create unnecessary misunderstandings about the third-place race and therefore opted for an existing resource.

Regarding this situation, Manager Lee Seung-yong lamented, “When people say we go all out against one team but hold back against another, the only option now is to compete equally with whatever strength we have, even just to avoid such misunderstandings.” He added, “For a manager or a club, it is truly a ‘bittersweet’ reality,” and could not hide his bitterness as he said, “Given how the atmosphere has formed, I honestly don’t know what the right answer is.”

In fact, in Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), it is considered an entirely natural part of “preparation for the next season” for a team that has been eliminated from postseason contention to call up a large number of young prospects late in the season for comprehensive testing. Regardless of whether the opposing team is involved in a standings race, it is taken for granted that lineups are constructed strictly according to the “next season plan.”

A representative example this season is the San Francisco Giants, where Lee Jung-hoo (28) has been performing. After falling out of postseason contention, the Giants saw their starting lineup from Opening Day completely decimated: not a single one of the nine batters who started on Opening Day remained by the end of the season, due to a combination of consecutive injuries and trades among key players. When Lee Jung-hoo, who had been serving as the team’s last pillar, also departed with an injury to his groin, the club hesitated no longer in calling up a large number of minor league resources to evaluate their skills on the major league stage. The pitching staff was no different. In fact, there is rarely any criticism questioning why a team does not field 100% strength, even when the opponent is competing for a wild card spot or division title.

Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) is the same. Teams that have early on secured their standings or dropped to Class B heavily deploy rookie pitching and batting prospects who have stood out in the minor leagues as starters in their remaining games from September through October, rather than veterans. Even if the opposing team is engaged in a fierce race for entry into the “Climax Series (CS)” or for the championship, the evaluation of prospects by eliminated teams is respected as an inherent right of the club and a natural entitlement for the future.

Of course, Japan is not exempt from special situations involving individual title races. In games where major titles such as the home run crown, batting average crown, or wins crown are at stake, sensitive tactical maneuvers unfold, including controversies over intentional walks and targeted pitching assignments; this is also the case in the KBO League. However, the fact that an eliminated team’s use of prospects and its entire rebuilding process are subject to criticism solely because of a team-level standings race is clearly a different matter.

In particular, for SSG, strengthening its roster through “scouting new faces” is a more critical task than for any other team. SSG will conclude the current era at Incheon SSG Landers Field at the end of the upcoming 2027 season and, starting with the 2028 season, will grandly open the curtain on the ambitious “Cheongra Dome Stadium era.” To assemble optimal strength in line with the move to a new home stadium, the results of the 2027 season—the final year at the current home ground—are inevitably of paramount importance. If the club does not diligently infuse young blood and broaden its backup depth from now on, its massive future plan itself could be shaken.

However, the situation in the KBO League is somewhat different. Fan culture and public opinion act as off-field pressure, forcing clubs to shy away even from testing for the future out of caution. A farcical cycle repeats in which lower-ranked teams that should actually be preparing for the next season must squeeze their veterans and regulars to avoid criticism unrelated to baseball. Manager Lee Seung-yong’s single remark, swallowing his bitterness as he said, “I don’t know what the right answer is,” leaves an unusually long and deep resonance.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original