'Korean Baseball Legend' Lee Seung-yeop's "Worst-Case Scenario" Fears Materialize: "A Problem That Must Be Taken Seriously"

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

The Korean national baseball team suffered another decisive defeat in its fateful match against Japan. The recent remarks made by former Doosan Bears manager Lee Seung-yeop, a living legend of Korean baseball, continue to become reality.

The Korean national team, led by manager Choi Won-ho, lost 1-5 to the Japanese national team in the final of the 2026 Asia Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) held at Tokyo Dome on the 15th.

With this result, Korea has finished as runner-up for the third consecutive time in this tournament. In the inaugural APBC tournament in 2017, Korea faced Japan in the final and lost 0-7, settling for second place. Then, at the second tournament held in 2023, Korea narrowly lost by a single run, 3-4, again finishing as runner-up. And with today's defeat, Korea had to settle for being runner-up for three consecutive tournaments.

Most importantly, this loss means Korean baseball has fallen into a 13-game losing streak (with one draw) against the Japanese national team, which includes professional players. Since achieving a thrilling 4-3 comeback victory over Japan in the semifinals of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 tournament, first held in 2015, Korea has never won a match against Japan. After a 10-game losing streak, Korea drew 7-7 at last November's K-Baseball Series, but has since fallen into another three-game losing streak.

Former manager Lee Seung-yeop met with reporters for an interview at Jamsil Stadium on the 14th. Former manager Lee spent a year experiencing Japanese baseball as a hitting coach for his former team, the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), this year.

Former manager Lee spoke candidly, saying, "In fact, there is a difference in level between Korean and Japanese baseball. It will be difficult if we continue like this. The gap in level will only widen in the future."

He stated, "Japanese baseball also tries to follow American baseball closely. There are unique practice methods and cultures specific to Japan," while adding, "In training, every aspect has been modernized, including biomechanics, Rapsodo, and exit velocity measurement. They maintain their strengths while accepting what should be accepted. On the other hand, they boldly abandon what should be abandoned. The level is much higher than one might think."

Former manager Lee specifically pointed out the gap in pitching staffs. He diagnosed, "In the case of pitchers, the difference in level is significant. Nine out of ten make slight changes to their pitching form that are not visible to the eye. From the outside, you might wonder, 'Why can't they hit that ball?' but when actually standing at the plate, it often doesn't get hit. Because we keep falling behind in these detailed aspects, our country needs to think about this again."

He then emphasized, "The fact that we have never won once in 12 matchups is a problem that our baseball community must take seriously. Now, Korea and Japan are less like partners; rather, we are in the position of chasing from below."

Finally, he revealed, "If there is such a transitional period, and as the gap narrows, days like those at the Olympics or the World Baseball Classic (WBC) when we cheer will come again someday. To shorten that period even a little, we naturally need to approach everything differently, from practice methods and players' awareness to the mindset of baseball people."

Meanwhile, in the final against Korea, Japanese starter Takahashi Hiroto pitched well for seven innings (87 pitches total), allowing four hits, one walk, striking out seven, and giving up one run (one earned run) to become the winning pitcher. Japan hit a total of 10 hits, including three hits by Nishikawa.

On the other hand, Korean starter Kim Gun-woo took the loss with four innings pitched (91 pitches total), allowing six hits (two home runs), one walk, striking out five, and giving up five runs (four earned runs). Following him, Sung Young-tak (one inning, two hits allowed), Jo Dong-wook (one inning, one strikeout, perfect), Choi Jun-yong (two-thirds of an inning, two hits allowed, one strikeout), and Park Jung-min (one-third of an inning, one strikeout, perfect) pitched scoreless innings in succession. In the Korean lineup, Kim Ji-chan, Kim Ju-won, Ahn Hyun-min, Ahn Jae-seok, and Kim Do-young each recorded one hit for a total of five hits, but it was not enough to overcome the deficit.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original