Players of the LG Twins celebrate after winning a game against the Lotte Giants 6-5 in Busan, Sunday. / Yonhap







By Yoon Sung-won



This year's regular season of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) has entered its final stretch and the LG Twins have positioned themselves well in the cutthroat competition for the last ticket to the postseason.



The Twins are in the fourth spot at 49-55, closely followed by the Doosan Bears at 45-55, and the Lotte Giants and the Kia Tigers, both at 45-56. The SK Wyverns, at 45-58, are in eighth-place and still in the hunt.



The tightness of the race among these five teams suggests that any one of them may play in the postseason and they all need to win every game possible, especially from their middle-ranking rivals.



With that in mind, a couple of the highlight games this week will be between the Twins and the Bears, the two Seoul-based rivals.



They will clash on Aug. 26 and 27. The games' results will be important because they will have an immediate impact on the race for the final playoff spot.



The Bears are 6-5 in games against the Twins this season, but the Twins are in high spirits these days.



They bagged three consecutive wins against the Tigers and the Giants last week on the back of solid performances by their pitchers, including Lim Jung-woo and Bong Jung-keun. Bong was especially strong as a closer as he recorded four saves in four games last week.



But amid the close competition among the five clubs in the middle of the pack, observers think the league-leading Samsung Lions hold a key to determining which team will get the last ticket to the postseason.



Except for the Wyverns, all the middle-rank clubs ― the Twins, Bears, Giants and Tigers ― are scheduled to face the Lions twice before the season ends on Sept. 14.



All five teams desperately need wins, but the mighty Lions with nothing left to play for in the regular season might ease up on an opponent or two and indirectly help them get into the playoffs.



On the other hand, the Lions have not had to do much to dominate the rest of the league.



As of Sunday, the Daegu-based club maintains an impregnable lead at 66-32, followed by the Nexen Heroes at 62-42 and the NC Dinos at 60-44.



Under the leadership by coach Ryu Joong-il, who will also manage the national baseball team for the upcoming Incheon Asian Games, the Lions have proved their dominance throughout the season with the winning rate of over 67 percent.



The competitions for individual titles are also heating up.



Among batters, Choi Hyoung-woo of the Lions holds the top spot with a batting average of .367. Choi is being chased by Kim Tae-kyun of the Hanwha Eagles and Min Byung-hun of the Bears who stand at .366 and .364, respectively.



In terms of home runs, Park Byung-ho of the Heroes has 40 and his teammate Kang Jung-ho is in second with 35 homers.



Among pitchers, Andy van Hekken is leading the league with 17 wins, which unusually good for a foreign pitcher. He is followed by Yang Hyeon-jong of the Tigers and Henricus van den Hurk of the Lions who have 13 and 12 wins, respectively.



