TV
Monsters, Lee Seung-yeop “Plays that want to win”
In the 34th episode of JTBC's entertainment program 'The Strongest Baseball', which aired at 10 pm on the 13th, the Strongest Monsters lost 5 to 6 after a close match against the Bears.
The strongest Monsters strengthened their will to win against the Bears under former head coach Lee Seung-yeop. With about 20,000 spectators filling the stadium, the strongest Monsters took the lead early in the game and ran away with a 3-1 score. However, the Bears, who were in pursuit, caught up to 3 to 2, creating a tense atmosphere.
Former Bears player Yoo Hee-kwan took the mound as a starting pitcher and threw the ball with all his might than ever before. However, in the bottom of the fifth inning, three consecutive hits allowed the score to be tied 3-3. The person who helped Yoo Hee-gwan in crisis was Jeong Geun-woo, the ‘Devil’s second baseman’. Jeong Geun-woo instantly changed the flow of the game by showing off his crazy skills by jumping and catching a hit batted ball from the Bears' Heo Gyeong-min.
The strongest Monsters launched a counterattack with momentum, but unfortunately they were unable to capitalize on the scoring opportunity. Yoo Hee-gwan came down from the mound, and manager Kim Seong-geun selected Lee Dae-eun as the next pitcher. Lee Dae-eun showed a dependable performance by ending the inning with a clean strikeout in a crisis with bases loaded.
Both teams had a fierce battle reminiscent of Game 7 of the Korean Series, and maintained a tight balance without giving up a single point. In the bottom of the 8th inning, the Bears took advantage of the Monsters' consecutive defensive mistakes as an opportunity to steadily pile up runners, and Manager Seung-yeop Lee even used a camouflaged squeeze strategy to send runners to second and third base to try to turn things around. In response, the Bears' Yang Chan-yeol repaid manager Lee Seung-yeop's faith by hitting a timely hit with two RBIs, successfully turning the score around 5-3.
However, the strongest Monsters scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th inning to tie the game, as if to prove the saying, “Baseball is not over until the end.” In the end, a dramatic situation was created where the game continued until the bottom of the 9th inning. Accordingly, Song Seung-jun, the manager of the strongest Monsters pitching team, gave his all, but ended up in crisis due to a runner with one out and the bases loaded. Following Song Seung-jun, 'romantic pitcher' Oh Joo-won climbed the mound to finish the game, creating breathtaking tension as fouls continued in a full count situation. The audience watched the battle between the strongest Monsters and the Bears for about four hours without leaving their seats.
Oh Joo-won, who was fighting hard on the mound until the end, walked and sent out the runner. In the end, the Bears added one point to win 5-6, ending the long game of the day. Coach Seung-yeop Lee said, "After playing the game, I felt that the Monsters were a really good team. I saw serious baseball that really wanted to win and play to the best of their ability. Looking at them as an opponent, they were a more solid team."
The strongest Monsters players left their thoughts on the end of the 2022 season, saying, "It was a dream-like 7 months. I was happiest when I was playing baseball. I thought I didn't like baseball, but I was loving it so much."
During the 2022 season, the strongest Monsters recorded 21 wins and 8 losses in a total of 29 games, successfully achieving a win rate of 70%, which was thought to be impossible. Although the strongest Monsters unfortunately lost in the last game against the Bears, they showed a powerful performance that was comparable to that of a professional team.
The 34th episode of 'Best Baseball' had a viewer rating of 3.6% (provided by Nielsen Korea, based on paying households in the metropolitan area), breaking its own highest viewership rating again following last week.
The new 2023 season of ‘Best Baseball’ is scheduled to air in April. Subsequently, the opponent for the first game of ‘Best Baseball’ in the 2023 season was revealed. The opponent was ‘WIZ’, the 10th youngest professional baseball team. The match between ‘Strongest Monsters’ and ‘WIZ’ will be held live on March 19th.
In the JTBC entertainment program 'Strongest Baseball', which will be aired as a special additional program at 10:30 pm on the 20th, the '2022 Golden Glove Awards' and the lively dinner party of the strongest monsters will be revealed.
Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr
