‘Lee Kang-cheol-ho’, who is aiming to advance to the semifinals for the first time in 14 years at the World Baseball Classic (WBC), enters a full-fledged ‘play mode’. He goes to the final check by playing two evaluation matches against opponents assuming Japan, the strongest power in the same group.

Korea, led by coach Lee Kang-chul, will have an official WBC match at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan over two days from the 6th to the 7th. Matches against the Orix Buffaloes at 12:00 noon on the 6th and the Hanshin Tigers at 12:00 noon on the 7th were scheduled respectively.

In the meantime, we have played several practice matches in the US and Korea, but these matches have a different weight. In the practice matches held so far, the focus was on improving the condition of the national team players, so the national team pitchers scrambled to both teams, and the ‘local rule’ was applied to flexibly take the innings and batting order.

But the evaluation game is not like that. It will be played in the same way as the official game, and above all, active major leaguers Kim Ha-seong (San Diego) and Tommy Hyeon-soo Edman (St. Louis) can participate. The WBC Organizing Committee allowed active major leaguers to participate only in the official evaluation before the tournament to prevent injuries.

This is the only opportunity to play as a ‘full body’ before the competition. The national team plans to finalize the starting lineup in the two evaluation matches and finalize the pitcher management plan for the match against Australia on the 9th and against Japan on the 10th.

Coach Lee Kang-cheol also emphasized the importance of the two evaluation matches. Coach Lee said, “I try to play the game just like the real game,” and said, “In the previous practice game, the opposing team didn’t come up too much, but the evaluation game will be different.”

He added, “It is also an important part to play the game in the same dome stadium as the actual game.” 바카라사이트

In particular, I see it as an opportunity to check the condition of batters once again. Coach Lee said, “Isn’t it like facing a Japanese team? I think it will be different from Korean pitchers.”

The check point for the pitchers is ‘quick warm-up’. Players who served as starting pitchers for their team are likely to become bullpen pitchers, and the key is how quickly they can warm up.

Director Lee said, “When a pitcher takes the mound, he has to deal with at least three batters. During that time, we have to see if the follow-up pitcher can warm up.”

After two rounds of evaluation matches, the national team will move to Tokyo, Japan, where the tournament will be held on the afternoon of the 7th. On the 9th, the first match of the first round, against Australia, is scheduled.

Meanwhile, Japan, which belongs to the same group as Korea, will also have an official evaluation match at the same place on the 6th and 7th. The opponent is also the same as Korea, only the order is reversed, Hanshin on the 6th and Orix on the 7th.