Bears infielder eyes deep postseason run for Bears after disappointing 2023

With two home runs and three RBIs on Tuesday for the Doosan Bears, hard-hitting second baseman Kang Seung-ho kept adding to his career-high numbers across the board.

After helping the Bears beat the NC Dinos 10-5 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Kang is now batting .282/.330/.480 with 18 home runs and 80 RBIs — all of them his personal best.

This win and a loss by the SSG Landers on Tuesday night allowed the Bears to lock down a postseason spot. And Kang insisted Tuesday all he cared about was having a deeper postseason run than a year ago, when the Bears lasted just one game. They are in fourth place at 72-68-2 (wins-losses-ties), leading the KT Wiz (70-70-2) by two games with two to play. The Landers (68-70-2) are in sixth by one game, but they have four games to go, meaning they are still in play for fourth place.

Regardless of other teams’ results, the Bears will not finish lower than fifth. It will send them to the wild card game.

No. 4 and No. 5 seeds will square off there, with the higher see
d needing a win or a tie and the lower seed needing two wins. In last year’s wild card game, the Bears lost to the No. 4 seed Dinos 14-9.

“Last year, our season ended before we realized what hit us,” Kang said. “It was such a painful experience for us. We will try to avoid making the same mistakes this year. Since we played just one postseason game last year, we want to play a few more this time.”

Source: Yonhap News Agency