Denny Reyes (28) of the Samsung Lions and Choi Won-tae (27) of the LG Twins will face off as starters in the first round of the playoffs.메이저놀이터

Samsung and LG will face off in the first round of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO postseason playoffs (best of five) at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu at 2 p.m. on the 12th.

Of the 33 best-of-five playoff teams, 25 have advanced to the Korean Series. This is a high probability of 75.7 percent, or more than three-quarters.

Samsung Reyes and Choi Won-tae are the starting pitchers of the very important first game.

Reyes went 11-4 with a 3.81 ERA in 26 appearances during the regular season. He was ranked ninth in the ERA league.

He pitched twice against LG during the regular season, recording one win and an earned run average of 3.60. He took the mound both times at home games in Daegu, and retired without losing or losing by allowing three runs in five innings in his first appearance on April 23, and became the winning pitcher by allowing one run in five innings in his second meeting on June 11.

Samsung initially tried to use foreign pitcher Conor Seabold as the first starter, but failed to include Conor in the playoff entry due to his delayed return to injury.

As a result, it was expected that Won Tae-in, the "native ace," would be appointed as the first starter, but Reyes was selected first in consideration of the opponent's record.

In response, Choi Won-tae will be the starting pitcher for LG. Since the semi-playoff was played until Game 5, it consumed many pitchers and there was no card to put forward other than Choi Won-tae in the rotation.

Choi Won-tae, who started Game 3 of the semi-playoff against KT on the 8th, will take the mound again after four days off.

In 24 games during the regular season, Choi had nine wins and seven losses with an ERA of 4.26. Due to absence of injury, he pitched 126 ⅔ innings, which failed to meet the required number of innings.

He showed inconsistent performances, but showed strong performance against Samsung. He pitched well against Samsung twice, winning one game and posting an ERA of 0.84. However, it should be taken into account that both of his appearances were in the early stages of the season.

Choi Won-tae stepped down early with two runs (one earned run) in four ⅔ innings in his first appearance of the season on March 27, but he became a winning pitcher with six scoreless innings in Daegu's away game on April 25.

Looking at the confrontation with opposing batters, Hong Chang-ki (3 hits in 6 at-bats), Moon Bo-kyung (2 hits in 4 at-bats), and Kim Hyun-soo (2 hits in 6 at-bats) showed strong performance against Reyes in LG.

On the other hand, no player in Samsung recorded more than two hits this season for Choi Won-tae except for Kim Ji-chan (2 hits and 2 walks in 4 times at bat).