After winning just five games in the regular season this year, the NC Dinos are exploding with potential in the postseason (PS).
NC, which finished fourth in the regular season, is on a six-game winning streak in the PS after hosting the first and second rounds of the playoffs (PO) following the wild-card deciding game (1 win) and the semifinals (3 wins).
With this, NC broke the record for the longest winning streak in a single year in the intense fall stage.
NC’s five-game winning streak was the longest in the 144-game pennant race, tying them with the eighth-place Samsung Lions and the last-place Kiwoom Heroes in the regular season.
However, while Samsung and Kiwoom only had one five-game winning streak, NC consistently had five-game winning streaks in each of the months of April and June-August.
The top team in this category is the Doosan Bears, who broke the franchise record for the longest winning streak (11 games). The Lotte Giants and KIA Tigers tied for second place with nine straight wins.
The Hanwha Eagles, who have won eight straight games for the first time in 18 years, are in fourth place, followed by the LG Twins and KT Wiz in fifth place (seven straight wins). In seventh place are the SSG Landers (six straight wins).
This avoids the “win streak, then lose streak” formula and reduces team fatigue.
Many teams experience an exhilarating winning streak followed by a losing streak that eventually puts them back to square one and leaves them feeling lost. Doosan, for example, had two five-game losing streaks after an 11-game winning streak.
NC’s longest losing streak is six games, the second shortest among the 10 clubs this season.
It was from Sept. 30 against the Daegu Samsung Lions at the end of the regular season to Oct. 5 against the Incheon SSG Landers.
The teams with the longest losing streaks were KT and Kiwoom (over nine games), and the shortest were LG, Doosan, and SSG (over five games).
And NC is using the strength they have been saving for this PS in a big way.
NC head coach Kang Myung-ho lamented in August, “If the domestic starting lineup had a sense of stability, we would have won more games in a row…” but it turned out to be good news for NC.
The team also has the advantage of being in a winning mood in the fall before the offseason, so they can worry less about their players’ physical fitness.
NC is also in the midst of a nine-game PS winning streak from Game 4 of the 2020 Korean Series (KS) to Game 2 of this year’s PO. If they win Game 3 of the PO on Sunday, they will become the first KBO team to win 10 consecutive PS games.
They will also be eligible to challenge the record for the first ever KS title for a team that finished fourth in the regular season.
Previously, Samsung (1990), Hyundai Unicorns (1996), LG (2002), SK Wyverns (2003), and Doosan (2013-2021) reached the KS as the fourth-place team in the regular season, but were unable to celebrate. 토토사이트