Doosan arrive in Busan with their postseason spot already secured, and that changes how they treat this game. Gwak Bin starts, but his manager has framed it as his final outing before resting for the wild-card game, so there is little reason to push him deep. Lotte's recent dry spell came against the league's best pitching staff, not at home. The game turns on what happens once Gwak hands the ball over.
Gwak's last appearance was the Asian Games final on September 27. Doosan manager Kim Won-hyung said Gwak pitches here and then rests until the wild-card game. Reports from the weekend describe Doosan as easing off a little, watching the LG-KIA race for third while preparing for October.
Lotte look cold on paper: two runs across their last three games. All three came at KT, the team that has allowed the fewest runs in the league. Before that trip Lotte scored 27 runs in four home games and won three of them.
The season series favours Doosan overall, but most of that came at Jamsil. At Sajik the meetings have been tight: 6-5 to Doosan, 3-1 to Lotte, and 12-7 to Doosan.
Park Se-woong is no ace right now, but he has been giving Lotte around five innings each time out, and that is the length they need again. If he gets there, the later innings are played against a Doosan side whose priority is the wild-card game, not this one.
