NC and SSG have been out of the postseason race for a while now, and when these two meet, the scoreboard tends to fill up. Nine of their ten meetings this season have been slugfests, NC's staff has been leaking runs for weeks, and with nothing left to play for, neither manager has much reason to lean on his best arms. I expect another busy afternoon in Changwon.
Look at how this matchup has gone. Their games this season finished with totals like 14, 15, 17, 13 and 12, in May, June, July and now October, at both parks. The one exception was a 2-1 game in September, when SSG's Lee Ro-un threw seven strong innings. He got knocked around early in the series opener, lasting only 4.2 innings and giving up seven runs.
NC won that opener 13-1. Kim Hyung-jun, Kim Hwi-jip and Park Si-won all homered, Park's a grand slam. NC's own pitching hasn't been holding up, though. Over their last 20 games they've allowed close to six runs a night, and over their last 10 it's been more than five.
The standings matter here too. NC sits at 63-73-2 and SSG at 61-72-5, while Doosan has already locked up fifth. With the season winding down and nothing at stake, more innings go to depth pitchers and fewer to the top relievers. That's usually when games like this get loose.
