Wednesday 5/6

Doosan Bears vs. LG Twins—1pm CT ESPN2

A reason to root for each KBO team

Doosan Bears: The Bears enter the 2020 season as defending champions, and one of the teams to beat in the Korean Baseball Organization. Located in the capital city of Seoul, the Bears are one of the more analytically inclined and well-run organizations in the KBO, often thought of in the same light as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros (pre-trash-can-banging scandal). Managed by Tae-hyoung Kim, the Bears lost reigning KBO MVP Josh Lindblom to the Brewers, who gave the pitcher a three-year, $9.125 million contract. But they return 2018 MVP outfielder Jae-Hwan Kim, who hopes to bounce back after hitting .283/.369/.434 with 15 homers in 2019, down considerably from his MVP numbers (.334/.410/.657 and 44 homers).

LG Twins: The Twins are the closest approximation to the pre-2004 Boston Red Sox: a team with an incredibly passionate home fan base and superstars who always seems to mess things up in the big moments. The Twins share a stadium in Seoul with the Bears, who’ve won three Korean series championships since 2015, and the teams have a dynamic similar to the Yankees and New York Mets. While the Twins are more popular than the Bears, they don’t get the benefit of the doubt from their fans, who are among the most critical in the sport. The Twins are expected to contend and are led in their rotation by Casey Kelly, a first-round pick by the Red Sox in 2008 who was dealt to San Diego Padres as part of the trade that sent first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to Boston.

I’ve got to teach a class for the first part of this, but I’ll be here probably around the 4th inning. Feel free to read the short stories my Absurdist Satire students are reading for tomorrow, and discuss in my absence.

“Game” by Donald Barthelme.

“The Kugelmass Episode” by Woody Allen.

Oh, and you likely know LG from their TVs and other electronic products, but what of the Doosan Corporation? After a frighteningly small amount of research, I found Doosan is a “corporate holding company” whose website claims: “Doosan is laying the groundwork to help build a better future for humanity across the globe.” So... an extremely vague massive corporation? They’re definitely run by a Bond villain building a death ray to destroy us all.

Go bears.

See you in the comments, and watch out for the verb “tener.” (If you’ve read the latter story, you’re laughing. If not, read the story and then laugh. I can’t do all the work for you.)