Latest news with #HanwhaEagles
Korea Herald
26-07-2025
- Sport
- Korea Herald
KBO sets new single-season sellout record
The South Korean baseball league has set a single-season record for sellouts. With three of the five games held at full houses Friday night, the Korea Baseball Organization reached 224 sellouts for the season. The league had a then-record 221 sellouts in 720 games last year. That mark came down after just 470 games this season. The Hanwha Eagles are leading the way with 40 sellouts at their brand new stadium, Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in Daejeon, 140 kilometers south of Seoul. Their latest sellout came Friday night, when they shut out the SSG Landers 4-0 before 17,000 fans. The KT Wiz beat the Samsung Lions 8-5 with 18,700 fans packing KT Wiz Park in Suwon, 30 kilometers south of Seoul. In the southeastern city of Busan, 22,669 fans watched as the home team Lotte Giants beat the Kia Tigers 7-4 at Sajik Baseball Stadium. The KBO surpassed 8 million fans in a record 465 games Thursday night and is closing in on the single-season record of 10.88 million set last year. (Yonhap)
Pink Villa
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Is Lovelyz's Lee Mijoo dating baseball team Hanwha Eagles star Lee Jin Young after Song Bum Keun breakup? Agency reveals
On July 25, Lovelyz member and variety star Lee Mijoo found herself in the middle of unexpected dating rumors. The speculation involved Hanwha Eagles outfielder Lee Jin Young. However, within hours of the news gaining traction, her agency Antenna swiftly dismissed the claims. 'There is no truth to the dating rumors. The two do not even know each other,' the agency stated. They draw a clear line under the growing speculation. The clarification followed reports from Korean media outlets that suggested the two were possibly dating. The articles claimed that Lee Mijoo and Lee Jin Young had become close over time. They described them as a 'three-year age difference couple.' The reports also pointed to Mijoo's known admiration for the Hanwha Eagles as a possible connection between the two. Mijoo's history with Hanwha Eagles fuels rumor mill While the rumor was untrue, fans and netizens alike were quick to piece together what seemed like possible links. Mijoo was born and raised in Okcheon, North Chungcheong Province. She is a self-proclaimed lifelong fan of the Hanwha Eagles, the very team Lee Jin Young plays for. She has thrown ceremonial first pitches for the team multiple times. Mijoo has even been spotted participating in their cheerleading and promotional activities. Her enthusiasm for the team is well-documented in her variety show appearances, often expressing her support both on- and off-camera. This deep-rooted loyalty to the Eagles may have unintentionally served as the basis for the false relationship theory; one that now appears to have no merit. Lee Mijoo's past romance with Soccer star Lee Mijoo's personal life has occasionally made headlines. In April 2023, she confirmed she was in a relationship with national soccer team goalkeeper Song Bum Keun. The two shared a three-year age difference as well. However, less than a year later, in January 2024, rumors of a breakup began circulating. Mijoo eventually confirmed their split through her personal YouTube channel, stating the two had gone their separate ways. The breakup was amicable, and no further details were shared. Since then, Mijoo has remained relatively private regarding her romantic life, until this latest speculation with Lee Jin Young surfaced. For now, any romantic involvement with Lee Jin Young has been firmly ruled out. Fans can expect more updates from Mijoo only when she's ready to share them on her own terms.
Korea Herald
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Korea Herald
Eagles manager not wanting to put pressure on players amid long winning streak
The Hanwha Eagles are the hottest team in South Korean baseball at the moment, as their nine-game winning streak has pushed them to first place in the 10-team Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) standings with a 24-13-0 (wins-losses-ties) record. Their winning streak is all everyone in the KBO wants to talk about -- well, almost everyone. With the Eagles trying to stretch their streak to 10 games against last-place Kiwoom Heroes on Friday in Seoul, their manager Kim Kyung-moon said the winning streak was the last thing he wanted to discuss. "It's obviously nice to go on a winning streak but I think it puts so much pressure on the players," Kim said in his pregame session at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. "I'd like to ask the media not to talk so much about our streak. If the manager talks about that in the media, then the players who see that will get stressed out." The Eagles had earlier won eight straight games. And after dropping two games in a row, they began the current streak. They have not won 10 straight games since 1999. The Eagles have a dominant starting rotation, featuring Cody Ponce, the KBO's Player of the Month for the March-April period who leads the league with 66 strikeouts, and former major league ERA king Ryu Hyun-jin, the definition of a crafty lefty. But Kim insisted it hasn't just been the starters behind the team's winning ways. "Our bullpen has been excellent," he said. "And our position players have run the bases well and have made great plays on defense. And we've always had someone step up in key moments and deliver. Everything has been going well."
Korea Herald
22-04-2025
- Sport
- Korea Herald
Flying high again: Eagles soar in KBO standings thanks to dominant pitching
Carried by a dominant pitching staff, the Hanwha Eagles have reeled off seven straight wins to soar to second place in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) standings. Once again, they are trying to instill hope in a long-suffering fan base that has seen their club in the postseason just once in the past 17 years. The Eagles were in first place after a 7-1-0 (wins-losses-ties) start in 2024 but they found themselves in the league cellar by late May after going 12-28-1 in their next 41 games, a skid that cost manager Choi Won-ho his job. They would go on to miss the postseason by six games. The 2024 Eagles turned out to be a mirage, a deeply flawed team that only teased their fans for a few days and gave them false hope. This year, they're sitting at 14-11-0, after winning 10 out of their past 11. And there are signs that this year's Eagles just might be for real, thanks to starting pitching that many pundits had predicted would be their strength. During their current seven-game streak, all five of their starters notched at least a win, with Moon Dong-ju, whose win started the run on April 13, and Cody Ponce each getting two wins apiece. This seven-game winning streak by starting pitchers has tied the franchise record set in 2001. Moon, a 21-year-old who suffered a shoulder injury late last season and had a delayed start to spring training, has been rock solid with a 3.68 ERA in 22 innings over five starts. Moon has struck out 24 and walked only two, and has an outstanding, if unsustainable, walk rate of 2.3 percent -- down from 7.6 percent last year and 8.3 percent in his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2023. Ponce, a former big leaguer in his first KBO season, has been overpowering. He has a league-leading 56 strikeouts in 39 innings, 14 more than the next closest pitcher, Kenny Rosenberg of the Kiwoom Heroes. Ponce has struck out 37.3 percent of the batters he has faced, also tops in the KBO. Ponce threw seven shutout innings and gave up one hit in each of his past two starts, while recording 25 strikeouts combined. Closer Kim Seo-hyeon has been locking things down in the ninth inning. The 20-year-old has yet to allow a run in 10 2/3 innings so far. Together, Moon, Ponce and Kim have been among the hardest-throwing pitchers in the KBO. According to the KBO, Moon owns six of the 10 fastest pitches thrown this season, including the fastest pitch at 159.668 kilometers per hour (kph), or about 99.2 miles per hour. Kim has three of the top 10 and his fastest checked in at 158.378 kph. Kim has the highest average fastball velocity at 154 kph, and Ponce has the highest average velocity among starting pitchers at 153 kph. Ponce has topped out at 157.107 kph, and another Eagles starter, Ryan Weiss, has touched 157.222 kph. Rookie setup man Jeong Woo-joo has thrown a fastball at 155.91 kph. The KBO said 11 pitchers have thrown a pitch at over 155 kph, and five of them play for the Eagles. While velocity doesn't always translate to wins, it can still strike fear into hitters. Given the way the Eagles' rotation is built, their opponents are bound to run into at least one starter throwing 150 kph heat in a three-game series. And if the Eagles take a late lead, they can trot out their flamethrowing relievers. Lost in the vapor trails of these blazing fastballs is Ryu Hyun-jin, former major league ERA champion who recently quipped he is bringing down the rotation's average fastball velocity. Though Ryu no longer overpowers hitters as he once did, he has still been an effective pitcher thanks to his guile. He has a 2-0 record with a 2.54 ERA after five starts, which include a couple of scoreless outings. The Eagles' bats have also woken up. They have scored 49 runs during their seven-game run, the most in the KBO in that span. Slugger Roh Si-hwan, after a slow start, has homered in three straight games and he is now tied for the KBO lead with eight home runs and 20 RBIs. He led the league in those two categories when he was the runner-up for the regular-season MVP award in 2023. (Yonhap)
