It looks like the worst indignity of “last place for four years in a row” will be avoided. Hanwha is on track for its highest winning percentage season since 2018, the last time it played fall baseball.

Hanwha swept a doubleheader against Gochuk Kiwoom on September 9. They took the first game 11-2 behind an explosive batting lineup, and the second game 3-1 behind a strong pitching performance.

Hanwha, which has won five straight games since the SSG game against Daejeon on April 6, is in eighth place with 49 wins, 62 losses and six draws and has widened its gap to six games over 10th-place Kiwoom (51 wins, 76 losses and three draws), which is in a six-game losing streak.

Hanwha, who were 10th on goal difference but trailing Kiwoom on points from the first through fifth days of the season, have now won five straight games and escaped the threat of falling to the bottom of the table. There are still 27 games left in the season, but a half-game winning percentage is enough to avoid the drop. With 49 wins, they have already surpassed last year’s 46 wins.

Hanwha finished 10th for the last three years in a row from 2020 to 2022. If they hadn’t finished last this year, they would have been the second team in KBO history to finish last four years in a row. Lotte finished eighth for four years in a row from 2001-2004, the longest such streak in KBO history.

No team has finished last for four consecutive years since the 10-team system was implemented in 2015. Newcomer KT finished 10th for three consecutive years from 2015-2017, but avoided a fourth consecutive year by finishing ninth in 2018.

This year, Hanwha also has a team winning percentage of 4.441, the highest since 2018 (.535), when it finished third in the regular season and entered fall baseball. After finishing ninth in 2019 (.403), Hanwha finished in the bottom third for three straight years in 2020 (.326), 2021 (.371), and 2022 (.324). It’s been a rough ride with an intense rebuild.스포츠토토

This year, however, they improved their winning percentage by more than a full percentage point from the previous year, breaking out of the “win target” category. Even against LG (6 wins, 6 losses, and 1 draw) and KT (5 wins, 5 losses, and 1 draw), which ranked first and second, the team had a 5 percent winning percentage. The team has a lot of young players who lack full-time experience, so they have had their ups and downs, but their overall performance in the tournament has improved.

From June 21-July 1, they went on an eight-game winning streak, their longest in 18 years, and they’re back on the upswing with five straight wins. With the younger players gaining experience and the right reinforcements, including foreign players, it’s not unrealistic to expect the Tuta to contend for a top-five spot next season. Fall baseball is already behind us, but the season is moving forward.