Lotte continues to make wide strides throughout the winter and is emerging as a ‘keyword’ in the Stove League. Expectations for Lotte’s season performance are also growing.

Lotte lost a pillar of the batting line due to the retirement of veteran Lee Dae-ho, but in the FA (free agent) market, Lotte recruited catcher Kang-Nam Yoo, infielder Jin-Hyeok Noh, and pitcher Hyun-Hee Han in turn, establishing several new pillars of the team’s power.

Lotte is also foretelling changes in the accumulated ‘law of winning and losing over time’. Lotte has shown weakness in games where time is prolonged. As of last season, if the game time was 3:15 or more, the odds were clearly pushed to 0.377 (20 wins, 2 draws, 33 losses). It fell far short of the average win rate for the entire season (0.457). Considering that the win rate was good at 0.522 (24 wins, 1 draw, 22 losses) in matches that ended within 3 hours, it showed a remarkable correlation with the game time.

It is said that Lotte is looking for a solution after analyzing the reason why it was weak in the ‘long-term’ in the offseason from various angles. Pitching coach Bae Young-soo, who wore a Lotte uniform with the topic of transformation of the giant mound, also said, “Based on the data, the win rate tended to decrease as the game time increased. He needs to find the cause and the answer together,” he said.

First of all, it may be a depth problem. In games where the time is extended, there are usually many players. In the latter half of a game where a bullpen pitcher and pinch hitter appear, the game is often decided by the strength of the bench member. It may be the result of Lotte’s ‘player base’ working. 메이저놀이터

Another one is confidence in the game. Another is concentration. In a tight game or a slow game, the obsession for victory may have fallen compared to the opponent without knowing it.

Lotte is bringing about a change in the ‘player class’ through power reinforcement throughout the winter. As the number of players in the first team grows, the strength of the bench members increases as well. This can be one way to change the rules of winning and losing in games where time is getting longer. That is why LG, which drew attention for its fielder depth and bullpen depth, recorded a win rate of 0.676 (46 wins, 2 draws, 22 losses) in games last season that took more than 3 hours and 15 minutes. This is the point Lotte should check.

Developing ‘concentration’, an intangible strength, is possible through the direction and practice of the coaching staff and the movement of leaders within the team. It seems that the Lotte coaching staff is already starting a change from the last finish camp.

Baseball is not a sport to be played on time. However, Lotte has been playing under ‘time pressure’. If it was a night game that started at 6:30 p.m., defeat became darker after 9:45 p.m. In order for Lotte to survive, the ‘flow of time’ must be changed. This winter, the attempt to transform has already begun.