Manager Yoon Kyung-yeop unlocked LG’s 29-year championship drought.
LG, led by Yoon, lifted the long-awaited trophy after winning 6-2 in Game 5 of the best-of-seven Shinhan Bank SOL 2023 KBO Series against KT at Jamsil Stadium on Wednesday, improving to 4-1 in the series. LG hasn’t won a Korean Series title in 29 years, since 1994. This is the third time LG has won the title, having also won in 1990 and 1994.
Yeom made his professional debut with the Pacific in 1991, but was unable to make a mark as a player and retired from active duty in 2001. He has since worked as a coach and frontman for Hyundai, and as an operations manager and coach for LG. In 2013, Yeom was named head coach of Nexen (now Kiwoom), where he led the team to four consecutive postseason appearances (2013-2016). In 2014, the team made it to the Korean Series (KS) but finished as runners-up.
Yoon has been nicknamed “Yoon Gal-ryang” (Yoon Kyung-yeop + Jegal-ryang), but he hasn’t had much luck with championships. He only won the 2018 Korean Series when he was the manager of SK (now SSG). In 2019, he took over as SK’s manager and led the team to a franchise-record 88 wins, but lost the title to Doosan in the regular season finale. In the playoffs, he was swept out by Kiwoom, and the following year, he suffered from sexual stress and passed out in the dugout during a game.
After winning the Korean Series, Yoon said, “First of all, I would like to express my respect to coach Lee Kang-cheol and KT for playing a good game in the Korean Series. Our fans have waited a long time. Thanks to their unwavering support, our players were able to play the series with a sense of urgency. In the Korean Series, we lost the first game, but I think the fact that we took the second game set the tone for us to fight back.”
Commenting on his lack of luck in the past, Yeom said, “During the break, I was able to look back and study not only my coaching career, but also the previous seasons. That helped me a lot. I was able to review what was lacking and what was good. When I went to the US, I had a lot of time to myself. I rechecked and reorganized my notes. I used them as nourishment and they were useful from the beginning to the end of my preparation for this season.”
“When we came back in the second game, I thought we could win,” said Yeom, “but it was only when we got the third game that I felt confident. In the short game, it’s all about luck. I saw that the odds were in our favor and that the players were confident. I saw the desperation and the desire to win. I felt like we could take it to the end, whether it was Game 6 or Game 7. I knew we could win it if it went long enough.”
Yeom dreams of building an LG dynasty At the end of the interview, Yeom said, “I think this year is the most important. LG is well-structured, and if we can 메이저사이트 develop the young players a little more, I think LG can continue to be a strong team. I also told the fans that this is the beginning. We’ve taken the first step. If we continue to make a good process, the results will follow. We’ll take a little break and start preparing for next year.”