They grew up rooting for the LG Twins as aspiring professional baseball players. And on Monday, pitcher Im Chan-kyu and shortstop Oh Ji-hwan find themselves on the verge of winning the Korean Series title with their childhood team. Oh is 33, and Im turns 30 next week. They were too young to recall the last time the Twins won the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) championship in 1994. But they both have vivid memories of the club’s last trip to the Korean Series in 2002. They lost to the Samsung Lions in six games. The Lions hit a three-run home run and then a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth for a dramatic 10-9 win in clinching Game 6, breaking hearts of many young Twins fans across the country.

Oh and Im were among them. “I became a fan in 2002 while I was still in elementary school. I got to meet a few LG players then,” Oh recalled with a smile. “I remember getting autographs from some players.” On the Korean social media platform Cyworld in 2008, Oh once wrote: “LG lost again today. That’s eight in a row. Maybe they’re going to need me. “And later that year, Oh was drafted by the Twins out of high school and has become one of the faces of the team. “I know I was really frustrated at the time,” Oh said. “Hopefully, I can give young fans today something to cheer about.”

The Twins lead the KT Wiz 3-1, and Oh has almost singlehandedly carried the Twins to this point. He leads the team with three home runs and eight RBIs through four games. It was his three-run home run with two outs in the top ninth in Game 3 that lifted the Twins to an unlikely 8-7 win. Oh is the first player to go deep in three straight games in a Korean Series .”I really don’t care about winning the MVP here. I just want to win a championship,” Oh said .Im said he didn’t want to go to school after the Twins lost the 2002 Korean Series, such was the depth of his devastation. “Ever since I was a kid, I wanted this team to win a championship,” said Im, who has kept numerous baseballs signed by old Twins players. “We’re now a win away. We’re not going to let our 온라인카지노 guard down and get this done.”