Lotte, which has changed drastically, is being reborn as a ‘top de’ by removing the stigma of ‘bomde’.
The Lotte Giants in the 2023 season are no longer the ‘Bomde’ that sparkled for a month or two after the exhibition game and opening. It is showing the possibility of leaping to the top of the league this season with more solid power and various tactical baseball. Lotte’s performance attracts fans to Sajik Stadium in Busan as well as wherever the Lotte team is heading. Due to Lotte’s box office success, the Korean Professional Baseball KBO League expects to achieve ‘7 million annual spectators’ in 4 years since 2019.
Lotte built a ‘three-strong system’ with SSG Landers and LG Twins this season. As of the 22nd, after having played 36 games, a quarter of the total 144 games for the season, Lotte is currently in third place with 22 wins and 14 losses (0.611 win rate). From the 20th of last month to the 3rd of last month, he won 9 consecutive wins and climbed to the top of the league. Since then, Lotte has been fighting for first place while tossing and turning with SSG and LG.
Lotte Baseball’s ‘momentum’ this year is different. It is a completely different look from previous years, when it rose to the top in April and then fell in May. According to Lotte and KBO statistics, Lotte ranked 6th with 22 wins and 20 losses (0.524 win rate) from the opening until the third week of May last year. It was the result of slipping after ranking second until early May. Lotte could not recover the momentum of the hot April and ended the season in 8th place.
In 2021, it also maintained 5th place with 10 wins and 13 losses in April, but after that, it repeated losses and fell to 9th and 10th in the third week of May. This trend was similar in 2019 and 2020, when the opening was delayed due to Corona 19. Lotte fans gave great support to Lotte’s performance, which heated up in April, but in May, they felt ‘Spring Day’ as the momentum weakened.
However, this season, Lotte is showing baseball that does not easily lose with the synergistic effect of a young player full of spirit and a veteran player who has gone through all the battles. Responding to this, Lotte fans are cheering for their throats to burst without giving up hope until the end even in the game they are lagging behind.
Lotte’s leap is also having a positive effect on the box office in the KBO League. Fans from all over the country flock to Sajik Stadium as well as stadiums where Lotte games are held. On the 12th and 14th, when the match between Lotte and KT Wiz took place, Lotte fans from the metropolitan area filled the away cheering seats at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do. The Lotte players said in unison, “There were so many Lotte fans cheering for us that we didn’t even know it was an away game.” The match broadcasting company also showed the enthusiastic cheering of Lotte fans, the away team, instead of the home team KT cheering squad more often.안전놀이터
Thanks to Lotte’s performance, it is certain that the KBO League will return to the era of 7 million spectators this season. KBO announced on the 20th that the total number of spectators this season exceeded 2 million. It was less than a month after reaching 1 million spectators. The number of spectators in the KBO League has not exceeded 7 million since recording 7,286,008 in 2019. Last year, the total number of spectators in the KBO league was only 6.07 million.
This increase in spectators is the fifth fastest ever, excluding three seasons from 2020 to 22, during the spread of Corona 19. Lotte has already achieved a full crowd (22,990) three times this season. Due to Lotte’s butterfly effect, the number of spectators from other clubs is also rapidly increasing.