It’s going to be a tough schedule for Liu Zhongyi as he tries to win his fourth straight Asian Games baseball title. Rain is in the forecast for Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China, where the final will be played, which could lead to schedule changes. However, the “five-inning shortened game” appears to be a miscommunication. The KBO confirmed that the final will be played as a regular nine-inning game.
The Hangzhou Asian Games International Broadcasting Center (IBC) provided guidance on how the final will be run in case of rain on Sunday morning. It included a plan for a “five-inning shortened game.
The plan is to hold the bronze medal game (China-Japan) at 1 p.m. KST and the gold medal game (Korea-Taiwan) at 7 p.m. KST.굿모닝토토
However, in the event of rain, there are two alternate plans for the games. Plan A is a shortened 5-inning game on the 7th and a start time of 8am-12pm on the 8th. If it is not possible to play by the 8th, Plan B is to use tiebreaking rules to determine the rankings without a medal match.
In fact, the KBO said it had not received any communication. “It is true that we have received the rain postponement plan from the organizing committee, but the five-inning shortened game was never discussed in advance,” the KBO said in response to a question from Sporting News.
“We have received confirmation from the BFA (Asian Baseball Confederation, which runs baseball at the Asian Games) that it will be a nine-inning game,” he added.
If a single day of play is not possible, the second half of Plan A – an 8 a.m. start on Day 8 – remains open. Organizers hope to complete the game and awards ceremony before noon.
If the games can’t be played by noon on the 8th, it’s Plan B. At this point, South Korea will not be able to win the gold medal. According to the tiebreaker rules, the order of ranking is ① winner-take-all, ② TQB (Team’s Quality Balance) between tied teams, and ③ if the TQB is the same, then own runs-TQB. If the teams are still tied, they will be ranked by ④ team batting average, and as a last resort, ⑤ a coin flip will be used.
Since the team lost 0-4 in the second game of Group B against Chinese Taipei on the 2nd, the silver medal will be decided by the ‘winner-take-all’ system. They could lose the final game and end their four-game losing streak.
Before the gold medal game, the bronze medal game was held as scheduled. Japan and China battled back and forth to within one point, with Japan winning 4-3 to take the bronze medal. The drizzle continues.
In the final, the team will once again face Lin Yumin, who they battled hard in the preliminary round.
“Tomorrow’s opponent will be the same left-handed pitcher (Lin Yumin) who pitched in the preliminary round,” said coach Liu Zhong-il after the team qualified for the final. “It’s been really hard to get to the final, so we’ll have to prepare well so that we don’t get beaten twice (by Chinese Taipei) and win the gold medal,” he said.
No Responses