“Back then, I took it for granted because it was every year.”
The Lotte Giants’ golden era in the 2000s was the five-year period from 2008 to 2012 under Jerry Royster and Seung-ho Yang. While they didn’t win a championship, they made the postseason five years in a row, creating an image of a powerhouse.
After reaching the semi-playoffs in 2001, Lotte went through a dark period of failing to make the postseason for seven years in a row (8888577), but with Royster’s “NO FEAR” and aggressive baseball in 2008, the team reached the postseason for the first time in eight years, finishing third, and then went on to make the postseason for five consecutive years until 2012, the best performance in Lotte’s history.
Jeon Jun-woo and Jeong Hoon are the only two Lotte players to have felt the glory firsthand. Joon-woo, who joined the team in 2008, didn’t experience autumn baseball for two years, but was promoted to the main roster in 2010 and played in the semi-playoffs for the first time that year. Jung Hoon experienced autumn baseball for the first time in 2012. Most of the members of the five-year golden era have retired, with Jang Won-jun (Doosan), Kang Min-ho (Samsung), Hwang Jae-gyun (KT), Kim Min-sung (LG) and Son As-seop (NC) leaving Lotte.메이저사이트
Lotte did not play autumn baseball for the next four years before making a late-season surge in 2017 to finish third and reach the semi-playoffs. This was followed by a five-year dark period where they didn’t play autumn baseball again, until this season, when they made a splendid run to the top of the standings.
“I used to play (autumn baseball) every year,” said Jeon, who now leads the team as Lotte’s most senior player, “but now that I haven’t been able to do it for a few years, I feel like it’s important, and I feel like I want to do it so badly.”
Looking at the current composition of Lotte, there are not many members from 2017. There are only five players, including Jeon Jun-woo, Park Se-woong, Kim Won-joong, Na Kyun-an and Jeong Hun.