Congratulations to Choi Ji-man and the Tampa Bay Rays:
In this Associated Press photo, Choi Ji-man of the Tampa Bay Rays (R) celebrates with teammate Pete Fairbanks after their 4-2 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series at Petco Park in San Diego on Oct. 17, 2020. (Yonhap)
In just a few years, Choi Ji-man has evolved from a player seemingly no club wanted into a key member of a World Series-bound team.
The Rays defeated the Houston Astros 4-2 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) at Petco Park in San Diego on Saturday (local time). The Rays won the first three games of this series before dropping the next three in a row. They just avoided becoming only the second team in major league history to squander a 3-0 series lead to lose a best-of-seven postseason round.
Choi played in five of the seven games and went 5-for-13 with a home run, an RBI, three runs scored and four walks. He was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in the clinching contest.
He is now expected to become the first South Korean position player to appear in a World Series game. The Rays will face the winner of the National League Championship Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who will meet in their own Game 7 on Sunday.
This file photo shows Los Angeles Dodgers’ left-hander Ryu Hyun-jin, whom the Dodgers have tapped as the first South Korean starter for Game 2 of the 2018 World Series. He will face the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston on Oct. 24, 2018. (Yonhap)
“I didn’t mean to do anything offensive." –#Gurriel. Yes, because we all know that doing this to an Asian is a universal sign of respect. pic.twitter.com/tfFO9ebyQU
Via the Marmot’s Hole comes this interesting story about a Korean superfan who has become the face of the fanbase for the Kansas City Royals baseball team that will take on the San Francisco Giants in the World Series:
Okay, so the story goes that in the middle of the American major league baseball season the Kansas City Royals were just an average team in a small market with average talent, having yet another ho-hum average season in their bland 45 year history (playoff-less in the last 28 of those 45 years). That was until a foreigner named Sung-woo Lee from far away South Korea came on the scene. Through social media, Sung-woo was a regular fixture on Royals’ fan sites and blogs and exhorted Royals’ fans to persevere, which helped to inject much needed enthusiasm into the traditional fan base. Interestingly enough, Sung-woo’s online participation started as an attempt to learn English by consistently conversing with American baseball fans. [Marmot’s Hole]
You can read more at the Marmot’s Hole link, but if they win the World Series this is a Disney feel good story in the making. In fact a filmmaker is already making a movie about Lee:
That would be OK, but… what if SungWoo could come back for the World Series in Kansas City?
It appears to be happening. Due to a viral effort by bloggers and a filmmaker named Josh Swade – who is in Korea right now — wants to document the story, several people close to the situation are reporting that Lee will be returning for the first Fall Classic in Kansas City since 1985. Andy McCullough in the Kansas City Star reports that Swade is talking with Lee’s employer in South Korea to make it possible for him to get away. Announcements have been made elsewhere. [Yahoo Sports]
