Daejeon last weekend when the opening three consecutive home games between the Hanwha Eagles and the KT Wiz were held.
What the taxi driver I met before the last game on the 31st said he was a 30-year-old Eagles fan.
“At this point, I feel like there will be at least 100,000 stands.”
He said he didn’t even see anything near the ballpark during the weekend. There were so many cars that it interfered with his business.
Daejeon is hot. It’s going crazy. Hanwha fans are going crazy.
Ryu Hyun-jin, the “return monster,” lost the opening game against the LG Twins on the 23rd and won all seven games like a ghost. It is surprising that only Ryu Hyun-jin failed to become a winning pitcher twice, and all five starters, including Hwang Joon-seo, a high school graduate who made his professional debut, won the game.
The Hanwha Eagles has not been able to enter the fall baseball league since 2018. It has been a nightmare early in every season. However, with aggressive investments including Ryu Hyun-jin, and synergy of potential explosion among promising players, they are racing to secure seven consecutive wins with their performance that has completely changed by 180 degrees, turning the team into a frenzy.
Unbelievable records are pouring out, including the first solo win in 10 years, the first three consecutive sweeps in 18 years, and the first seven wins and one loss in the first eight games in 32 years.
Sold out 12,000 seats in three consecutive weekend games is a basic rule. It was the first time in Eagles history that the opening three consecutive weekend games were sold out. Starting next year, the Eagles will have a new home stadium with the latest model, but the current situation is that 12,000 seats are hardly enough to support the fans’ deterioration and enthusiasm.
Everywhere they go, they only talk about baseball. Whether it’s Daejeon Station or on the streets in the center, the orange uniforms worn by Hanwha fans are overflowing. We had breakfast at the cafeteria, and when the news broke that Hanwha won consecutive games, dozens of people started talking about baseball in unison. When we had a meal at a famous rice soup restaurant in Dunsan-dong, customers at the table next to us changed to No. 3 while we were eating. The topics of conversation among the three teams were all about Hanwha baseball.
I don’t think the current heat will cool down quickly. First of all, Hanwha’s performance is so good. The two-stroke balance is in harmony with expectations. The winning streak will be cut off someday, but expectations are growing that the team will fight for the top ranks from the beginning this year. With a certain ace named Ryu Hyun-jin, players, club officials, and fans are confident that they will not lose consecutive games. This is why it is possible to respond to games in a relaxed manner.
The fact that the signs of mobilizing spectators are unusual is a harbinger of sustainable popularity.
No matter how popular it is, it is not easy to sell out Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday games, and the sales of tickets for the three consecutive games against the Lotte Giants are huge. Based on 12,000 seats sold out, 10,000 tickets were sold for Ryu’s starting game on the 4th. The game on the 2nd was also booked as many as 9,200 seats. If sold out, Hanwha can achieve the record of sold out weekday games for the first time in six years since the game against the Doosan Bears on May 24, 2018. (excluding the final game at home in the 2023 season, holiday games and Cheongju games.)
Hanwha fans in Seoul cannot stay still. After completing the three consecutive games during the week, they will face off against the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome. According to Kiwoom, 12,500 tickets were sold for Saturday’s game on Saturday. 11,170 seats were full on Sunday. Gocheok Dome is sold out only when 16,000 people come in, but given the usual reservation numbers, chances are high that the two games on the weekend will be sold out.
BY: 스포츠토토핫