Park Se-woong will take the mound for the Doosan Bears on Aug. 23 at Seoul Jamsil Baseball Stadium, one day later than planned after heavy rains pushed his start back from Aug. 22. The Lotte Giants right-hander goes in with a chance to reach a milestone that has been within reach all month.
He needs one more strikeout to get to 100 for the season, and that would make him only the eighth pitcher in KBO League history to post 100 strikeouts in seven consecutive seasons. Park has already reached that mark in six straight seasons since 2020, a run that puts him among the most durable strikeout pitchers in the league and leaves him one punchout from adding another line to it.
The numbers behind the chase are there. Park has worked in 19 games with two wins, seven losses, a 4.77 ERA, 103⅔ innings pitched and 94 strikeouts. He also carries 1,298 career strikeouts, so another five would bring him to 1,300, a round number that would sit beside the season milestone if he can get through the Doosan lineup with authority.
Lotte arrives with momentum of its own. The Giants have won five consecutive games, and their lineup has backed the streak with a.339 batting average, 61 hits in 180 at-bats, six home runs, 43 RBIs and a 0.947 OPS. That surge has helped keep the club in form as the calendar tightens and every start begins to matter more.
But this is not a clean chase. Park has faced Doosan three times this season without a win, going 0-1 with an 8.62 ERA, and he is also winless at Jamsil this season with one loss and a 9.28 ERA. Doosan has climbed to fifth place, which makes the matchup less about the milestone alone and more about whether Park can solve a team and a park that have already given him trouble.
That is what gives this start its edge. Park has been on the verge of a historic mark for days, yet the delay, the opponent and the venue all point to the same question: whether Aug. 23 is the night he finally gets to 100 strikeouts, or whether the milestone waits for another start.
