2 years after breaking fans' hearts, Bears ace Benjamin hopes to make them happy this fall

On Oct. 3, 2024, Wes Benjamin, then pitching for the KT Wiz, broke the hearts of many Doosan Bears fans. The American left-hander tossed seven shutout innings as the Wiz beat the Bears 1-0 in the second wild card contest in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason. Following a 4-0 win from the previous day, that second victory made the Wiz the first No. 5 seed to eliminate a No. 4 seed in the wild card round, which was introduced in 2015. Two years later, Benjamin is now an ace for the Bears, looking to author another upset. They will be the fifth seed in this year's wild card round against the fourth-ranked LG Twins, with their battle scheduled for Wednesday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. In the wild card series, the lower-seeded team must win two straight games on the road to advance, whereas the higher-seeded club only needs a tie or a win, and gets two cracks at home to accomplish that feat. This partly explains why there has been just one upset so far. Having been a part of that first underdog victory two years ago, Benjamin said he believes it can be done again by...