The professional baseball Hanwha Eagles have achieved a 10-game winning streak for the first time in 26 years.

Hanwha secured a comeback victory of 7-5 against the Kiwoom Heroes in the '2025 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League' held at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 9th.

The Hanwha lineup produced 13 hits and 2 home runs. Moon Hyun-bin hit the go-ahead solo home run with 2 outs in the 9th inning, leading the team to victory. He excelled with 2 hits in 5 at-bats, 1 home run, 3 RBIs, and 1 run scored, including his 7th home run of the season. Starting pitcher Eom Sang-baek struggled through 3⅔ innings, giving up 5 hits (4 home runs), 1 walk, 1 hit batter, and 4 earned runs, but the bullpen, led by Jo Dong-wook (1 inning, no earned runs), Kim Jong-soo (1⅓ innings, no earned runs), Park Sang-won (1 inning, no earned runs), Han Seung-hyuk (1 inning, no earned runs), and Kim Seo-hyun (1 inning, 1 earned run), worked hard to set the stage for the comeback victory.

With this victory, Hanwha achieved a 10-game winning streak. This is the first 10-game winning streak in 26 years since recording 10 consecutive wins from September 24 to October 5, 1999, against Hyundai and Samsung. In 1999, when Hanwha last achieved a 10-game winning streak, they succeeded in winning their first and last Korean Series.

Hanwha, which has now tied the 10-game winning streak record set in 1999, is challenging the franchise's all-time record of 14 consecutive wins set during the Binggrae era. Hanwha recorded 14 consecutive wins from May 12 to 26, 1992, against Samsung and Lotte. That year, Hanwha achieved a record of 81 wins, 1 tie, and 43 losses, with a winning percentage of .651, which was the highest winning percentage in KBO League history at the time.

Considering Hanwha's upward trend this season, aiming for a 14-game winning streak is not just a dream. After recording 8 consecutive wins followed by 2 consecutive losses, Hanwha is currently on a 10-game winning streak, achieving a remarkable record of 18 wins and 2 losses in the last 20 games. The season record stands at 25 wins and 13 losses, with a winning percentage of .658, widening the gap to 1.5 games over the second-place LG (23 wins, 14 losses, winning percentage of .622). Currently, Hanwha's winning percentage is even higher than that of Binggrae when they achieved 14 consecutive wins in 1992.

Moon Hyun-bin, who hit the winning home run that day, said in a post-game interview, “Even if we are losing, it feels like we are not really losing. There is a vibe that we can keep turning things around. We are playing with the belief that we won't give up and that we can win. Even today (despite giving up 5 home runs), it didn’t feel like we would lose. The vibe has been good throughout.” He added, “This year, we are definitely going to make it to the fall baseball.”

Hanwha has been struggling in a long dark period since winning the Korean Series in 1999. They reached the Korean Series in 2006 but finished as runners-up and did not make it to the postseason for 10 years from 2008 to 2017. After experiencing fall baseball in 2018, they have not returned to the postseason for another 6 years.

Having risen to the top of the league for the first time since 2007 at the point of having played over 30 games, will Hanwha be able to achieve their dream of not only making it to fall baseball this season but also reaching the Korean Series and winning it? Fans’ expectations and support are growing increasingly fervent.

[OSEN]