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Lotte and Hanwha fans express anger, resignation as Giants shrink and Eagles tailspin

Published: 06 May. 2026, 07:00 Updated: 06 May. 2026, 12:29

Hanwha Eagles manager Kim Kyung-moon, left, and Lotte Giants manager Kim Tae-hyung [NEWS1]

For Ryu Han, a Seoul-area office worker who grew up in Busan, watching professional baseball has fallen out of his routine this season. The team he has supported since childhood, the Lotte Giants, simply isn't giving him much reason to tune in.

“There used to be at least some joy in spring, when the team would rack up a few wins,” he said. “This year, it feels like they can’t win at all.”

The frustration is not confined to Busan. In Daejeon, fans of the Hanwha Eagles are grappling with a different kind of disappointment. Just a year after celebrating the team’s first Korean Series appearance in 29 years, they are watching it slide back toward the bottom of the standings.

Both teams were ranked third and fourth this time last year. Early-season momentum helped drive attendance and attention across the KBO. This year, by contrast, has felt, for many fans, like a cruel reversal.

The two teams have long been linked by a self-deprecating nickname among supporters: the “eternal alliance,” a nod to their shared history of underperformance and postseason absences. But the nature of their struggles has diverged.

For the Lotte, the fans' anger has become chronic. The team has not returned to the postseason since 2017, even as fan support remains among the most fervent in the league. The disconnect between the stands and the field has grown more pronounced, with some home fans recently calling for a boycott of the team’s games to make their frustration visible.

Hanwha Eagles reliever Kim Seo-hyeon, left, reacts after retiring a batter for the Samsung Lions during the clubs’ KBO regular season game at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon on April 14.

The mood among fans of Hanwha is closer to resignation. After enduring nearly two decades of futility, the team finally appeared to turn a corner last year. But the departure of key foreign pitchers Cody Ponce and Ryan Weiss to MLB has been followed by a swift decline, raising fears that the progress may have been fleeting.

As of Monday, the Giants sat at the bottom of the standings. Despite a strong starting rotation, with a league-best ERA of 3.45, the team’s offense has been anemic with a batting average of .241, near the bottom of the league. Likewise, its average with runners in scoring position — .199 — underscores its inability to convert opportunities.

And yet, the crowds keep coming. Sajik Baseball Stadium, home to Lotte, has averaged about 20,000 spectators per game this season, roughly 3,000 more than the same period last year. The noise inside the stadium, however, often sounds less like encouragement than exasperation.

“I feel sorry for my son,” said a fan surnamed Kim, glancing at the child seated beside him. “Instead of passing down the joy of a championship, it feels like I’ve only handed down suffering.”

The Giants have also been dogged by controversy outside of the park. During spring training in Taiwan in February, several players were found to have visited a gambling arcade. More recently, a video surfaced showing pitcher Choi Chung-yeon making disparaging remarks about a female fan’s appearance, adding to the sense of disorder surrounding the club.

The troubles of the Eagles, by contrast, have largely played out on the field. In a home game against the Samsung Lions on April 14, the team set the record for the most combined walks and hit-by-pitches — 16 walks and two plunked batters — the most in KBO history. Fans began streaming out of the stadium early after a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning tied the game.

Despite selling out all 13 home games this season, Hanwha’s home winning percentage remains below .100.

The scrutiny has extended to the dugout. Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung, once heralded as a “championship contractor,” has drawn criticism for overusing key bullpen arms.

Frustration with the Eagles’ decision-making is more marked by weary disbelief. At one recent game, a missed opportunity to request a video review and the decision to deploy a pitcher with an ERA above 7.00 in a tight situation prompted rueful laughter.

“At work, we end up debating whether it’s the manager’s stubbornness in putting Kim Seo-hyun in, or Kim’s failure to live up to that trust,” said a fan who works in Daejeon.

Online, the frustration of the two teams’ fan bases has started cropping up in memes.

While Lotte supporters appear as embodiments of rage, Hanwha fans are caricatured as ascetic monks who have achieved a kind of emotional detachment.

Some joke that Eagles games require watching in funeral attire rather than jerseys, while others quip that soju consumption in Busan rises and falls with the Giants’ performance.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KO BONG-JUN [[email protected]]