NC Dinos
NC Dinos (Korean: 엔씨 다이노스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Changwon. They have competed in KBO League since 2013. Their home stadium is Changwon NC Park since 2019. NC Dinos are owned by a video game developer NCSoft Corporation, and named after that company.
| NC Dinos | |||||
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| NC 다이노스 | |||||
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| Information | |||||
| League | KBO League (2013–present) | ||||
| Location | Changwon, South Korea | ||||
| Ballpark | Changwon NC Park (2019–present) | ||||
| Year established | 2011 | ||||
| League championships | 2020 | ||||
| Korean Series championships | 2020 | ||||
| Former ballparks | Masan Baseball Stadium (2012–2018) | ||||
| Colors | Blue and gold | ||||
| Ownership | NCSoft | ||||
| Manager | Lee Dong-wook | ||||
| Website | www | ||||
| Uniforms | |||||
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History
On July 1, 2010, three cities, which were Changwon, Masan and Jinhae, were integrated into one city, Changwon. As a result of the integration, Changwon became the 11th largest city in South Korea. Afterward, Changwon drove forward the project, which attracted a baseball team in the city. On December 22, 2010, video game company NCSoft submitted a plan that it wanted to found a baseball team that would be later admitted to the KBO as a member franchise. Changwon hereby became the first city having a baseball team among all the non-metropolitan cities in South Korea.
In the 2012 season, NC Dinos competed in the unaffiliated Freedom Division of the Korea Baseball Futures League. On May 8, 2012, the Korea Baseball Organization officially approved NC Dinos' admission to the KBO League to start off the 2013 season.[1]
On April 11, 2013, the NC Dinos won their first game in the club's history against the LG Twins.[2]
As a new team in 2013, the Dinos were allowed three foreign players on their roster (as opposed to the usual two). In 2014, that limit was raised to four (while all non-expansion teams were limited to three).[3] The 2014 Dinos signed pitchers Charlie Shirek, Eric Hacker, Thad Weber, and outfielder Eric Thames.[3]
In November 2020, the Dinos won their first Korean Series championship, four games to two games over the Doosan Bears. This followed the team's first regular season championship, in which the Dinos finished the 2020 regular season in first place for the first time in the team's history.[4]
Season-by-season records
| Year | Stadium | Rank | Regular Season | Postseason | Awards | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standings | Games | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win% | BA | HR | ERA | |||||
| 2013 | Masan Baseball Stadium | 7/9 | 7/9 | 128 | 52 | 72 | 4 | .419 | .244 | 86 | 3.96 | Did not qualify | Lee Jae-hak (ROTY) |
| 2014 | 4/9 | 3/9 | 128 | 70 | 57 | 1 | .551 | .282 | 143 | 4.29 | Lost Semi-playoff vs. LG Twins (1–3) | Park Min-woo (ROTY) | |
| 2015 | 3/10 | 2/10 | 144 | 84 | 57 | 3 | .596 | .289 | 161 | 4.26 | Lost Playoff vs. Doosan Bears (2–3) | Eric Thames (MVP) | |
| 2016 | 2/10 | 2/10 | 144 | 83 | 58 | 3 | .589 | .291 | 169 | 4.48 | Won Playoff vs. LG Twins (3–1) Lost Korean Series vs. Doosan Bears (0–4) | ||
| 2017 | 4/10 | 4/10 | 144 | 79 | 62 | 3 | .560 | .293 | 149 | 4.71 | Won Wild Card vs. SK Wyverns (1–0) Won Semi-playoff vs. Lotte Giants (3–2) Lost Playoff vs. Doosan Bears (1–3) | ||
| 2018 | 10/10 | 10/10 | 144 | 58 | 85 | 1 | .406 | .261 | 143 | 5.48 | Did not qualify | ||
| 2019 | Changwon NC Park | 5/10 | 5/10 | 144 | 73 | 70 | 2 | .511 | .278 | 128 | 4.02 | Lost Wild Card vs. LG Twins (0–1) | |
| 2020 | 1/10 | 1/10 | 144 | 83 | 55 | 6 | .601 | .293 | 186 | 4.31 | Won Korean Series vs. Doosan Bears (4–2) | ||
| Overall record | Games | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win% |  | |||||||
| Regular Season | 1120 | 582 | 515 | 23 | .530 | ||||||||
| Postseason | 34 | 15 | 19 | 0 | .441 | ||||||||
| Total | 1154 | 597 | 534 | 23 | .527 | ||||||||
Roster
NC Dinos roster | ||||||
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| Players | Coaches/Other | |||||
| Pitchers Starting rotation
Bullpen
Closer |
Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
updated on 5 June 2018 | |||
Managers
- Kim Kyung-moon (2012–2018)
- You Young-jun (2018) (caretaker)
- Lee Dong-wook (2019–present)
Notable alumni
- Eric Thames, 2015 KBO League Most Valuable Player Award Winner (First in NC Dinos franchise history), currently on the Washington Nationals
- Logan Verrett, formerly of the New York Mets
Mascot
The NC Dinos have two mascots. Sseri is a green Brontosaurus that wears a necklace and has affectionately been nicknamed "Swole Daddy" by SB Nation.[5] The Dinos' other mascot, Dandi, is a blue Tyrannosaurus.[6]
References
- General
- "Complete league history and statistics" (in Korean). Korean Baseball League. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- Specific
- "NC Dinos to enter first division," Korea JoongAng Daily (May 8, 2012).
- "7전8기… NC 감격의 창단 첫승". Hankook i .com. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- "KBO clubs snatch up new foreign players following rule change," Yonhap News Agency (December 16, 2013).
- https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/nc-dinos-win-korean-series-enormous-sword-trophy-celebration-kbo-01eqx76dm14d
- Dator, James (2020-05-11). "I accidentally re-named the NC Dinos mascot 'Swole Daddy'". SBNation.com. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
- "All other mascots just got served by this incredible KBO dancing dinosaur". MLB.com. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to NC Dinos. |
- Official website (in Korean)
- NC Dinos on Facebook (in Korean)
- NC Dinos on Twitter (in Korean)
- NC Dinos's channel on YouTube (in Korean)
- NC Dinos on Instagram (in Korean)