Can the ‘curse of number 18’ really be broken?

Lotte has a jinx related to the number 18. Since the 2010s, several players such as Kim Dae-woo, Park Se-woong, Heo Jun-hyuk, Shin Won-jae, Lee In-bok, Yoon Seong-bin, Choi Ha-neul, Hong Min-ki, and Kim Dong-woo have used the number 18, but none have good memories.

However, there is a player who boldly volunteered to wear number 18 as his new uniform number, saying he would break the ’18 jinx’. The main character is Choi Jun-yong, Lotte’s key fighting agent.

Choi Jun-yong, whose uniform number was 56 until last year, is now making a fresh start wearing number 18. “Originally, I was going to wear the number 56 all the way, but Lotte had a lot of jinxes with the number 18. So I wanted to break that jinx,”스포츠토토 said Choi Jun-yong. Choi Jun-yong is also well aware of the ‘history of No. 18′. Even the players who are currently active as Lotte’s main pitchers, such as Park Se-woong and Lee In-bok, struggled in the ’18th period’. Choi Jun-yong said, “(Park) Se-woong said that it was not good when his brother also wore number 18, and (Lee) In-bok said that his brother also wore number 18 and had an injury.”

It’s a uniform number that seems like it’s been cursed, so I wouldn’t have hesitated while choosing it. Choi Jun-yong, who said, “I was very worried,” said, “Last year, the Hangzhou Asian Games were a great motivation, but when the Asian Games were canceled, I became lazy. It will do a lot for me,” he said.

Lotte seniors are cheering for Choi Jun-yong with the words, “You break the 18th jinx.” Choi Jun-yong already remembers breaking the jinx related to his uniform number even in middle school, so he is confident that he will break the jinx this time as well. “It was in the third year of middle school. At that time, the school said that number 28 was not a good uniform number. I wore number 28 with the mindset of ‘let’s break it once,’ and there were good results,” recalls Choi Jun-yong.

The reason Choi Jun-yong declared that he would break the ’18th Curse’ is because he wants to promise a better performance than last year. Choi Jun-yong pledged, “Last year was a time when I disappointed fans. He wants to do well this year as motivation.” Choi Jun-yong, who appeared in 68 games last season and pitched 71 innings with an average ERA of 4.06 with 3 wins, 4 losses, 14 saves and 6 holds, is considered a player who should play a key role in the Lotte bullpen this year as well. It is worth watching with interest to see if Choi Jun-yong can break the ‘curse of number 18’ with an upgraded performance compared to last year.