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Kwak Bin, a member of the South Korean baseball team competing in the Hangzhou Asian Games, trains on the auxiliary field at the baseball stadium in Shaoxing, China, on Tuesday afternoon. The baseball team will try to win its fourth straight Asian Games title on Oct. 1 against Hong Kong.

Kwak Bin (Doosan Bears) could make an appearance against Korea.

South Korea's baseball team, led by Ryu Jung-il, will take on Japan in the first game of the Baseball Super Round at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games on Friday at 1 p.m. (KST) at the Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Sports Center 1 in China.

After finishing Group B with a 2-1 record (2nd place), Korea enters the Super Round with one loss. As per the rules, they will face the second-place (Day 5) and first-place (Day 6) teams from Pool A, with China finishing first and Japan second, followed by Japan and China.

With one loss from the start, South Korea must beat both Japan and China to reach the finals. They'll have to wait and see how the other teams fare, but first, they need to win their first game against Korea.

The key will be Ryu Jung-il-ho's starting pitcher against Korea. It would be nice to see Kwak Bin start, but he's not a lock at this point.

Kwak Bin, who was expected to be Ryu's ace, was initially expected to start against Chinese Taipei, but was unable to do so. It was due to a sudden bout of gallbladder. So Ryu sent his next best option, Moon Dong-ju (Hanwha Eagles), who gave up two runs in four innings. South Korea lost to Taiwan 0-4.

Head coach Ryu Jung-il fixes his glasses during the baseball game between South Korea and Chinese Taipei in Group B of the Baseball Final at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games at the Shaoxing Baseball Sports and Cultural Center near Hangzhou, China, on Oct. 2.

It's hard to predict when you'll be cured of gallbladder. Although it may seem like a mild symptom, it can take quite a long time to heal as the athlete is unable to perform normally.

It's also unfortunate for the team and Kwak Bin that the Japan game was scheduled earlier. Liu believed that Japan would finish first in Group A, which would have given him five days of rest before the Japan game on the sixth, allowing him to adjust his conditioning.

However, Japan lost to China and finished second in Group A, and the Korea-Japan match was scheduled for five days instead of six. Naturally, Kwak-bin's worries deepened as he had one less day of rest.

On the fourth day of the rest day, a KBO official said, "The national team is checking his physical condition from time to time." There's a small chance that he's not back on track yet.

If Kwak Bin is unable to pitch against Korea, South Korea's mound game will have to change. Park Se-woong (Lotte Giants), who threw 18 pitches in the second game against Taiwan, could start, or Korea could use a 1+1 strategy with another starter.

China is still on the horizon, but they can't afford to save any energy as they need to beat Japan first. I'm also worried about the up-and-down batting lineup, but the mound needs to hold up first. It's also very important to minimize the number of runs you give up, as you may have to make up runs later on.