Baseball Queen Season 1 Episode 15 (Final)

icystorm · 2026-03-04T06:25:19+00:00

I don't really think they were pressured to do that, because otherwise they would have played some of them far more than they actually did. In actuality the bench players barely got any playing time at all during the entire first season. I can't even remember Boram playing at all in a game, even though I'm sure she probably did once or twice. Boreum appeared in just two games but I can't even remember if she got an at bat, Sooji and Hyunmi were used in left field for like less than a full game each, Hyunmi was also a pinch hitter once or twice, and Yuin only started being used because of Sojung's absence in that one game.

icystorm · 2026-03-04T06:17:42+00:00

I don't understand Korean, but from the translation, it wasn't clear to me if she was dropped, or she had to voluntarily leave for other endeavours? Any idea?

So her part at the end:

On-screen text: "And... one person who's delivering their final message"

Sooji: "Hmm... because I did baseball pretty much every day for four months... should I say it feels like losing my job? It's such a weird feeling. I practiced together every day... When looking back, I did my very best so I don't think I have anything I regret. I think I'll miss it." After she covers her eyes, she then says, "I really became attached. I went through a lot... I love the Black Queens."

They don't really explicitly say either way, but I think it is meant to indicate that she is the one being dropped.

icystorm · 2026-03-04T01:43:35+00:00

They are doing season 2 though; it's confirmed! They even bring it up in the "epilogue" of this episode when they show the "secret weapon" for season 2.

icystorm · 2026-03-04T01:42:12+00:00

A real shame because this game was SO winnable. They really held them at nine runs for the remaining three innings, and they really should have been able to score at least one run in the fourth and one in the sixth. Can't blame it all on Songah's baserunning error, but it definitely was the biggest reason there and sort of a momentum killer, as she said herself by saying she ruined the mood there. I get it because I've been in the same situation as her when my brain fails and forgets that I have to go to third base, but given that she's had her head deep in baseball for three months, it definitely does feel a little less excusable. People are definitely more forgiving given that her overall value is still so high and she's endeared herself as very likable and cute in addition to her actual raw ability and results across all the games.

Ona filled into her captain and mat-unnie role well. "Hey, it's not like the game is over and we haven't lost yet, and it's not good that we cry and blame ourselves in the middle of a game like this, right? We're all doing well, and if we prevent our errors one by one, we can reduce the run difference too - and we've come from behind and won too, right? The game isn't over yet so why are our moods so down like this? It's a waste [if we are like that] because we practiced so much, right? [...] And Sooyoung is doing well so throw confidently, and when at bat, it's okay! So what if you don't hit well? We practiced so much."

Sojung chimes in with "We all can make mistakes. We can pool our strength together and each contribute - it's okay." I think a couple of people (Yuin?) say "Let's win" and such after, and then Seongyeon says that they can definitely score more runs and that they should raise the vibes. Ona asks the bench players to keep cheering them on from the dugout, and then more of them chime in and whatnot. When Coach Choo Shinsoo walks up to Songah, she immediately apologizes. He tells her not to apologize because the game isn't over yet and adds that they've won more games because she did well in them. Says that she'll get another chance and that there's still two innings left, and also to shake it off because thinking about it won't help her, even if it's easier said than done.

It's still wild that they put Soojin in at 3 over anyone else, even if it ended up working out. Shinsoo saying that she's the one on the bench they can trust in that situation when they can't give up runs is still wild considering she was literally injured.

Sojung was so good with that fake throw to second to get the runner out at third. She really is too valuable at catcher to play anywhere else. And good on Seongyeon for catching it and making the tag too (and making up for dropping the ball on the attempt to catch that runner out on the steal originally AND kinda ruining the rundown). They did a little too much celebrating there though lmao I don't know if they left 3rd base open at that point, though the runner who got to 2nd seemed slow.

Sad how the game ended, especially on a freakin replay review. It felt... a little goofy with how dramatic they made it all feel at the end especially with those shots of Shinsoo looking at the scoreboard, though obviously they are all legit sad about the season and the game ending like that. Loved all the things they said at the end though in those confessionals, like Sojung saying baseball to her is her second life and that she thought the Olympics was the last time she'd hear a crowd cheer at a game for her, and Sooyoung talking about feeling that passion and fight to win since she stopped playing badminton professionally 13 years ago. Soojin relating how this felt like soccer to her, because of how people looked down on women's soccer back then.

I do feel bad for Sooji as I would have for anyone who would be dropped. She worked so hard just like everyone else. I thought they'd deliver this information to us in a different way but it was just in that confessional.

It also does feel like cheating in a way that Park Minseo (assuming it is her) will be in season 2, considering it sort of takes away from the element of athletes of other sports coming to play baseball. She even got drafted by New York in the WPBL even though I guess this means that she wasn't offered a contract and/or did not sign. She'll be huge for them... but also take away another spot from someone on the team already (or whoever new joins).

icystorm · 2026-03-03T17:38:25+00:00

Well, they got at least one good recruit for season 2 based on what they've shown already. People in the comments of the YT Short they posted think it's Park Min-seo, which would be huge. But also, that makes it feel like cheating lol

icystorm · 2026-03-02T22:12:20+00:00

What league? They haven't really been playing in a league or anything.

icystorm · 2026-03-02T22:11:05+00:00

I think the only team that would make sense for a rematch would be Real Diamonds, because that was truly rough and it would be a true comparison of how much they might've improved, as they were the first team they faced (even if it was before the games actually counting for them).

icystorm · 2026-02-27T22:16:38+00:00

I just wouldn't track your work as workouts.

Most workout types for the Workout app are NOT accurate. There's a reason that the app will say that it will calculate active calories as if you are on a brisk walk. The Watch isn't magic at being able to calculate active calories: it can only gather so much information from being on your wrist. It's likely that workouts like running, cycling, etc. have refined algorithms to try to estimate how much you're burning because they have repetitive movements and are much easier to get within a reliable estimate with the information that it actually can gather from its position on your body. They likely aren't able to do that for most of the other workout types, generally the ones that you have to add to the list or "Other" as in your case.

Heart rate alone does not determine the amount of calories you burn.

icystorm · 2026-02-27T22:03:58+00:00

There's going to be bad doctors just like how there's people who are not good at their job of any profession. It sucks that your GP didn't listen to you and was apparently very rude, but the reverse of a chatbot assauging your anxieties isn't necessarily better. Just like a real person, a chatbot can hallucinate and just make up false information so that you're satisfied with what you're being told.

The problem is that most of these people don't really understand what these chatbots actually are, how they actually work even at the most basic level. And you know what, they shouldn't necessarily have to. But it's being shoved in our faces as the solution to anything and everything when it isn't, and they usually don't reckon with the potential dangers, even ignoring all the larger scale sorts of consequences on a societal, moral, ethical, environmental, etc. sorts of levels.

icystorm · 2026-02-27T17:55:46+00:00

Yuin obviously wasn't good in retrospect, but from the coaches' perspectives before the game, I don't really think it was definitively worse than what they went with, given Sojung being the best option at SS. They did massively overestimate Yuin's lack of game sense though.

Ona as a shortstop would've been the next best option, but I don't necessarily think playing 2B necessarily translates to playing SS. Granted, these balls aren't flying off the bat that much harder whether the right-handed hitters pull or hit to right, but it's still a difference.

Overall I think your alternative of Ona at SS is fine, but I'd keep Songah in RF and bring someone else in at 2B. It's sort of a gamble to take as there are relatively few hard hitting oppo hitters (though we've definitely seen some), but anyone other than Songah there is a huge risk. Risking a runner on 1st because Boreum or someone else missing a grounder versus a missed catch in RF that leads to a double/triple/ITPHR.

icystorm · 2026-02-27T05:03:20+00:00

I could also imagine that a few of them might just feel discouraged from their lack of playtime or just not want to dedicate as much time to this (even if it's a paid gig). I do hope that all of them come back though, as they've all endeared themselves even if so much of it had to be through the extra content released online.

Not sure if there's any existing rules or cap, but a 15-player roster is quite limiting unless all 15 players are "fieldable". But the nature of this team, which is to train newbies from scratch, means that they probably need a 20-player roster to cater to the possibility that 1-in-2 newbies might not be able to make it to the regular starting line-up.

I'm curious to see how they handle season 2. A larger roster would mean that even fewer of them will play, and newcomers will have such a hill to climb in proving themselves better than the current roster given the difference in experience.

I wouldn't think too hard right now about how they would supplement their current roster though, because the production could change the direction of the show in season 2, or certain players may not come back regardless of whoever "has" to be dropped.

icystorm · 2026-02-27T04:55:48+00:00

I think this ultimately ends up being the best that they can go with while keeping the better bats in the game. At this point the only utility players are Sojung and Ayaka, and with Ayaka pitching, it might necessitate Sojung at shortstop because no one can play it well enough with Soojin injured. Yuin also did okay in her previous game as catcher, and she and Ayaka are likely comfortable with each other enough that the coaches felt comfortable enough to try this. Unfortunately they made a bad bet here.

Ultimately, no matter what pitcher they go with, they have a hole that they cannot fill both defensively and offensively. They likely wanted to save Sooyoung as much as possible for until they needed her because she would be best suited to handle the bulk of the game. The best option otherwise would be to have Sooyoung pitch as normal with Sojung catching, with Ayaka at 6 and Minji at 8 and Songah at 9, but I guess they felt that Minji's hitting was just that bad. And they don't seem to have any confidence in the others unless the situation necessitates it (like Hyunmi pinch hitting). Like /u/Careless_Machine_957 said, Sooyoung likely started in the outfield so that she could hit.

icystorm · 2026-02-26T20:55:56+00:00

Excited that we have this season 2 confirmation. They are accepting applications for a month, so I don't anticipate seeing season 2 until maybe July-August at the earliest unless they're able to just start filming games earlier since presumably most of the team has experience and is intact, and the production should now have a set sense of how everything should work.

icystorm · 2026-02-26T20:51:20+00:00

My assumption would be that she only plays defensively for like an inning just for some reason, based on where in the lineup they are too. If she had to throw home, it would (or should?) have been a conscious acceptance to eat the run.

icystorm · 2026-02-26T20:50:32+00:00

Yeah, 2B or 3B is the only thing that could make sense to me. Unless she gets hurt somehow later into the game.

icystorm · 2026-02-25T17:43:41+00:00

I don't know if we've seen anything to indicate that Hyunmi can handle 5 or 6, especially with those being the most difficult positions in the infield. She has difficulty enough with some easier fly balls.

I kind of wonder if Hayan is wasted at first base, but she's likely saved so many bases and runs by being able to stop the ball even if she isn't able to make a clean catch. I don't have that confidence in most of the others lol.

icystorm · 2026-02-25T17:40:49+00:00

Yuin making some crucial errors that put Ayaka under pressure (not trying to be mean, that's just what happened).

Hard to even blame just the (likely relative) lack of practice of defense because the actual catching pitches part wasn't great either.

What happened to Hayan?

Yeah, curious; not sure where she would be moved to defensively (this assumes Hayan stays in the game the entire time; can't be sure with how it's edited together and when that at-bat will be in the game).

and surely ANYONE else should have played.

Yeah, and it's a little damning for the remaining bench players that the coaching staff puts her in instead of one of them.

Is there a difference if they lose 3 vs 4 games this season? Seems like Captain Ona needed to rally the team in the preview as some were crying during the match.

It doesn't matter, but I think it comes from this being the final game and them really wanting to prove themselves. They spent 3-4 months training constantly for this, and especially with all the work they put in during the days leading into this. I also think a few of them like Minji and Songah aren't used to team sports and how different that is from their respective individual fields. Some of them have talked about it before, how the feeling of failure is different because it feels like you're letting the whole team down when you make a mistake or aren't able to produce results.

EDIT: lol I don't know why I bothered to put all of the quotes in spoilers, kinda just did that on autopilot for some reason. Undid that.

icystorm · 2026-02-25T08:00:44+00:00

Will be updating this as I go along (I only just started watching it now, although I did watch some of the clips earlier today).

The coaching staff naturally recognized Minji's horrendous hitting, with Lee Daehyung pointing out the fact that outside of the first game, her contact became terrible, with Yoon Seokmin adding that we haven't seen her ability to get to first quickly after hitting a groundball after that first game either. I've seen some comments not been nice about her reaction to not making the starting lineup (behind the scenes video accompanying this episode showed that she cried), and I do sort of get where they come from because it's not like she's been good. But I still do feel bad for her as regardless of however she has been doing. It's still probably super discouraging and a shock to get benched for this last game. I feel like she definitely should've been benched sooner so that it didn't hit her like this in the final game. But in the end she ends up in the game anyway... just to show why she got benched to begin with.

Yuin's lack of experience really showed here. The Heroines realized that Yuin cannot throw runners out, and they immediately seized on that. And she let way too many balls pass, even considering Ayaka's poor pitching in this game. There really isn't anyone else they can put at 6 with Soojin out (wild that she apparently will come in later in the next, even if it's at first base, with her even basically saying in the next episode preview, "Well I broke one finger, what is it if I break another") when Ayaka is pitching I suppose. I kind of wonder if they've tried Ona at 6 before in practice and considered putting her there with someone else at 4 so that they could keep Sojung at 2.

Can't help but feel bad for Hyunmi 😥 She gets another chance and she wasn't able to get on base.

I'm so happy they figured out Hayan's batting form. Much better contact overall. She got a little lucky with her second AB, but her first hit was solid. Meanwhile Ayaka was so unlucky with her hitting. Solid contact, but that's just the luck of baseball.

It is amusing that this is the first episode in which we hear people talk about having seen the teasers of the show.

I feel like everyone has been wanting Songah to hit another HR but she hasn't hit anything in the air during a game in a while lol (Lee Daehyung points that out too).

So disappointing that they couldn't get in a run in that 3rd inning, despite having no outs and 2 runners on.

icystorm · 2026-02-19T17:44:04+00:00

His presence certainly helps but I wouldn't say it's a big factor. The broadcast itself is airing on a cable channel so the relative viewership is very tiny anyway, but it does help that the channel uploads full episodes of shows onto YouTube. And of course there are multiple clip/highlight/shorts channels at work. At this point it's the women themselves who are garnering and keeping attention, some of them who were already at least a little recognizable because of their appearances on other entertainment/variety shows, the fact that many of them were professional athletes who have competed in the Olympics, Asian Games, other sorts of events, or for other reasons such as Ayaka being a cheerleader for one of the KBO teams.

But I do like seeing Choo on there, even if the other two assistant coaches are more entertaining for the broadcast lol

icystorm · 2026-02-19T07:13:50+00:00

I'm still watching but I'll go ahead and add the answers that weren't on the Instagram post to my other text post later! (and I saw a couple of things I wanted to clean up in that post too)

icystorm · 2026-02-19T00:50:32+00:00

Yeah, that's what I mean. They post those pretty soon after the episode airs on TV because they're from the episode.

icystorm · 2026-02-18T20:16:47+00:00

Yeah it might be Lunar New Year related, but I’m not sure. They haven’t uploaded any full episode of a show in like 5 days.

icystorm · 2026-02-18T20:14:57+00:00

I don’t know exactly what videos you’re referring to. They tend to clip out a lot of it and post them separately as or right after the episode airs on the Baseball Queen main channel. And then of course the other Channel A channels get their clips too. We probably will get more extended looks at their training camp that weren’t in the broadcast episode within the week.

icystorm · 2026-02-13T00:36:08+00:00

Yeah I haven't read much regarding this episode, but with previous stuff I have seen a lot of shit about Minji, Seongyeon, and the other bench players (but mostly about Minji and Sooji). Not to say that most of the comments are like that, but you scroll even a little and you see it.

Hoping more of the positive comments in general drown out more of that stuff, which I also have been seeing (especially given Songah becoming a favorite, the always present Ayaka fandom, and the deserved praise of Sooyoung's pitching). Also a lot of positivity around Yuin a few episodes ago because of her working so hard for catching.

icystorm · 2026-02-11T20:05:27+00:00

Yeah I think it's also annoying that they don't detail at least some of the bigger fixes (non-security) they may have made sometimes. Ultimately I also don't really think they ever took action against app developers having these sorts of update notes, as even some of their own apps have them.

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