LG Twins closer Son Ju-young reflects on 2025 season, welcomes back former closer Go Woo-suk

LG Twins closer Son Ju-young has a photographic memory of his team's title-winning 2025 season.

After Son worked a perfect ninth inning for their 5-1 win over the Doosan Bears on Wednesday in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), the Twins remained in third place with a win-loss-tie record of 66-51-1. With 26 games to go, they are 5 1/2 games back of the league-leading Samsung Lions.

Son precisely recalled that the Twins had a 5 1/2-game lead over the second-place Hanwha Eagles with 26 games left in 2025. The Eagles nearly caught them down the stretch before finishing 1 1/2 games back.

With the Twins having been on the other side just a year ago, Son believes they are right where they want to be this year.

"I am looking at the standings now and thinking, 'Hey, we are still in a pretty good spot,'" Son told reporters at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. "Last year, we almost got caught. So it can be done. I am not giving up on any hope just yet."

Son has enough reason for optimism now. Earlier Wednesday, the Twins reunited with their former All-Star closer Go Woo-suk, who came home following a short stint with the Minnesota Twins in Major League Baseball in July.

Son and Go are close friends, having both been drafted out of high school in 2016.

Go was one of the KBO's top closers during his first tour of duty with LG from 2017 to 2023. However, Go will be a setup man for Son this time. A former starter, Son has thrived in the closer role this year, recording 25 saves to rank second in the league. And since Go will not be available for the postseason anyway -- players must be on the active roster as of July 31 to be eligible -- the Twins will not ask Son to cede the ninth-inning job, only to get it back in October.

"It will be awesome to have him back," Son said of Go, who is scheduled to join the club Thursday. "I think I will feel pretty comfortable pitching after him, because he will do a great job keeping the other team off the board."

The Twins have had several relievers go down with injuries this year, including You Young-chan, who started the year as the closer but suffered a season-ending elbow injury in April -- which forced Son into the closer role in what was seen at the time as a desperate measure.

Son said Go's arrival will send a jolt to the entire bullpen.

"It has not seemed so obvious in the clubhouse yet, but I think the guys will feel more confident having Woo-seok around here," Son said. "I think we will all be fired up."