Saebyeolbe to throw first pitch at New York Mets vs Phillies game
By Ford James ·
The New York Excelsior player will throw the first pitch at the game between the Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies.
Park ‘Saebyeolbe’ Jong-ryeol of the New York Excelsior will be throwing the first pitch during the game between the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies. It will be the first time the Excelsior will visit New York, despite being the official representation for the city in the Overwatch League. They’re a squad comprised solely of Koreans, and they train in Los Angeles, which is where the league takes place.
Saebyeolbe will be alongisde teammates Kim ‘Pine’ Do-hyeon, Song ‘Janus’ Jun-hwa, Hong ‘ArK’ Yeon-jun, and XL2’s Hwang ‘Fl0w3r’ Yeon-oh, as well as coaches Kim ‘WizardHyeong’ Hyeong-sek, Yu ‘Pavane’ Hyeon-sang, and Andrew Kim who will all be available for a meet and greet at Citi Field prior to to the baseball game.
Excelsior themselves haven’t officially announced the news that Saebyeolbe will be throwing the first pitch, but on their website revealing the team will be visiting the city, they tell meet and greet attendees to “stick around to witness a very special surprise”. This news comes shortly after NYXL were crowned champions of Stage Two, with a thrilling final game against Philadelphia Fusion. Fitting that Saebyeolbe will throw the first pitch against the Phillies then, after defeating their Overwatch counterparts just a few days prior.
NYXL didn’t start off too hot in the final, dropping Route 66 2-1, allowing the Fusion to take a swift 1-0 lead with 38 eliminations from Simon “Snillo” Ekstrom’s Tracer. Excelsior couldn’t comeback after the first map either, falling on Lijiang Tower with a superb triple kill rocket barrage from Josue “Eqo” Corona’s Pharah.
The half-time break was the turning point for the game though, as NYXL came storming out of the gate on Volskaya Industries, holding the full defensive round at the first point, then capturing Point A for the 1-0 victory. Hollywood followed with a similar performance; while Fusion captured the payload, Excelsior held them off the first checkpoint, then broke through on the attacking round to secure the 2-1 victory and tie the scores up at 2-2.
Watch Stage 2 Final | Game 5 PHI @ NYE from OverwatchLeague on www.twitch.tv
Watchpoint: Gibraltar was the home for the final round, and while the Fusion took two points, NYXL outperformed them for the third time in a row and secured the third point for a 3-2 victory, securing the Stage Two trophy and $100,000. This victory also avenged their loss in the final of Stage One, where they fell 3-2 to London Spitfire.
It’s an exciting time to be an Excelsior fan, as they’re undoubtedly showing why they’re one of, if not the top team in the world right now.