Jere Dahlström returns to Koskenkorva

 

Will Dahlström guide KoU out of the battle to avoid relegation

The fortunes to Koskenkorva and Jere Dahlström couldn’t be more different in 2020: KoU struggled to keep their heads above the water and looked like contenders for relegation (if there had been relegation last year), whereas Dahlström helped guide KPL to the finals and win another silver medal to add to his collection. Questions about whether Dahlström was hanging up his boots and calling an end to his career were answered last week with the news that he would be returning to Koskenkorva for 2021. In this article I pose the question - will Dahlström save Koskenkorva from relegation this year?

Dahlström’s career

Anybody who has followed pesis will know the name Jere Dahlström and how he has dominated as a batter over the years. The experience held by Dahlström is immense, with over 1400 RBIs and close to 3000 successful hits than successful hits across 20 seasons in Superpesis. Dahlström has a solid collection of medals as well, with 1 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals so far in his career. 

Dahlström’s time at KoU previously has seen some moderate successes too, with one of his bronze medals being awarded with the club in 2007. His most recent spell with KoU was from 2013 to 2017, seeing the team in the top 8 in 4 out of 5 seasons. However, since 2017, KoU has struggled to keep pace with the teams around them and finished 11th in 2019 and 2020.

The greatest challenge

When players conquer the heights of a sport, there is often a desire to find new and more difficult challenges; the task for Dahlström in 2021 looks to be one of the greatest challenges yet, as he will hope to plug the gaping hole left in KoU’s lineup when Patrik Wahlsten left for Joensuu during the off-season.

Wahlsten was the 2nd highest scorer in terms of RBI in Superpesis last year and batted in 46.7% of KoU’s runs (3+69 over 24 games). This was set against the fact that Koskenkorva gave up the 2nd most amount of runs in the league (204). Without Wahlsten’s big appearances at bat, things looked very bleak indeed for a team that in the recent past was a regular top 8 team.

The return of Dahlström is perhaps the very signing they need. Dahlström himself finished 2020 with the 3rd highest number of RBI, just 2 runs off Wahlsten’s total. With the level of experience and skill that Dahlström can bring to the team, he is a perfect replacement for Wahlsten. The problem however will be whether Dahlström’s bat can overcome the number of runs the team will concede when defending. Juho Hakomäki pitched for KoU in 2020 and (based on my calculations) would give up 8.440 runs on average over 2 jakso. If KoU cannot stop the leaks in the outfield, Dahlström’s 2.92 RBI per game average from 2020 will be nowhere near enough to keep KoU competitive.

With Manse having launched themselves into competition for a top 4 spot, KoU’s main rivals to stay out of relegation will be SiiPe, the newly promoted Hamina, Kankaanpää and Kempele. For me, Kempele continue to make strides forwards and will be very unfortunate to find themselves in a relegation battle. At the other end of things, SiiPe are in prime position to end the season at the very bottom of the table. So the real question will be whether KoU can out-perform KaMa and Hamina... With Dahlström on the lineup, they may just have received a last minute stay of execution and avoid the drop; only time will tell.