Intro to KBO – 10 Ways To Beat Korean Baseball On Fanduel or Draftkings

Baseball is back! Well, kind of. Although Major League Baseball is still sorting out what their season will look like, the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) officially begins their regular season in just two days. For baseball fans like myself, this is awesome news. To make things even sweeter, Draftkings and Fanduel have already posted contests for opening day. Baseball DFS is back and we cannot wait to jump in.

BClinks is a contributor and coach for baseball and eSports at dfsarmy.com. His success over the last few years has led him to help others as they embark on their own daily fantasy sports journey. You can follow him on Twitter or in our DFSArmy Slack channels talking about baseball, football and Call of Duty. BClinks only recently started contributing but has been part of the DFSArmy for several years and would love nothing more than to help you achieve your DFS goals.

Whether you are diving in head first to the DFS world of KBO or simply trying to better understand how the league works, you are in the right place. Here are 10 things you should know about the KBO – including a team/player breakdown at the end.

1. The KBO is very similar to MLB in rules and approach

There is hardly any learning curve for even the most casual baseball fan as you will notice hardly any major differences in the way the sport is played in Korea. This is especially awesome if you are looking to get involved with the daily fantasy aspect of it. If trying to compare skillset, the KBO is roughly AA to AAA skill-wise
when measured up with MLB. Players even move from the KBO to MLB and vice-versa, but more on that in a bit.

2. There are a few small differences to note from MLB to KBO  📝

• There are only 10 total teams in the Korean baseball league and each team plays 144 games in the regular season.
• A designated hitter is used across the board (pitchers do not hit) and make no mistake – this is a hitters league.
• There is a 3 extra-inning limit and if a game is still tied after the 12th inning, it officially ends in a tie.
• Bullpens are the weakest link for most teams and are organized differently. Like the MLB, there is usually a closer. However, there isn’t as much structure leading up to that point. The rest of the bullpen is organized into two groups – the “securing” group (when team has the lead) and the “chasing” group (when team is playing from behind).

3. There are no “unwritten rules” in the KBO ✏️ 

This might make baseball purists cringe, but the KBO mindset is essentially to “pimp everything.” Crazy bat flips and dugout celebrations that will bring you back to your days in little league are common practice. These bat flips are sure to put a smile on the faces of Tim Anderson, Javy Baez and Jose Bautista 🙂

Did you miss opening night?  djprough was there, and scored our first 4-figure cash.  Through guided cheatsheets, projections, and answers to questions from our KBO guru coaching, the lineup came together at the top of the lineups across the industry!  Great job, dj…..and more continued success.

It’s not too late to join the winning team.  Just look up on the leaderboards and you’ll see our helmets.  We can help you, too.  Simply take a peek at our VIP tier and use code CLINK when you want to take your game to the next level for a 20% off discount each and every month.

4. Hitting > Starting Pitching > Bullpen > Fielding

• Even with de-juiced baseballs, the KBO is a hitters-first league. From a daily fantasy sports perspective, this is critical. Save your money for the big hitters.
• Starting pitching continues to improve but many who excel are swooped up by MLB teams (see Josh Lindblom and Kwang-Hun Kim from last year). Pitchers strike out batters at a much lower rate and velocity is lower in the KBO so wins will be even more important to target when playing DFS.
• Like mentioned above, the opposing bullpen is often a paradise for hitters. Once the starter is lifted, offenses tend to come alive. The one exception is the closer as there are several who pitched very well last year.
• Fielding can get… interesting… and has been described as a circus. This leads to more scoring chances and more overall offense.

5. You will recognize players from the MLB

Each team is now allowed to roster and play up to 3 foreign-born players. These include names like Nick Kingham (Pirates), Chris Flexen (Mets) and Aaron Altherr (Phillies) among many others. If you follow baseball, chances are good that you will see someone you’ve heard of.

6. Games will be broadcast live on Twitch for free  📺

• KBO on Twitch
• No English Broadcast yet but it does sound like ESPN and the KBO are close to an agreement. We will let you know as soon as anything becomes official.

7. Overall DFS Strategy  – Stacking is still king  👑

Draftkings has actually decided to keep the same exact format they use for MLB. In classic fashion, FanDuel decided to switch a few things up and be different. In any case, team stacking will be crucial. If you aren’t familiar, “stacking” in baseball DFS is a lineup-building method that encourages playing 2, 3 or even 4 players from the same team in a single DraftKings or Fanduel lineup. Players who are positively correlated (in this case, close together in the batting order) give you the best chance of scoring more points. For example: Lets say the first two hitters on a team get on base and the third player in the order hits a home run. It would be great to roster the home run hitter but it would be even better to stack the first 3 hitters. If you stacked them, you would get points for the hits & runs scored from the first 2 players as well as the home run points. You can take my word for it – stacking works! The picture below is from October 2019 using stacked lineups. And by the way… if you are looking to build multiple stacked lineups, don’t miss out on our domination station optimizer (DraftKings only). It will be up and running for KBO contests and is a multi-entry game changer!

8. KBO Game Schedules

• The season is starting over a month later than usual but they are committed to a full, 144 game regular season
• No games played on Monday but 5 games/day every other day
• Start times are late if you are watching from USA so get your coffee ready
  • ☕️ First pitch usually at either 12am CST, 3am CST or 4:30am CST 
☕️

9. Stats, News and Updates

The DFS Army will have your daily fantasy coverage throughout the season and you won’t want to miss a single day of that. We will have projections, strategy articles, player updates, all of the data you could ever dream of and our domination station. We’ve got you covered!

If you wanted to take a look yourself, you can sign up at dfsarmy.com and enter the code “CLINK” at checkout for an extra 20% off.

Another fantastic resource for league information & stats is MyKBO Stats. There is a website and an iPhone app that will even have pitch by pitch updates for each game.

10. Teams and Players (2019 Ranks)

Doosan Bears (88-55-1)

Team Pitching: 2nd
Team Hitting: 2nd
Notable Pitchers: Chris Flexen (Mets), Young-Ha Lee (17-4, 3.64 ERA)
Notable Hitters: José Miguel Fernández (.344/.409, 15 HR), Kun-Woo Park (.319/397), Soo-Bin Jung (26 SB), Jae-IL Oh (21 HR)

Kiwoom Heroes (86-57-1)
Team Pitching: 3rd
Team Hitting: 1st
Notable Pitchers: Jake Brigham (13-5, 2.96 ERA), Eric Jokisch (13-9, 3.13 ERA), Won-Tae Choi (11-5, 3.38 ERA), Sang-Su Kim (40 Holds)
Notable Hitters: Jung-Hoo Lee (.336/.386), Ha-Seong Kim (19 HR, 33 SB), Byung-Ho Park (.280/.398, 33 HR)

SK Wyverns (88-55-1)
Team Pitching: 1st
Team Hitting: 4th
Notable Pitchers: Nate Kingham (Pirates), Seung-Won Moon (3.88 ERA), Jong-Hun Park (3.88 ERA), Jae-Hoon Ha (1.98 ERA, 36 Saves)
Notable Hitters: Jamie Romak (.276/.370, 29 HR), Jeong Choi (.292/.399, 29 HR), Jong-Wook Ko (.323, 31 SB)

LG Twins (79-64-1)
Team Pitching: 4th
Team Hitting: 6th
Notable Pitchers: Casey Kelly (14-12, 2.55 ERA), Tyler Wilson (14-7, 2.92 ERA), Woo-Suk Go (1.52 ERA, 35 Saves)
Notable Hitters: Eun-Seong Chae (.315/.358)

NC Dinos (73-69-2)
Team Pitching: 5th
Team Hitting: 3rd
Notable Pitchers: Drew Rucinski (9-9, 3.05 ERA), Jong-Hyun Won (31 Saves)
Notable Hitters: Eui-Ji Yang (.354/.438, 20 HR), Min-Woo Park (.344/.403), Sung-Bum Na (.366/.443 shortened season)

KT Wiz (71-71-2)
Team Pitching: 6th
Team Hitting: 5th
Notable Pitchers: Odrisamer Despaigne (CWS)
Notable Hitters: Baek-Ho Kang (.336/.416, 13 HR), Mel Rojas Jr (.322/.381, 24 HR), Jae-Gyun Hwang (.283/,357, 20 HR)

Kia Tigers (62-80-2)
Team Pitching: 8th
Team Hitting: 9th
Notable Pitchers: Hyeon-Jong Jang (16-8, 2.29 ERA), Kyeong-Chan Moon (24 Saves, 1.31 ERA)
Notable Hitters: Chan-Ho Park (39 SB), Hyoung-Woo Choi (.300/.413, 17 HR)

Samsung Lions (60-83-1)
Team Pitching: 7th
Team Hitting: 7th
Notable Pitchers: Jung-Hyun Baek (8-10, 4.24 ERA), Kyi-Min Woo (15 Saves, 2.75 ERA), Ben Lively (KC)
Notable Hitters: Tyler Saladino (MIL), Won-Seok Lee (.246/.327, 19 HR)

Hanwha Eagles (58-86-0)
Team Pitching: 9th
Team Hitting: 8th
Notable Pitchers: Chad Bell (11-10, 3.50 ERA), Warwick Saupold (12-11, 3.51 ERA)
Notable Hitters: Tae-Kyun Kim (.305/.382), Jae-Hoon Choi (.290/.398), Sung-Yu Lee (.256/.343, 21 HR), Jared Hoying (.284/.340, 18 HR, 22 SB)

Lotte Giants (48-93-3)
Team Pitching: 10th
Team Hitting: 10th
Notable Pitchers: Adrian Sampson (TEX), Dan Straily (BAL), Seung-Lak Son (9 Saves, 3.93 ERA)
Notable Hitters: Jun-Woo Jeon (.301/.359, 22 HR), Dae-ho Lee (.285/.355, 16 HR), Ah-Seop Son (.295/.360, 13 SB), Dixon Machado (DET)

 

I hope this article has been helpful for you and cannot emphasize enough how excited I am about the KBO and what it means for baseball. If you are looking for even more introductory coverage of the KBO, be sure to check out the most recent podcast from one of our senior contributors who talks about his KBO experiences while living in Korea. And of course, if there is anything else we can do to help you, please do not hesitate to reach out.

⚾️ Play ball! ⚾️