Baseball is in the air.
The KBO regular season officially begins less than 12 hours from now and the start of our baseball healing process will hopefully follow suit. In this article we are going to talk specifically about pitching, but don’t worry if you are brand new – we have you covered from every direction here at DFS Army. Be sure to take a look at our overview podcast and KBO introduction article if you need a DFS KBO 101 crash course.
Did you know that ESPN and the KBO reached a TV agreement this morning? Several games will be televised weekly (in English!) and daily highlights will be shown.
Pitching Probables:
Hanwha Eagles (+105) vs. SK Wyverns (-145)
Warwick Saupold vs. Nick Kingham
Lotte Giants (+110) vs. KT Wiz (-150)
Dan Straily vs. Odrisamer Despaigne
NC Dinos (-155) vs. Samsung Lions (+110)
Drew Rucinski vs. Baek Jung-hyun
Doosan Bears (-160) vs. LG Twins (+120)
Raul Alcantara vs. Cha Woo-chan
Kiwoom Heroes (-140) vs. Kia Tigers (Even)
Jake Brigham vs. Yang Hyun-jong
It is statistically clear that many players transitioning from the MLB to KBO perform better. But what does that actually mean when you are trying to project a performance for your DFS lineups tonight? For a better idea of how to use Dan Straily, Odrisamer Despaigne and Nick Kingham in your DraftKings or Fanduel lineups, let’s look at how a few other pitchers have recently transitioned.
Raul Alcantara (starting tonight) made his KBO debut last season after playing the 2016/2017 seasons in the MLB. 
Warwick Saupold (starting tonight) made his KBO debut last season after playing in the MLB for the previous 3 seasons.
Tyler Wilson made his KBO debut in 2018 after playing 3 years in the MLB.
The list goes on and trends remain similar. Lower ERAs, lower WHIPs and more often than not higher SO/9. Is it possible that some of the three new opening day starters flop? Absolutely. But chances are, they will be relatively safe plays – especially given their matchups tonight. However, don’t let that stop you from stacking against them in GPP… I’ve got my 👀 eyes 👀 on you Odrisamer Despaigne.
Clinks Thinks
Trying to nail down pitching tonight is going to be interesting as there are a lot of intriguing variables at play – first game jitters, empty ballparks and new rosters to name a few. As you begin building your lineups, keep these things in mind:
- Pay attention to names
- There are a lot of players with similar (or even the same) last names. Look things over multiple times and save yourself the heartache of rostering the wrong player.
- Wins and IP are going to matter more
- Hitters don’t strike out as often in the KBO. Be sure you are targeting pitchers who you think will have run support and can pitch deep into a game.
- Do your best to stay up to date with lineups through first pitch.
- It sounds like we may not get final lineups submitted until 1-2 hours before game time. This makes for a late night but will help ensure no dead spots in your lineups.
- Give yourself the best chance to win
- Use all of the tools at your disposal to conduct your research and build lineups. Utilize the MyKBOStats database, follow the KBO reddit and join the amazing DFS Army Community – slack chat with coaches, research articles/data, cheat sheets and a DraftKings lineup optimizer to give you an edge over the competition.
Personally, I will be playing a bunch of Brigham, Kingham, Alcantara and Yang Hyun-jong with Dan Straily and Warwick Saupold as GPP staples. Odrisamer Despaigne will be a fade for me as his work in Chicago last year did anything but inspire confidence… even with the league transition. *I will mostly be avoiding pitchers in the same lineup from the same game.
Good luck and go Giants!
