Last night was not friendly to KBO DFS players. With 3 of the 5 games getting rained out, including the Doosan game a mere two minutes before lock, even those of us who were awake to adjust struggled to handle all of these variables in time. The added factor of late lineup announcements and a delay in some optimizers getting those updates translated caused owners some additional pain. With all these things in mind, Awesemo has added some new features to daily KBO DFS projections, including both “set it and forget it” and “rise and grind” level projections, for different approaches to the game.
There’s not a ton to recap, with only two games taking place. One interesting nugget that we picked up on the ESPN broadcast is that there isn’t a standard pitcher’s mound in the KBO, which might be something to keep an eye on. Mound height has a profound impact on the angle at which a pitcher releases the ball toward home, and a raised or lowered mound should definitely have an effect on certain types of pitchers in certain parks.
I’ll use the rest of this space to remind you that tomorrow is Mother’s Day. If your mom is anything like mine, she’s doing whatever your version of reading daily columns that she doesn’t understand about Korean baseball is, just because she loves you and wants to be close to you. Give her a call, send her flowers, get on Zoom, whatever you do take a sec and make her feel special.
Check out the rest of our KBO DFS content, Awesemo’s projections, rankings, and ownership on the site for all your KBO DFS needs.
As usual, I’m going to look game by game, calling out a hitter or two from each team, and giving some top stacking options as we go. Pricing and popularity will be considered, more so as trends begin to emerge over the coming weeks. The numbers included with Suggested Stack are the projected lineup positions I would target for stacking that team, but do not restrict yourself exclusively to those spots. For example, if it says Wyverns 3-6 it means 3,4,5,6 in the projected lineup. If it says 1-2-3-5 it means those guys. If it means a two-man it will say so. I’m also going to start trying to include positions more, hopefully it helps speed up the process of finding guys as you build lineups.
With lock still hours away (at 1am today), official lineups have not been released, so be sure to double-check status before you plug players into your lineup.
KBO DFS Picks: Game Breakdown for DraftKings + FanDuel
Hanwha Eagles @ Kiwoom Heroes – 9.5 run total (4.20/5.52) – Suggested Stack: Heroes 1-4
With Kiwoom playing their home game in a dome, this was one of the games that actually played last night. The Heroes took a 5-3 victory, propelled by a Jung-hoo Lee HR and exploiting 5 walks to the 8 and 9 hitters in the lineup, directly resulting in 3 runs. Hanwha draws righty Jake Brigham here in game 2. Brigham has been a high-end starter in the KBO the last two years, and the Eagles might have some difficulty scoring tonight. Looking to veteran hitters in the middle of the Eagles order, Sung-yeol Lee ($11/$2.1k) is underpriced on both sites, and could make for a good two-man with Jared Hoying ($14/$4.1k)
Kiwoom draws Warwick Saupold, coming off a complete game shutout in the season opener. Saupold is not nearly as good as he looked the other day, but he did have an effective KBO year in 2019. The Heroes have the highest run total of the day by more than half a run, and are one of two teams with more than 5 implied runs, so Vegas isn’t on board with Saupold either. The projected lineup has Taek-keun Lee (“Take Leeeee on…” $9/$2.4k) hitting 3rd in the Kiwoom lineup, ahead of popular slugger Byung-ho Park ($15/$5k), Lee’s savings make the pair an interesting but likely popular combination either as a 2 man stack or part of a larger one.
Kia Tigers @ Samsung Lions – 8 run total (4.42/3.76) – Suggested Stack: Tigers 3-6
Kia’s offense looked anemic against the Lions last night, managing only a feeble 2 run performance that included a HR from their 9-hitter, a largely unowned catcher. Kia ranks in the middle of Awesemo’s stack tool on both sites again tonight and are drawing well under what their ownership should be for their probability of success, making them a strong target again tonight. Chan-ho Park ($11/$4.2k) went up slightly in price from when he was recommended here yesterday, but still makes a fine option at the top of a KIA stack ahead of more powerful hitters like Hyung-woo Choi ($14/$5.8k).
Who said Samsung sucks? The Lions proved whoever that was wrong, at least for one night. Pounding Kia for 14 runs on 13 hits, Samsung was all over the base paths in a rout. The Lions got big games up and down the lineup, with a nice 3 RBI contribution from outfielder Dong-yeop Kim ($10/$2.5k) who we like again tonight against a lefty, lineup depending. Tyler Saladnio ($15/$4.0k) should be hitting cleanup and is a prime candidate to go deep here. That said, the Lions are one of two teams with an implied total under 4 runs. This has them ranked in the bottom 4 of the stacking tool, where they are drawing more ownership than probability of success on both sites.
KT Wiz @ Doosan Bears – 9.0 run total (4.26/4.93) – Suggested Stack: Bears 2-5
This was the tough one. Scratching the game about 2 minutes before lock is a good way to lose a lot of your new fans. The fact that CSV edits and optimizers didn’t come through for KBO DFS owners didn’t help things either, as we scrambled and failed to swap out way too many Doosan stacks. Tonight, the Wiz are looing to get things in gear against veteran Yong-chan Lee, who had been scheduled to start yesterday. I still like the look of outfielder Baek-ho Kang ($14/$5.5k). Despite his price going up by a buck on FanDuel and coming down by $200 on DK, I still see a discount here given his power production and upside. Getting him in with some Rojas and Yoo is the way to go with a KT stack.
With not much changing about the matchup, Doosan is once again Awesemo’s top ranked stack on both sites. Jose Fernandez ($16/$5.2k) salary actually came down on both sites, despite not playing, after we mentioned it had gone very high, so we have to like him again today. Fernandez’ teammate, outfielder Kun-Woo Park ($13/$4.2k), came down even more in salary, with DraftKings dropping him by $500. Getting these two together as a pair or as part of a Doosan stack is going to be a popular construction, but not one you should avoid as it’s one of the more likely spots to go off on the slate.
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SK Wyverns @ Lotte Giants – 8 run total (3.65/4.54) – Suggested Stack: Giants 1-4/5
SK and Lotte were the most likely game to scratch all day, and they met that expectation early. The Wyverns now miss out on the Giants weakest starter and must face import Dan Straily tonight. Straily had an effective first start in the KBO earlier this week and is one of the more likely candidates for the KBO’s equivalent of the Cy Young award. If you play the SK stack starting up top with leadoff hitter Jong-wook Ko ($8/$3.7k) makes sense, and Jamie Romak ($13/$5.7k) looks a bit underpriced on FanDuel. Keep an eye on the top stacks tool, as this is coming together SK is still high-ranked but over-owned on both sites.
There’s a lot to like for Lotte here, but that “Lotte to like…” dad-joke that keeps popping up in interviews and on sites is definitely not one of them. With a 4.54 run total, Lotte ranks around the middle of the offenses tonight, and they take on a capable starter. Jun-woo Jeon ($14/$3.9k) offers a nice price as a keystone in your Lotte stacks tonight as the veteran infielder looks to build on his strong start to the season.
LG Twins @ NC Dinos – 9.0 run total – (5.0/4.19) – Suggested Stack: Twins 3-6
 LG and NC both are ranked in the middle of the top stacks tool tonight, with the Dinos providing a little more value on FanDuel, while LG does so on DraftKings. The Twins once again draw shaky 20-year-old 2nd year lefty Young-gyu Kim, LG has a chance to do some damage here. Outfielder Eun-Sung Chae ($11/$2.9k) was our choice in the same spot last night, and his price came down slightly on DraftKings. Getting him into your Twins stacks with Roberto Ramos and Hyun-soo Kim is a solid construction tonight.
The Dinos and their jacked gold chain wearing mascot take on righty Casey Kelly who had a very strong first year in the KBO in 2019. Drawing his first start of the year Kelly comes in armed with a middling fastball-curveball-change arsenal Kelly doesn’t overwhelm or strike many batters out, but does manage to limit contact and prevent runs. Once again, we have to like using the still underpriced outfielder Sung-bum Na ($11/$3.9k) who makes a lot of other things in the Dinos stack work.
Favorite Stack: Kia
HR Call: Tyler Saladino (edit: SAM)
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