South Korea's KBO League is bringing live baseball back in our lives, and that means the return of daily fantasy baseball with real cash prizes on FanDuel!
First pitch on Friday is at 5:30 am ET, and official lineups typically come out an hour before game time at the earliest.
Scoring is identical to what we see in MLB DFS, but FanDuel is condensing the number of starting spots to seven. You start one pitcher as usual, and then only need to roster two infielders, two outfielders, and two utility players to fill out the rest. Your total team salary is also $100 instead of $35,000.
Some websites that can help you get started include MyKBO Stats, FanGraphs, and Baseball-Reference.
Below is an overview of tonight's starting pitchers sorted by FanDuel salary with their 2020 numbers. Opposing team stats are also from this season. Multi-year park factors from the Korean website, Statiz.
Note that on FanDuel these hurlers are listed by their team names (ex: "SK Starting P"), so those are also included.
| Pitcher | Salary | L/R | Opp. | FIP | ERA | WHIP | K% | BB% | Opp. R/G | Opp. K% | Park |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woo-chan Cha (LG) | $27 | L | DOO | 4.98 | 4.05 | 1.43 | 20.6% | 9.7% | 5.95 | 15.3% | 959 |
| Je-seong Bae (KT) | $27 | R | LOT | 4.15 | 2.66 | 1.34 | 14.6% | 9.7% | 4.55 | 16.7% | 973 |
| David Buchanan (Samsung) | $27 | R | @KIA | 5.10 | 3.63 | 1.12 | 14.8% | 6.0% | 5.03 | 16.8% | 1003 |
| Drew Gagnon (Kia) | $26 | R | SAM | 2.54 | 3.57 | 1.07 | 27.4% | 5.5% | 4.95 | 18.4% | 1003 |
| Chang-mo Koo (NC) | $26 | L | HAN | 2.36 | 0.75 | 0.69 | 30.1% | 6.4% | 3.33 | 20.0% | 1012 |
| Seung-won Moon (SK) | $26 | R | @KIW | 3.55 | 4.28 | 1.25 | 24.4% | 4.8% | 5.72 | 18.8% | 979 |
| Bum-soo Kim (Hanwha) | $24 | L | @NC | 6.55 | 4.34 | 1.71 | 19.5% | 18.4% | 6.84 | 17.3% | 1012 |
| Se-woong Park (Lotte) | $24 | R | @KT | 5.30 | 5.91 | 1.54 | 19.5% | 8.2% | 5.74 | 18.2% | 973 |
| Hyun-hee Han (Kiwoom) | $23 | R | SK | 4.10 | 5.12 | 1.53 | 16.1% | 5.8% | 3.92 | 19.4% | 979 |
| Young-ha Lee (Doosan) | $22 | R | @LG | 4.41 | 5.22 | 1.79 | 14.3% | 12.2% | 6.00 | 16.0% | 959 |
Let's check out which pitchers and stacks stand out on tonight's slate
Pitchers
With last night's Dinos-Tigers game getting rained out, that means starter Chang-mo Koo (NC Starting P) has been pushed back to tonight... against the Hanwha Eagles. Whoo boy.
Not only does Koo bring his ridiculous, league-leading 30.1% strikeout rate up against the weakest offense in the league, but because salaries were predetermined before the postponement, he's now priced four bucks cheaper at $26.
Really, unless you're max-entering a boatload of lineups tonight, I wouldn't blame you for going all-in on Koo tonight.
That said, we do have an obvious pivot at the same price tag in Drew Gagnon (Kia Starting P; $26). Gagnon is the other holdover from last night's rainout, and rather than facing the vaunted Dinos, he now gets a much easier draw versus the Samsung Lions. In fact, Gagnon has the KBO's second-best strikeout rate behind Koo, so if anyone can keep up tonight, it's him.
Finally, Seung-won Moon (SK Starting P; $26) is probably your best contrarian choice. I'm wary of Moon's strikeout rate jumping from 16.9% in 2019 to 24.4% in his age-30 campaign, but he could still be worth the leap of faith against Kiwoom. Although the Heroes have a dangerous lineup, they do strike out a fair amount and play in a pitcher-friendly ballpark.
Stacks
Not only do the NC Dinos have their ace pitcher on the mound, but they have themselves a plus matchup against lefty Bum-soo Kim, who's making his first start of 2020 after pitching exclusively out of the bullpen thus far. While Kim did make 16 starts last year, there's a pretty good reason he's typically pitched out of relief -- he owns a career 6.22 ERA and 1.80 WHIP. He's also always struggled with walks, as shown by a career 14.8% walk rate.
It's no surprise that the league's top offense has its stars priced up, but you can still get expected number-two hitter Myung-gi Lee ($9) on the cheap, and both Hee-Dong Kwon ($7) and Suk-Min Park ($10) are putting up solid numbers lower in the order. Aaron Altherr ($16) has shown monster upside all year despite typically batting near the bottom, and you'll want to include him against the southpaw.
The LG Twins look good again tonight, this time taking on a struggling Young-ha Lee. A 14.3% strikeout rate and 12.2% walk rate aren't going to get the job done against the Twins, and while Lee actually posted a sub-4.00 ERA in 2019, he got away with a lackluster 13.0% strikeout rate. This just doesn't look like a pitcher to fear.
KBO home run leader Roberto Ramos ($17) returned to the lineup yesterday after dealing with an ankle injury, so he should once again be a mainstay moving forward. Ji-Hwan Oh ($9) could be the new regular number-two stick after hitting second three straight games. Kang-Nam Yoo ($10) is getting a slight bump in salary, but he just keeps on producing with a .312/.374/.468 slash line.
Although Se-woong Park has improved his strikeout rate this season, the end result has fallen in line with his career 5.34 ERA and 1.56 WHIP. Among qualified pitchers, he's allowing the second-most home runs per 9 innings this season (1.54).
Yong-Ho Jo ($8) and Jeong-Dae Bar ($9) aren't exactly brimming with power, but they're batting high in the lineup, giving you easier paths to Baek-Ho Kang ($16) and Mel Rojas Jr ($16). Veteran Han-Joon Yoo ($12) is an affordable middle-of-the-order bat, too.