This article is for the KBO slate and has notes on the NPB slate as well.
Good news there is no bad weather anticipated for Friday’s games. Slate locks at the regular 5:30 AM EST time and is full (5 games).
PITCHERS
Dan Straily
He got PPD and pushed back again which gives a slight pause to consider fading him due to pitchers just being creates of habit but then we realize he’s facing Samsung and they are one of the better teams to target with pitching. Only 12 of the Lions 40 home runs as a team have come on the road this season. Combined with Straily’s incredible strike out rate makes him too hard to pass up because even if he doesn’t rack up the strikeouts for some reason, he shouldn’t give up damage against Samsung. He’s chalk we will eat.
Warwick Saupold
He’s been a lone half way decent bright spot for the Eagles this year. I know KT Wiz have been on fire but this park has shown to play very well for pitching and at $1300 more than his opponent Heyong Jun So, we’re finding a nice SP pivot which is needed with the 80%+ owned Straily as SP1.
Casey Kelly
Too pricey for my liking today, the $500 over Saupold isn’t enough for me to go with him, but he’s someone I project to get in the 16-18 point range today and is likely the 2nd highest owned pitcher going after Straily with Heyong Jun So being third highest.
KBO STACKS
Doosan Bears … The marquee match-up this weekend will be the Dino’s and Bears going at it in Doosan’s home park. A great spot to target for offense is quite the understatement, especially with the pitchers on the bump for Friday night. Hard to argue with the Bears 1-4 right now as all four are over 10 PPG in their last 5. Really like the lefties in this spot.
- Jose Fernandez, Joo Hwan Choi, Jae Hwan Kim, Jae Il Oh
LG Twins … Remember when Roberto Ramos was dirt cheap and homered every day? Feels like forever ago. Well he gets to beat up on a righty who has been hit really hard (.243 ISO) by lefties this season. The Twins project to start four lefties at the top of their order and Ramos/Hyun Soo Kim would be the two power bats to benefit the most.
- Hyun Soo Kim, Roberto Ramos
KIA Tigers … The other game to look at for offense is between the Tigers and Heroes. Preston Tucker has been a machine on weekends, but hasn’t done anything since … wait for it … last Friday. With a day off yesterday I expect Tucker to bounce back and have a nice weekend.
- Preston Tucker, Ji Wan Na, Ho Ryung Kim
HR Calls: Hyun-Soo Kim, Preston Tucker, Jae-Il Oh
NPB Slate for Friday
I really enjoy the NPB and it’s a shame the first night snuck up on us and it had so much overlay because DraftKings didn’t prepare anyone for it. I believe it could grow, but really if you want to build on a small bankroll this is a good spot to go instead of KBO.
PITCHER RANKINGS
This is a loaded pitching slate and one to pay up for.
You cannot afford on the NPB slates to miss when there’s multiple pitchers going for 25 points. There’s just not enough bats in your lineup to make up the difference between one pitcher getting 25 and yours getting 10 or 12. On FanDuel for MLB you can get away with missing a little on pitcher because the 8 hitters and weighted scoring system towards hitters makes it easier to catch-up a gap. On DK with two pitchers sometimes you can make up scoring with SP2 and the extra two hitters. But with so few spots in your lineup you just cannot afford to get cute and in a pitching dominated league like this, we gotta get over 20 tonight or you won’t cash anywhere.
- Shota Imanaga (YOK) vs Tigers .. Looks like the best strike-otu upside on the slate and is affordable at only $10,900. The Tigers lineup is mostly lefties as well which gives him a nice LvL boost — including Justin 0 for 4 Bour.
- Tomoyuki Sugiano (YOM) … Heavy favorite but drawing a game on the road against a team with some power in the Swallows. Coming off a great first game of the season he should rack up strikeouts but is at risk for giving up HR.
- Takahiro Norimoto (TOH) … Expecting a pitchers duel between the Fighters and Eagles — he’s at home which to me is a nice boost.
OFFENSE
Unlike pitching, offense to me is fairly clear cut and the spot to go all in with a couple teams on today IMO.
- Giants — Sakamoto and Okamoto are on fire and both homered again yesterday. Throw in Yoshihiro Maru as a third bat.
- Lions — Yamakawa, Mori, Nakamura, Tonosaki
One off bats
- Masataka Yoshida (ORI)
- Tetsuto Yamada (YAK)
- Yuki Yanagita (FUK)
- Neftali Soto (YOK)
- Seiya Suzuki (HIR)
