DFS KBO: Tuesday Cheat Sheet

We're entering the final week of regularly-scheduled KBO games, with two weeks of rainout makeup games to follow. Even after a disastrous stretch which saw them lose five straight games, the Dinos still hold a five-game lead over the second-place Twins with just 14 games left to play (and just 11 left for the Twins). They could start resting their starters soon, though they're not quite safe yet, so we should still see full-strength squads for another few days. The back end of the playoff picture tells a similar story, as the fifth-place Bears hold a 4.5-game lead on the Tigers and a five-game lead on the Giants. Expect the Tigers and Giants to continue to push until they're mathematically eliminated, however. Expect the Bears to keep pushing until the end as well, as the top three spots in the standings each offer at least one bye during the playoffs. With just 2.5 games separating the second-place Twins from the fifth-place Bears, most of the contenders should be playing meaningful games right down to the wire. Tuesday's slate, which kicks off at 5:30 a.m. ET, has perhaps the deepest group of aces in recent memory.

Pitchers

While it's not totally clear which of the elite starting pitchers on this slate is the best, it's quite clear that Raul Alcantara ($10,800) has the best matchup among the group, as he'll face the last-ranked Eagles lineup. The righty posted an unremarkable 4.01 ERA in his KBO debut for the Wiz last season and looked to be heading down a similar path at the start of this year, posting a 4.63 ERA over his first six outings, but he's been on a completely different level for the majority of the campaign. Over his last 21 starts, he owns a 2.30 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP while failing to record a quality start just twice. He's coming off a dominant outing in which he held the Wyverns scoreless while striking out a season-high 11 batters over seven innings and could produce similar numbers against another weak lineup here.

I'll lean ever so slightly towards Eric Jokisch ($9,800) over the slightly more expensive Dan Straily ($10,500) as the second-best ace on this slate. Both make excellent choices, however. Straily rebounded from a recent rough patch to post a 1.64 ERA and a 0.82 WHIP over his last five outings, but Jokisch has slightly outdone him, posting a 1.09 ERA and a 0.82 WHIP over that same stretch. Straily normally gets the edge over Jokisch due to his better strikeout numbers, though Jokisch actually has him beat there as well over their last five starts, posting a 9.3 K/9 compared to 8.5 for Straily. With so little to separate them, I'd take the cost savings and go with Jokisch.

Hyun Jong Yang ($7,400) doesn't often find himself among a slate's cheaper pitchers, so he certainly looks like a bargain Tuesday. Facing the Dinos adds plenty of risk, though the league's best lineup managed just 2.9 runs per game last week, so there's rarely been a better time to pitch against them. The veteran lefty hasn't come close to replicating his 2.29 ERA and 1.07, posting a 4.66 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP thus far, though those numbers have mostly been held back by a disastrous start to the season. He's allowed more than three runs just once in his last 11 starts, a stretch in which he owns a 3.05 ERA, a 1.26 WHIP and an 8.9 K/9.

Top Targets

The Tigers could have been a potential stack recommendation on a different day, as Mike Wright isn't nearly the intimidating opponent that a foreign starter should be at the moment. He allowed nine runs while recording just give outs his last time out, giving him a 5.98 ERA over his last eight starts. Hyung Woo Choi ($4,600) will get the platoon advantage against him and has been the Tigers' top bat for quite some time. He's gone hitless just once in his last 18 games, a stretch in which he's hitting .408/.447/.690.

Ah Seop Son ($4,300) is the man most likely to single-handedly spoil Mel Rojas Jr.'s Triple Crown push, as his .357 batting average leads Rojas's second-place mark by seven points. The 32-year-old is closing the season quite strong, hitting .402/.458/.575 over his last 21 games, scoring 18 runs. He'll get the platoon advantage against Twins righty Won Suk Ryu, in what could be a bullpen game, as the 30-year-old has pitched in relief in all of his six career KBO appearances.

Bargain Bats

The Heroes could have been one of today's recommended stacks against Dae Eun Lee, who owns a 6.20 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP on the season, though too many of their top bats have been slumping lately. Joon Tae Park ($2,700) will get the platoon advantage against Lee and is quite a bargain given his role as the leadoff man. On the season as a whole, he hasn't done a whole lot other than get on base, though his lopsided .252/.397/.330 slash line makes him a decent fit for the leadoff spot. He's gone 7-for-17 at the plate over his last four games, scoring five runs.

Ricardo Pinto recorded a 0.95 ERA over his final three starts of September, but he's fallen right back into his previous struggles in his first two October outings, posting an 8.44 ERA, a 1.78 WHIP and a 6:6 K:BB. Quite a few fairly cheap Lions will be worth a look against him, including leadoff man Hae Min Park ($3,100). In his last 12 games, he's recorded eight multi-hit contests and scored 10 runs. He's not a star at the plate, but his .301/.349/.425 season slash line is perfectly respectable for his cheap price, especially since he sits second in the league with 25 steals.

Stacks to Consider

Bears vs. Ee Whan Kim: Jose Fernandez ($6,200), Jae Hwan Kim ($5,900), Jae Il Oh ($4,700)

While Ee Whan Kim is coming off a strong outing in which he held the Tigers scoreless over six innings, that's very much an outlier given the 20-year-old righty's season-long performance. Overall, his 5.98 ERA and 1.82 WHIP in 12 starts and a pair of relief appearances tell the story well enough on their own, and a deeper dive doesn't do him any favors. He's walked more batters than he struck out, just as he did during his 38-inning debut last season. Expect the Bears' top bats to be on base all day against him.

Fernandez doesn't necessarily deserve to be the most expensive hitter on the slate most nights, though he doesn't look overpriced here given that he'll get the platoon advantage against a righty as shaky as Kim. He'd been in a bit of a rough patch recently, though he appears to be past it. He's riding a five-game hitting streaking, hitting .429 with a homer, five runs and five RBI over that stretch. When he's on, which he seems to be, he's among the best hitters in the league, as his .345/.409/.504 season slash line indicates.

Like Fernandez, Jae Hwan Kim is also riding a five-game hitting streak. He's hitting .348 with a pair of homers, five runs and five RBI over that stretch. On the season as a whole, the 32-year-old hasn't gotten back to the level he showed from 2016 to 2018, when he posted a four-digit OPS for three straight seasons and won an MVP in the last of those years, but his .868 OPS is nevertheless far better than his .796 mark from last season.

Oh rounds out the Bears' trio of excellent left-handed bats. Like Fernandez and Kim, he's hit safely in five straight games, and he's actually been the best of the bunch over that stretch. He's hit .522 in those contests while driving in six runs. It's quite an impressive turnaround after he hit .157/.286/.217 over his previous 24 games. The recent stronger performance is much closer to expectations for the veteran third baseman, who's posted an OPS of .864 or better while hitting 21 or more homers in each of the last four seasons.

Wyverns vs. Yoon Dong Heo: Jeong Choi ($5,800), Jamie Romak ($5,200), Tae Gon Oh ($3,300)

Heo has somehow avoided giving up more than three runs in any of his 10 starts thus far in his rookie season, though he hasn't done it in a remotely sustainable way. He's struck out just 8.1 percent of opposing batters while walking 15.6 percent. Additionally, he's averaged just four innings per start, so it's not as though giving up three runs in an outing is all that impressive. He owns a 4.95 ERA, but his 1.73 WHIP and 15:29 K:BB suggest things could be a lot worse. Even a generally unimpressive lineup such as the Wyverns' shouldn't have too much trouble against the 19-year-old lefty, especially in the league's most hitter-friendly park.

Choi moved into second on the KBO's all-time home run leaderboard earlier in the season with his 352nd career homer. He's now up to 364, inducing 29 this season. He needs just a single homer in the Wyverns' last 12 games to reach the 30-homer plateau for the fourth time in the last five seasons. He'll have a decent chance to get it Tuesday given the park and opposing pitcher, though he's been hitting homers everywhere against everyone lately, clearing the fence four times in his last seven games.

Canadian slugger Romak has shown plenty of pop lately as well, homering two in his last three games, a stretch in which he's gone 5-for-12 with three walks and five RBI. He's gone through rocky patches at times this season, but the 35-year-old is going to end his fourth career KBO campaign with quite strong numbers. His .930 OPS represents his second-best mark, while he's three homers shy of tying his second-best total in that category.

Finding a third hitter to pair with Choi and Romak has been difficult throughout the year, which goes a long way towards explaining the Wyverns' precipitous fall. Keeping this at just a two-player "stack" could be the way to go, but I've gone with Oh here to round things out. He hit a poor .220/.291/.280 in 40 games with the Wiz before a mid-season trade. With his new team, he's fared far better, hitting .301/.338/.449 while adding 11 steals in 41 contests. He's gone hitless in his last three games, which does make him somewhat less interesting, but getting the platoon advantage against a pitcher like Heo makes him worth it nonetheless.