Matt hit yet another KBO parlay on Wednesday morning and will look to keep the gravy train moving with Friday night’s best picks and parlays for Korean pro baseball.

KBO Friday Night Picks & Parlays

Kiwoom Heroes (+220) | Lee Seung-ho (0-2, 7.39 ERA) vs. NC Dinos (-250) | Koo Chang-mo (5-0, 0.66 ERA)

The NC Dinos have been on an absolute tear so far this season on their home turf.  They have the best record at home of any team and a lot of that has to do with their success on the mound.

Much of that success can be traced back to one man, Koo Chang-mo.

Chang-mo currently has a 5-0 record and an absurdly low 0.66 ERA.  That is not a typo, hasn’t pitched limited innings and he is not a closer.  He is running away with the MVP right now and is practically unhittable.

In Chang-mo’s six starts, he has failed to record a win just once and last time against Kiwoom he went seven innings and allowed just a single run.

He has accomplished this feat with a mixture of precision accuracy and high baseball IQ.  Chang-mo’s strikeout rate of 9.7 is very impressive and his FIP of 1.88 tells us this performance is no fluke.  He has a career 4.26 ERA and 1.40 WHIP but has bettered his numbers each season and this might be a record-breaker in the KBO.

He will face off against Kiwoom’s Lee Seung-ho, who is not having quite the same caliber year as his counterpart.  Seung-ho has a rather unsightly 7.39 ERA and his FIP of 6.28 tells me that his lack of success is performance-based and not bad luck. Seung-ho also has a WAR in the negative over his six games, has failed to keep his BAA under .300 and is giving up almost two long balls per game.

Honestly, we don’t need to get much deeper into this KBO game on Friday night.  It is the first leg of our parlay and is what I consider the ‘safe bet’.  To give us some better odds, I will be taking the Dinos on the runline, -1.5 at -170.

Best Bet: NC Dinos -1.5 (-170) on the runline

Lotte Giants (+115) | Dan Straily (1-2, 2.23 ERA) vs. LG Twins (-150) | Tyler Wilson (2-2, 4.29 ERA)

The Lotte Giants are another team who has been red hot of late, reeling off six straight wins and are coming off a sixth series sweep at home.  They now will be heading out of town to face the LG Twins in what should be the pitching duel of the day.

We get a familiar face on the mound for the Giants on Friday as Dan Straily will make his fourth start in the KBO.

The former MLB journeyman has allowed just a single run in his first three starts of the year, striking out 18 and walking just five.  Straily is striking out the competition at a rate of 9.6 hitters per nine innings and is walking only 3.3.  He was issuing walks more frequently to start the year but has settled down and seen his ERA dip to 2.23 with a 3.20 FIP.

As bright as he’s been, however, Lotte has a mess in their rotation and Straily is truly the lone shining star right now.

Facing off against Straily is another US import, Tyler Wilson. The former Orioles prospect has found a home in the KBO since his debut in 2018 and is quickly becoming a name in the league.

Wilson has a 2-2 record and 4.29 ERA on the year in six starts.

His season has been a story of two different players almost.  His early-season saw a lot of success and growth, but Wilson has since given up 16 hits in his last two games.

Wilson is a good pitcher who is pitching well.  Not a glowing review but its better than most of the guys who I see hurling junk in the KBO.

He strikes out 6.8 per nine and walking minimal hitters.  His HR/9IP is under one and his FIP tells us he is a bit better than his current ERA of 4.29.  But not much better if I’m honest.

Considering the Twins are coming off an 18 inning marathon and have to jump right into a series with Lotte concerns me.  That makes me want to side with Lotte in the KBO Friday night game, but they have had their own mess of issues lately.  Neither team hits particularly well but I think they will both see some magic on the mound.

Based on that, I will be adding an UNDER bet to this parlay.  Some books allow you to pay for whatever score you like and I settled on the UNDER nine at -149.  I don’t feel great about either side in this game which naturally led me to side with a low scoring affair.

Best Bet: LG Twins & Lotte Giants UNDER 9 runs (-149)