Matthew Lowrimore
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Our experts at Pickswise select their best Korean Baseball picks for Friday to help you find the best value. Whether you’re looking for a single money line pick or a KBO parlay, we have you covered. Note that all of these games start at 5:30 am ET on Friday morning.
KBO betting odds
Here are the KBO betting odds for Friday, April 8 courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
- Kia Tigers (+134) vs SSG Landers (-164), O/U 7.5
- Doosan Bears (-116) vs Lotte Giants (-104), O/U 8.5
- Kiwoom Heroes (+142) vs Samsung Lions (-174), O/U 7.5
- KT Wiz (-182) vs Hanwha Eagles (+148), O/U 7.5
- NC Dinos (+132) vs LG Twins (-162), O/U 6.5
KBO picks and predictions
Friday’s slate features plenty of opportunities for value. Let’s dive into the day’s best bets.
Kiwoom Heroes vs Samsung Lions ML (-174)
The Kiwoom Heroes are coming off a 6-0 loss on Thursday morning and are now just 1-4 on the season. They will look to get back on track by starting An Woo-Jin, who is 0-1 so far on the year and has an ERA of 3.00. He still had a solid start against the Lotte Giants in that lone start, allowing 2 earned runs in 6.0 innings. He also is coming off a solid 2021, where he was 8-8 with an ERA of 3.26.
The Samsung Lions will counter with David Buchanan, who is also 0-1 on the year with an ERA of 3.00. He faced the KT Wiz in that lone start where he allowed 2 earned runs in 6.0 innings. Buchanan is coming off a great 2021, posting a record of 16-5 with an ERA of 3.10.
Buchanan also had success against the Heroes in 2021, posting a record of 4-1 against them. He allowed just 9 earned runs against the Heroes over 29.0 innings. Because of this success, backing the Lions will be the preferred play here.
KT Wiz ML (-182) vs Hanwha Eagles
The KT Wiz lost on Thursday morning to the SSG Landers to make it 4 losses in a row. They will have a great chance to break that streak on Friday when they face the winless Hanwha Eagles. On top of that, the KT Wiz will be starting William Cuevas, one of their better pitchers. Cuevas comes into this game 1-0 on the season and has an ERA of 1.50. Note that he is the only pitcher in the rotation who has actually managed to pick up a win.
You would think the Eagles would be able to win a game at some point, but so far that is not the case. They continue to get hammered and need to find any kind of momentum to try to get back into the early playoff race. The Eagles will turn to Kim Min-Woo on Friday, who is 0-1 this season and he has an ERA of 9.00.
There is nothing here to make backing the Eagles look like a good play. Cuevas had a great opening game, so backing the KT Wiz to break their losing streak will be the play.
NC Dinos vs LG Twins ML (-162)
The NC Dinos dropped their game on Thursday morning to the Lotte Giants to fall to 1-4 on the season. They will now shift to the unbeaten LG Twins on Friday, where they will start Drew Rucinski. He has 1 start so far this season, which was 7.0 innings of shutout baseball against the SSG Landers. His bullpen let him down though, as the Dinos still managed to lose the game. Rucinski was also one of the better pitchers in the league last season, posting a record of 15-10 with an ERA of 3.17. Against the Twins last season, Rucinski was 1-2, and he allowed 11 earned runs in 20.0 innings.
On the other side of this matchup is the unbeaten LG Twins. They will counter with Adam Plutko, who is 1-0 on the season after his 6.0 innings shutout performance against the Kia Tigers. This is actually his first season in the KBO, so the only start we have to go on is that one earlier this season.
Still, Plutko looked very promising in that lone start, while Rucinski struggled at times against the Twins last season. The Dinos’ offense has yet to really break out, so backing the Twins to continue their unbeaten streak will be the play.
For those of you looking for bigger payouts, play the best bets as a three-team parlay–which pays out at +294.
Make sure you check out all of our picks for KBO action every single day!
