This article is part of our DraftKings KBO series.
The Bears evened the Korean Series at one apiece with their 5-4 victory Wednesday, though it took some good fortune to get there. Chris Flexen allowed just one run in six frames for the defending champions, but it wasn't as dominant of a performance as we've come to expect from him of late, as he struck out just three batters while walking three and allowing five hits. Multiple double plays helped him escape jams, including one that began with a line drive off his leg that deflected right into the glove of a teammate. On the opposite side, Chang Mo Koo was decent, allowing three runs (two earned) in six innings while striking out seven. The score was 3-1 in the Bears' favor when both starters left the game, with the Bears adding an insurance run in both the eighth and the ninth. Those runs proved to be very necessary, with closer Young Ha Lee allowing three runs in the bottom of the inning, but Min Gyu Kim stepped up to record the final two outs and tie the series.
We'll have another set of Showdown contests on DraftKings for Friday's Game 3. For Showdown games, you'll select six players in any combination of pitchers and hitters. One player will be designated as your "Captain," who will cost 1.5 times as much as the rest of your team but who will also earn 1.5 times as many points as your other players. Lineups must contain at least one player from
The Bears evened the Korean Series at one apiece with their 5-4 victory Wednesday, though it took some good fortune to get there. Chris Flexen allowed just one run in six frames for the defending champions, but it wasn't as dominant of a performance as we've come to expect from him of late, as he struck out just three batters while walking three and allowing five hits. Multiple double plays helped him escape jams, including one that began with a line drive off his leg that deflected right into the glove of a teammate. On the opposite side, Chang Mo Koo was decent, allowing three runs (two earned) in six innings while striking out seven. The score was 3-1 in the Bears' favor when both starters left the game, with the Bears adding an insurance run in both the eighth and the ninth. Those runs proved to be very necessary, with closer Young Ha Lee allowing three runs in the bottom of the inning, but Min Gyu Kim stepped up to record the final two outs and tie the series.
We'll have another set of Showdown contests on DraftKings for Friday's Game 3. For Showdown games, you'll select six players in any combination of pitchers and hitters. One player will be designated as your "Captain," who will cost 1.5 times as much as the rest of your team but who will also earn 1.5 times as many points as your other players. Lineups must contain at least one player from each team. You are under no obligation to select a pitcher, though you could even theoretically attempt to squeeze in both starters.
I'll be shaking up the format for these previews to account for the unique nature of the Showdown format. I'll present a quick breakdown of both pitchers, followed by a pair of high-priced hitters from the team I'd rather build around as well as a few bargain bats to consider from both teams. The prices listed for each player are their price if used in the UTIL slot.
Pitchers
Mike Wright, Dinos ($11,000): Wright's debut season in Korea fell short of expectations for a player deemed worthy of one of a team's two foreign pitcher spots. In many ways, it's a testament to the overall strength of the Dinos' roster that they won the regular season so comfortably despite Wright's unimpressive 4.68 ERA and 1.44 WHIP, numbers which barely beat the league-average 4.76 ERA and 1.48 WHIP. The righty was better than that for most of the season, producing a decent enough 3.98 ERA and 1.37 WHIP through the end of September, but the wheels fell off in October. In five starts that month, he slumped to a 9.00 ERA and 1.86 WHIP. The long layoff that comes with being the number one seed means Wright hasn't pitched in nearly a month, so it's possible he's sorted things out while away from the spotlight, but it's hard to be too confident in him given how his season ended.
Won Joon Choi, Bears ($9,800): Choi began the season as a reliever and wasn't a particularly impressive one, posting a 4.76 ERA in 34 innings through early July. When Chris Flexen went down with a broken foot, Choi filled in admirably and remained in the rotation the rest of the season, posting a 3.44 ERA in 89 innings the rest of the way, giving him a 3.80 ERA on the season to go with a 1.37 WHIP. His underlying numbers back up his overall solid season, as he struck out 17.0 percent of opposing batters while walking 6.3 percent. He faded a bit down the stretch, however, posting a 5.09 ERA and 1.70 WHIP over his final five starts, and he failed to complete the third inning in Game 2 of the Playoff series against the Wiz, his only postseason start thus far. Additionally, he allowed 11 earned runs in 8.1 innings against the Dinos this season, a small sample but a rather discouraging one.
The Verdict: Very slight lean towards Dinos, but stacking either lineup is easily justifiable. Both pitchers were decent for most of the year before struggling late. I'll take the guy who has major-league experience on his resume over the pitcher who began the year as a reliever even though his struggles were more concerning. Wright gets to face a slightly weaker lineup and got to spend most of the past month trying to figure out where things went wrong. This looks like a contest where captaining a hitter -- and potentially not selecting any pitchers at all -- could be the right move, as it's quite possible both pitchers have short leashes.
Expensive Dinos
Eui Ji Yang ($10,000): Yang had three hits in Game 2, meaning he's now gone 4-for-8 at the plate thus far this postseason. A dominant Korean Series from the veteran catcher shouldn't come as anything close to a surprise, as he finished third in the league with a 1.011 OPS, marking his third straight season clearing 1.000 in that category. That's an impressive run for anyone, let alone a 33-year-old catcher. All those years of squatting behind the play don't seem to be wearing him down, as he did the opposite of fade down the stretch, hitting .356/.418/.747 with 10 homers in October.
Sung Bum Na ($9,600): Forgoing a pitcher entirely and centering your lineup around the Dinos' two biggest bats is a setup definitely worth considering. Na, who will get the platoon advantage against Choi, should bat directly in front of Yang out of the number three spot and has been every bit as good as his teammate thus far in the Korean Series, matching his 4-for-8 performance. The pair also finished back-to-back in the final-season OPS rankings, with Na finishing in fourth place with a .989 mark, one spot behind Yang.
Bargain Bats
Myung Gi Lee, Dinos ($4,800): Lee hasn't done anything thus far in the Korean Series, going 0-for-7 at the plate, but two hitless games certainly aren't enough to justify his price dropping by a full $2,000. Budget space is quite tight in these contests, so including a player who's that cheap would be worthwhile even if he offered next to nothing at the plate. While Lee is probably the Dinos' worst hitter among their expected starting nine, he's far from useless, as he finished the year with a .306/.370/.369 slash line. The Dinos seem to value his bat control, keeping him in the second spot in the order while keeping stronger hitters further down in the order. That prime lineup spot and the fact that he'll get the platoon advantage against Choi make him very much worth it at his inexplicably cheap price.
Soo Bin Jung, Bears ($6,000): As mentioned above, money can get tight in Showdown contests, so including the cheapest player in both lineup makes plenty of sense regardless of how they've been performing. As with Lee, however, there's a case to be made that Jung has no business as his team's cheapest hitter. He jumped up to the second spot in the order for Game 2 and rewarded his manager with a pair of hits, meaning he's now gone 9-for-29 (.310) so far this postseason. He's by no means an intimidating hitter, but he posted a respectable .298/.367/.396 slash line this season, more than enough to make him interesting when combined with his lineup position and platoon advantage.
