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KT Wiz (5:30AM ET Naver TV) – The Kia Tigers got it done for us on Saturday and, after a pass on Sunday, we are back in action looking to continue an excellent overall run when the KT Wiz take on the SSG Landers at Suwon KT Wiz Park in Suwon, South Korea.

One week ago today I talked about SSG having a couple of glaring issues and the Landers went out and didn’t win a single game in their series with NC, losing twice and playing to a 2-2 draw.  SSG bounced back over the weekend with a sweep of last place Hanwha but I don’t buy that all is suddenly right in the world for the Landers and see this as a great spot to jump in with a fade.  Even better is the fact KT is a “BET ON” for me right now, the Wiz are getting healthy and it comes as no surprise that KT is playing better and has won three of their past four games.  KT was obliterated by Lotte in the finale on Sunday but Odrisamer Despaigne didn’t have it and the Wiz had used their bullpen extensively so it just made far more sense to let Despaigne eat up innings to give KT relievers some extra rest into the new week.  SSG has been without Yoo-Seom Han since Friday, he’s been the Landers clean up hitter for most of the season which puts a hole in a SSG lineup that’s been regressing since a red hot start to the season.  KT should continue to ascend and I’ll back the Wiz on their home field in what is just a difficult spot for a shorthanded SSG team here. 

The bigger concern for SSG right now is pitching as Kwang-Hyun Kim will miss his next start due to a tired arm.  Kyung-Eun Noh has been out since late April and the timetable for Seung-Won Moon and Jong-Hun Park to return continues to get pushed back so SSG is being forced to trot out guys that probably don’t belong in a KBO starting rotation.  One of those guys is tonight’s starter, Tae-Yang Lee, a 31 year old RHP who has been a reliever most of his career and sports a career 5.15 ERA entering play tonight. Lee got off to a hot start when SSG put him in the rotation a few weeks ago but Lee has been slammed a couple times since and arguably his worst start of the season came 10 days ago against KT. Lee gave up five runs on six hits in that game and that was a day before Baek-Ho Kang made his return for KT.  Kang is one of the top domestic sluggers in this league, the Wiz lineup has been bolstered big time by his return and I can’t see Lee managing a much different result against a better KT lineup here. 

The pitching sets up far better for KT here as they give the ball to Hyeong-Jun So to make the start in this game.  So has been outstanding for KT all season, his 2.85 ERA and 1.05 WHIP are both at the top for domestic starting pitchers and he’s turned in a quality start in seven of his 11 outings this season.  So had the rare bad start where he got knocked around by Kiwoom last time out but the Heroes have hit him well and are red hot right now.  If you throw out Kiwoom, So has given up no more than one earned run in six of his last seven starts.  So last faced SSG on the road and gave up one run on five hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings.  SSG has the better bullpen numbers but I think that’s deceiving since the Landers are dealing with injuries to their pitching staff while the KT staff is getting healthy. SSG will remain a contender but they are going to have to fight through it in the short term while defending champion KT is getting healthy and will be an above .500 team sooner than later. 

KT enters play at 28-31 and a big reason for that is early in the season the Wiz had to deal with what SSG is dealing with now.  Teams just aren’t deep in this league which means even the best teams are going to struggle if they get hit with cluster injuries.  SSG is in that boat right now and, while it might not stop them from sweeping a team like Hanwha, it’s going to make beating the defending champs on the road a difficult task.  KT should be a far bigger favorite at home here and I’ll grab the cheap ML with the Wiz as they take the opener of this series.  Play on KT Wiz -125 for 4% (or 4 units)