KBO Picks & Odds (October 8): NC Knocks Off Kiwoom

•  NC has lost just twice in its last 17 outings
•  The Dinos will send Mike Wright to the mound vs Kiwoom, looking to hand the Heroes their eighth loss in 10 games
• Find odds and best bets for the KBO’s five-game slate on October 8th in the article below

The NC Dinos are Goliath and every other KBO team is David right now. First place NC took down third place Kiwoom 4-3 on Wednesday to improve to 14-2-1 in its last 17 games. The Dinos lead atop the standings is 8 games, with just 15 contests remaining, meaning they’re virtually a lock to finish first and earn an opening round playoff bye.

NC 4-3 키움 (20.10.7, 고척스카이돔)

✔승: 송명기 / 홀: 홍성민, 김진성, 임정호, 문경찬 / 세: 원종현
✔결승타: 박석민(4회 1사서 좌월 홈런)

➕ 박석민-노진혁 연속 타자 홈런 – 시즌 39(NC 7), 통산 1041#ncdinos #NCvs키움 #STRONGER_TOGETHER pic.twitter.com/5fYAzLn4za

— NC 다이노스 (@NCdinos_fan) October 7, 2020

NC looks to continue its dominance on Thursday, squaring off with the Heroes in the series finale of their three-game set at 5:30 am EST.

 KBO Odds: Thursday, October 8th

Odds as of  Oct. 7th at FanDuel.

The Dinos opened up as a small road favorite on Thursday, which is surprising since they’re starting Mike Wright and Kiwoom has been in a major funk lately.

Wright Man for the Job

Wright is fresh off a disappointing performance versus Samsung, where he allowed four runs and eight hits over 6 innings. That outing followed a pair of gems, where the right-hander was virtually flawless.

Mike Wright had a strong start against Kiwoom yesterday, notable as he blew 2 fastballs by Lee Jung-hoo for whiffs. Lee's whiff% of 4.1% is the #KBO's lowest and just his 4th and 5th whiffs of the 303 pitches I've tracked for Lee. Impressive stuff from Wright #KBOLeague pic.twitter.com/2bA64lkFbN

— Ben Howell (he/him) (@benhowell71) September 2, 2020

In his two prior starts, Wright allowed just one earned run in consecutive wins over Lotte and Hanwha. He struckout 12 batters along the way, and didn’t give up a single fly ball to the Giants. He pitched very well in his only outing versus Kiwoom in 2020, scattering four hits and two runs over 6 innings in a 5-2 victory.

The Heroes offense meanwhile, has been atrocious recently scoring three or fewer times in seven of their past nine contests. Not surprisingly, they’ve dropped seven of those games and are in danger of slipping out of third place should they lose again on Thursday.

They’ll send Seung Ho Lee to the mound, who’s given up four runs in back-to-back outings, and has more walks (5) than strikeouts (4) over that stretch.

Pick: NC Dinos moneyline (-126)

Alcantara Stymies SK

NC’s Drew Rucinski is the only KBO pitcher with at least 16 wins on his resume, but that should change after Thursday. That’s because Doosan’s Raul Alcantara squares off against SK as a gigantic favorite.

Raúl Alcántara had a solid start today for Doosan, holding Kia to 3 runs in 6.1 IP in what has become a tight race for the 5th seed in the #KBO. Here's a perfectly placed slider to Han Seung-taek + map #KBOLeague pic.twitter.com/xg3fTeqgAv

— Ben Howell (he/him) (@benhowell71) October 2, 2020

The Bears are -390 on the moneyline, and -4.5 on the runline (no that’s not a typo). Of course, those odds are of the question to bet, but what about the under? The total opened at 10.5, and with Alcantara on the mound, it’s going to be up to the Doosan offense to push this game over.

Alcantara has allowed two or fewer runs in four of his past six starts, three of which were shutouts. The Wyverns offense shouldn’t present a problem, as they rank last or second last in nearly every key statistical category. The SK bats have been especially quiet lately, averaging a league-worst 3.2 runs over the past 10 games.

They’ll counter with Young Woo Jo, who’s been brilliant since joining the starting rotation. He’s surrendered two runs or less in each of his three starts, and dating back to September 9th, has allowed only three runs total over 20.1 innings.

Picks: Under 10.5 (-116)