KBO Predictions and Analysis – Wednesday, August 18 (2021)

Four games started in the previous round of action in the leading South Korean baseball league, and only three finished. The weather struck again, and there’s a small chance that some of the fixtures on Wednesday might be canceled too.

And yet, the latest forecasts are mostly positive, so I cover all games in my KBO predictions for August 18. Here’s a list of all fixtures on the schedule.

I expected a victory for the Kia Tigers on Tuesday, but the first clash against the Bears never started because of rain. The weather shouldn’t be a problem on Wednesday, and the team news favor Doosan this time around.

Both sides are expected to start pitchers with abysmal records. Kim Yu-sin should get the nod for the Tigers, and he’s lost seven of his eight starts so far.

On the surface, Gwak Been is not much better based on his four defeats and zero wins. And yet, Doosan’s guy has a decent 4.33 ERA and deserved to be on the winning side at least twice so far.

If the team’s offense and bullpen can provide some support, I believe that Been will finally register a victory in 2021.

I predicted a victory for the Twins in the previous round because Andrew Suarez was their projected starter. The pitcher did a great job, but the bullpen failed to finish what he started, and KT Wiz managed to earn a 5-5 draw in the late innings.

Suwon should have the upper hand on Wednesday based on the starting pitchers too. Odrisamer Despaigne has been a rock this season for KT Wiz, while Lee Min-ho is one of LG’s inconsistent pitchers.

The Twins rarely win against strong opponents if they don’t have the upper hand defensively, so I prefer KT Wiz in my KBO picks for August 18.

Tuesday’s game between the NC Dinos and the SSG Landers started, but it was canceled because of the bad weather. Neither team had the upper hand when that happened, so none of them should feel unlucky.

Instead, they will have the chance to start fresh on Wednesday. I believe that the NC Dinos should win this one rather comfortably because Drew Rucinski is next in the rotation.

The American is one of the best pitchers in South Korea, so he should be able to lead the reigning champions to a victory against the struggling Landers.

I don’t think that many people expected a win for Hanwha in the previous round. The Eagles were surprisingly strong defensively and managed to beat the Lions.

Baek Jung-Hyun has led the Lions to nine victories already, and his stats are monstrous. Keeping a team like the Eagles at bay should be easy.

The only concern for Samsung is that Hanwha’s starter is pretty good too. It should be a close game early on, but the Lions have the superior offense and bullpen. That’s enough for me to back them on Wednesday.

I’m not sure what happened to Kiwoom’s offense on Tuesday. The team failed to score even a single run against the Giants and deservedly lost the first clash of the series.

I’m sure that the Heroes will be eager to show up in the second game, and I expect more from them. They have a golden opportunity to get closer to the top of the KBO standings, and the Giants are among the weaker teams in the division.

The starting pitchers are comparable, so no side has a big advantage in that regard. It could be close once again, but I still think that the Heroes will win.