MatchWiz

Yusei Kikuchi

Yusei Kikuchi — 1-7, 4.92 ERA. The model's read on his matchups, graded in the open.

Last scored board
63.2
Earned Runs · @ SEA · 2026-09-27
Season line · ERA
4.92
1-7 · 67 K, 1.54 WHIP
Games graded
14
this season, box-score final
Yusei Kikuchi
PBats LThrows LLos Angeles Angels
Earned Runs63.2/100proj 2.4#9Outs Recorded59.3/100proj 14.6#8Hits Allowed41.7/100proj 5#13Strikeouts29.3/100proj 4.7#9Fantasy Points22.1/100proj 11.2#8Walks Allowed0/100proj 2.6#16

Last scored matchup

Yusei isn't on today's slate. He was last scored 11 days ago, away at Seattle Mariners on Sunday, September 27, 2026, where he landed on earned runs (63.2/100), outs recorded (59.3/100), hits allowed (41.7/100). This page refreshes with new projections as soon as he's back in a lineup.

Season line

14 starts, 1-7, 4.92 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 67.2 innings. He's struck out 67 over that span, against 30 walks. This is the baseline the matchup adjusts from — the model starts here and then asks what the specific lineup he's facing does to strikeout arms, how the park plays, and how deep he's likely to go.

He throws left-handed

Yusei is a left-hander, and that matters more for a starter than it does for most hitters. Lineups get built specifically to attack lefties — managers stack right-handed bats against them — so the lineup he draws on a given night swings his projection further than a righty's would. The model prices the actual lineup rather than a season-long rate for exactly that reason. A stacked righty lineup is the spot where his strikeout projection comes down hardest.

His last 5 starts

Yusei has 24 strikeouts in 24.7 innings across his last 5 starts, a 8.8 K/9, with a 3.65 ERA over that stretch and 14 walks. Strikeouts are the one pitcher market where our model has found real, graded room — projected workload and the specific lineup he draws move that number more than a season-long rate does. Start-by-start detail is in the log below.

Strikeouts and control

Yusei has 67 strikeouts and 30 walks in 67.7 innings this season — 8.9 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9, a 2.2-to-1 ratio. That walk rate is the risk in every projection on him. Free passes run up pitch counts, and a short outing caps the strikeout and outs numbers no matter how favourable the lineup looks. His floor is genuinely lower than his stuff suggests.

What his floor looks like

Yusei has made 14 starts this season, averaging 4.8 innings with a 4.92 ERA across them. In the 12 starts we hold detailed lines for, he got through five or more innings 8 times. That ratio is the honest read on his floor, and it's what separates an arm worth projecting on the outs board from one whose good starts are unpredictable enough that the market prices them better than we do.

How long he goes

Yusei is averaging 4.8 innings a start across his last 8 outings, with a high of 7.0 and about 84 pitches a night. He's not going deep, and that caps the strikeout and outs projections no matter how good the matchup looks — you can't strike out hitters you don't face. Expected batters faced is one of the bigger inputs to his score for exactly this reason.

His best start in the log

Yusei's high-water mark was Saturday, April 18, 2026 against SD: 8 strikeouts over 6.0 innings, 0 earned runs. One start doesn't set a projection — the model works off the blend of his recent work against the specific lineup in front of him — but it does show the ceiling when the matchup lines up.

Where he lands across our boards

Yusei was scored on 6 boards in that matchup, and the spread is the interesting part: earned runs graded 63.2/100 while walks allowed came in at 0/100. Same player, same game, same opposing arm — different questions. A spread that wide usually means the matchup favours one kind of outcome over another, and it's the clearest argument for reading the board that matches what you actually care about.

How the model reads him

The number on Yusei is about tonight, not about him. Strip out the name and the model is asking one question: what does this specific lineup do to this kind of arm, in this park, for as many batters as he's likely to face? That gets scored against every other starter on the slate. The combination math is proprietary and re-tuned every week. The grading isn't — it's all public, including the misses.

What we'd flag

Books don't price every player — coverage tops out around 87% even for confirmed starters, so "no line" here usually means no book posted one rather than a gap in our data. Lineups change late, and an afternoon projection can be stale by first pitch. And the model is tuned across hundreds of graded outcomes, so one game tells you nothing about whether it's working.

Recent game log

DateOppIPKHERBB
Sunday, September 27@ SEA5.07631
Tuesday, September 22@ ATH5.32721
Wednesday, September 16vs SEA4.34545
Friday, September 11@ WSH4.05314
Saturday, September 5@ PIT6.06503
Sunday, August 30vs PHI7.06621
Sunday, August 23@ TEX5.04751
Wednesday, April 29@ CWS2.01201
Friday, April 24@ KC5.05552
Saturday, April 18vs SD6.08401
Monday, April 13@ NYY3.33444
Tuesday, April 7vs ATL5.08641

Yusei Kikuchi — FAQ

Is Yusei Kikuchi playing today?

Yusei Kikuchi isn't in a confirmed lineup on the current slate, and was last scored on Sunday, September 27, 2026. This page updates with fresh projections as soon as he's back in one.

How has Yusei Kikuchi been pitching lately?

Over his last 5 starts, Yusei has 24 strikeouts in 24.7 innings, allowing 10 earned runs. Start-by-start detail is in the log on this page.

Which MatchWiz boards does Yusei Kikuchi appear on?

Yusei was scored on 6 boards in his last matchup — earned runs, outs recorded, hits allowed, strikeouts, fantasy points. Each one asks a different question about the same game, so his score can be strong on one and weak on another.

Are Yusei Kikuchi's projections betting advice?

No. Every number on this page is a research signal from a statistical model, published alongside its graded record so you can judge it yourself. The model is re-tuned weekly and can be wrong on any given day. Nothing here is a guaranteed outcome. 21+, please play responsibly (1-800-GAMBLER).

Projections are a research signal from our model, graded against real box-score results — not betting advice. 21+, please play responsibly (1-800-GAMBLER).