As you can see, Yamamoto is where he is because of the Dodgers likely going 6-man, which hurts his value for fantasy due to “volume concerns.”
For a guy like Cole, it’s because he’s not due back until June and then, of course, the usual recovering from TJ concerns. In the article, he says someone like Ohtani would be top 10 if he had full usage and not limited by being in a 6-man. On Twitter, I saw him mention Wheeler would be Top 5 if he were healthy.
There’s a lot to these little fantasy-isms to it, so while there’s plenty of issues with the list in a real world setting, I don’t think it’s intended to be viewed that way.
Every few days I see posts like this that remind me Framber Valdez might’ve ruined his free agency by being a giant loser. No doubt he’ll get signed for more money than I’ll see in my life but he probably would’ve been signed much sooner for a much bigger haul.
Not a single Guardians pitcher eh? Gavin Williams? Tanner Bibee? Ouch. Guess we are Cleveland vs the world again.
I know it’s prob a toss up and you can defend Webb over Yama and VV. But I’m still triggered lol
When you know none of your pitchers are in the top 50 and can sit back and watch everyone else argue
people are outing themselves here for not knowing ball
There are a lot of former white Sox on this list
Both WS teams have 4 in the top 50
i assume this is with the caveat that if zack wheeler comes back from injury and is at full strength, he is much higher?
cuz like, no offense to everybody not named paul skenes or tarik skubal, but zack wheeler is better than you
Yamamoto is too far down the list
This is Bryan Woo erasure, and I will not stand for it!
Surely there will be no strong opinions about this
it was nice having 4 of these guys in our rotation. we miss you already Mr. Rager
42 comments
Finally some respect for Kyle Bradish
Oh god this graphic just reminded me of all the Skubal to Dodgers trade rumours
Dylan Cease is so overrated dude.
Also, no, George Kirby isn’t a better starting pitcher than Ohtani and Wheeler.
Jays have 4 starters in the top 50!
LETS GO
Can’t wait for Bryce Miller to have his breakout season. League is sleeping on him (understandably)
Maybe I’m the idiot but I feel like this isn’t very good.
Sanchez ahead of Wheeler? Pivetta over Gerrit Cole or Cam Schlittler?
Sonny Gray at 22?
Etc
Webb above Yamamoto is wild
Cam Schlitler respect
I love Trey Yesavage but it’s insane to claim that he’s going to be better than Gerrit Cole in 2026. He’s a rookie!
Rasmussen should be higher.
Dylan Cease at 11 is insane lol
No Cade Horton?
Just happy to see my guy deGrom back on these lists. Feel like how truly dominant he was is going to get lost to history and it makes me sad.
I mean, is it crazy to think Robbie Ray should be on here? He was pretty decent last season (top 40 at least?) – lots of unproven guys on this list.
We’re just Makin shit up now, huh
cole ragans ahead of hunter brown?
A team can win a division with their best pitcher still technically being a rookie, right? Guys? Anyone?
This list is going to age worse than any dairy product
I’ve never seen a pitcher guy by on hype alone quite like Jacob Misiorowski
Man not seeing any Diamondbacks. That can’t be right….. right? Right?
Please have a healthy year, Bradish…
Alcantara over Allstar Matt Boyd? 🤔
No Cubs? 👉🏼👈🏼
Think Cole and Schittler will definitely be higher at the end of the season
I see this list and I just get more and more confused about the Mets off-season priorities lol
Not a single Cub.
Just a rotation of 4’s 😭
Eovaldi at 32 feels wrong as fuck.
Idk what you all are so worried about. The Dodgers don’t even have a top 5 pitcher.
Only three teams have four pitchers in this list. Two of them were in the World Series last year.
The other is the Reds.
Important caveat to this list is that TJStats is a Fantasy guy. The rankings, whether you agree with them or not, are largely influenced by that. [Here’s the full article with rationales](https://tjstats.ca/2026/01/13/top-50-starting-pitchers-for-2026/).
As you can see, Yamamoto is where he is because of the Dodgers likely going 6-man, which hurts his value for fantasy due to “volume concerns.”
For a guy like Cole, it’s because he’s not due back until June and then, of course, the usual recovering from TJ concerns. In the article, he says someone like Ohtani would be top 10 if he had full usage and not limited by being in a 6-man. On Twitter, I saw him mention Wheeler would be Top 5 if he were healthy.
There’s a lot to these little fantasy-isms to it, so while there’s plenty of issues with the list in a real world setting, I don’t think it’s intended to be viewed that way.
Every few days I see posts like this that remind me Framber Valdez might’ve ruined his free agency by being a giant loser. No doubt he’ll get signed for more money than I’ll see in my life but he probably would’ve been signed much sooner for a much bigger haul.
Not a single Guardians pitcher eh? Gavin Williams? Tanner Bibee? Ouch. Guess we are Cleveland vs the world again.
I know it’s prob a toss up and you can defend Webb over Yama and VV. But I’m still triggered lol
When you know none of your pitchers are in the top 50 and can sit back and watch everyone else argue
people are outing themselves here for not knowing ball
There are a lot of former white Sox on this list
Both WS teams have 4 in the top 50
i assume this is with the caveat that if zack wheeler comes back from injury and is at full strength, he is much higher?
cuz like, no offense to everybody not named paul skenes or tarik skubal, but zack wheeler is better than you
Yamamoto is too far down the list
This is Bryan Woo erasure, and I will not stand for it!
Surely there will be no strong opinions about this
it was nice having 4 of these guys in our rotation. we miss you already Mr. Rager