SP RANK
Name
Team
UP / DOWN
Notes

1
Tarik Skubal
DET

4.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 K. Oh no. Please don’t let him catch the PaddackMorton infection.

2
Garrett Crochet
BOS

6 straight wins, 183 strikeouts in 146 IP, and pristine ratios make it a lot easier to not worry about ranking him above Wheeler every week. He gets two starts this week, too. (at HOU, vs MIA).

3
Zack Wheeler
PHI

Shoulder stiffness pushed his Friday start back to yesterday. EDIT: 5 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 7 Ks, his 10th win, and much ado about nothing as far as the injury scare was concerned.

4
Paul Skenes
PIT

6 IP, 0 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 1.94. Ok. But did he get the win? (Spoiler: He did).

5
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
LAD

5.2 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, and his 10th win yesterday. He’s been as solid as they come and should continue the strong run at LAA this week.

6
Jacob deGrom
TEX

6.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks. Lost at home to Jesus Luzardo and the Phillies.

7
Bryan Woo
SEA

7 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.02. That’s a career high in strikeouts for Marmo’s boo, Woo. AND as a nice throwback to our lede, the broadcast crew announced that this was the first time since 2019 that a starter has thrown at least 6 innings in 23 consecutive starts. Guess who owns that distinction from 6 years ago! 

8
Tyler Glasnow
LAD

3 innings of 2-hit ball yesterday with 3 BB and 4 Ks at the time of writing. To be honest, I was surprised he didn’t have 9 strikeouts by that point. EDIT: 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 8 Ks, and the no-decision.

9
Joe Ryan
MIN

5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 K, and his 11th win. ERA at 2.72. WHIP at 0.92. The march to justifying his War Room ranking way back in…uh…March is about as complete as it can get. He’s one who a lot of us could argue deserves a spot in the Top 10.

10
Cristopher Sanchez
PHI

6 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 6 K, and his 11th win. That’s 16 QS in 24 starts. Serious question: Which one of these is the toughest to believe? That he’s lost just twice in his last 18 starts, or that those losses were against PIT and CWS?

11
Freddy Peralta
MLW

5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.03. He pushed his win total up to lucky 13 after this one and is sitting in the Top 10 in NL Strikeouts (141). He gets the Pirates at home today.

12
Max Fried
NYY

Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this one before – 5 IP, 4 ER, 8 H on 90+ pitches – because it’s the same line as his start at TEX from last Monday. He had fewer walks and strikeouts yesterday, though, and took the loss (his 5th).

13
Logan Webb
SF

6 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 10 Ks, ERA at 3.24. Another beautifully spun Webb to catch a bunch of Ks.

14
Framber Valdez
HOU

5.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 4 BB, 1 K. That’s 9 ER in his last 2 starts (11.2 IP) as he got the not-so-hospitable welcome on his visit through the AL East. Getting roughed up at NYY and BOS isn’t uncommon, but it’s worth paying attention to this week’s start at home vs BAL.

15
Hunter Brown
HOU

5.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K. I won’t get into the annoyance that was Friday night’s Apple TV (or FanDuel network) letdowns. I’m just glad BrownTown didn’t let us down…unless you were hoping for a win, because that hasn’t happened since July 2nd (winless in 6 GS).

16
Robbie Ray
SF

6 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.85. Sure, this was his second consecutive no-decision, but it’s not his fault he didn’t get the run support. Throwing 100+ pitches and giving the Giants a quality start should be enough. He just keeps on cruising. 

17
Logan Gilbert
SEA

5 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.35. He’s our second Logan in the Top 20!

18
Blake Snell
LAD

5 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 10 Ks. Uh oh. Snellzilla is back, and he’s revving up the second-half steamroller.

19
Nathan Eovaldi
TEX

More below.

20
Dylan Cease
SD

Every start, we could get a half dozen walks and earned runs or a dozen strikeouts. Does it matter who the matchup is? Who knows. Yesterday, at the time of writing, he had given up just one hit and 0 ER in 3.2 IP with 3 Ks vs BOS. EDIT: 6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, and his 5th win.

21
George Kirby
SEA

3 wins in a row and just 4 ER in his last 18 IP to go along with 24 Ks. If that’s not enough to get your blood pumping, he’s a two-start guy this week, too (at BAL and at NYM). 

22
Spencer Strider
ATL

4.2 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.04. I said something a couple of weeks ago about “Would you rather have a random top 50-ish SP or Spencer Strider at 70% the rest of the way?” This didn’t even look like he was at 50%. Ugh.

23
Brandon Woodruff
MLW

7 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 8 K. If you’re trying to shake the habit of holding onto a broken starter for two years in a keeper league because you’re hoping for a bounce back to ace form…just don’t look at this guy.

24
Carlos Rodon
NYY

He’s finished 6+ innings in just one of his last seven starts, with just two wins to show in that span. The pitch count is hefty, too. I’m not sitting him this week at home vs MIN, but he needs to show up.

25
Shota Imanaga
CHC

6.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.12. Shot-a through the heart, and no one else is to blame if you’re not rostering him for ratio help.

26
Michael King
SD
N/R
2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 1 K on 57 pitches in his first start since May 18th. It’s the same story as always with these first starts back – he threw a decent amount of pitches without having any major setbacks. He can build on his next start on my bench, though, as he heads to LAD this week.

27
Sonny Gray
STL

7 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks AT LAD last week? And he didn’t pick up a win? Come on, man!

28
Luis Castillo
SEA

A pretty solid 7-inning no-decision vs TB last week, and his 6th QS in his last 10 starts. He heads to BAL this week.

29
Trevor Rogers
BAL

6 IP, 1 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 1.44. I traded for him in the AL-Only and figured he was an auto start every time out, so I didn’t sit him…until I saw he had PHI last week. Oof. I’ll take Over-managing for $1000, Alex.

30
Ranger Suarez
PHI

6.1 IP, 5 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks. ERA at 2.94. See David Peterson’s note a bit further down here.

31
MacKenzie Gore
WSH

More below.

32
Nick Pivetta
SD

6 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 K. It was his first time allowing more than 2 ER in his last 8 GS, so let’s cut him some slack. Facing the surging Red Sox isn’t an easy task. He heads to SF this week.

33
Seth Lugo
KC

4 IP, 7 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, K. If KC had waited until after this start, they could’ve saved a few million on the contract extension.

34
Eury Perez
MIA

5.1 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 1 K. ERA at 3.25. He got Drake Baldwin-ed (2 HR, 5 RBI); the biggest Drake beef since Kendrick Lamar’s. I took a bit of flak last week for not having him higher, but this is why. He was great before this start (4 total ER in his last 6 GS), but the implosion threat feels like it could happen more often than it does with some of the others above him.

35
Matthew Boyd
CHC

He’s winless in three after a nice run of 5 wins in a row. This week’s trip to TOR is a dicey start, too.

36
Jesus Luzardo
PHI

6 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, and his 11th win. ERA at 4.20. No burning bushes to report here!

37
Edward Cabrera
MIA

8 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 11 Ks. Forget UberEats and DoorDash because EdCab is delivering the goods!

38
Andrew Abbott
CIN

6.2 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks, ERA at 2.34. Just three wins in his last 10 GS, but the solid ratios wouldn’t let you believe it.

39
Chase Burns
CIN

6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 10 K. I caught a couple of innings of this one, and oh boy. Blasting high 99 MPH heaters through 5 innings makes me feel a lot better about dropping $237 on him in that late-June TGFBI FAAB run.

40
Noah Cameron
KC

5.2 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks. ERA at 2.52. 

0, 4, 0, 4, 0, 2, 0, 5. Those are the earned run totals from his last 8 GS. The flip-flop king had another shutout start on Saturday night. He gets CWS at home this week, so it’ll be interesting to see if he can break the pattern.

41
Sean Manaea
N/R

4 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks. Neither Manaea nor Priester could slow down the bats in yesterday’s NYM/MLW game.

42
Hunter Greene
CIN

Slated to start this Wednesday vs PHI.

43
Jack Flaherty
DET

4.2 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.56. It’s ok. He’s just laying a rotten one down to make Chris Paddack and Charlie Morton more comfortable in their new digs.

44
Ryan Pepiot
TB

5.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks at LAA, and his 7th win. It’s been tough sledding for Pepiot, who has just 2 wins since the end of June.

45
Kodai Senga
NYM

4.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 K. It took him almost 80 pitches to get 13 outs. To throw it back to our lede, Senga’s start was almost as bad as the old Back To The Future III Genesis game.

46
Will Warren
NYY

3 ER in his last 16.2 innings is a big boost to those of us looking for ratio help. Now he needs to tally some wins. (Zero in his last 5 starts).

47
Lucas Giolito
BOS

4.2 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 6 BB, 1 K. The Padres took Gio for a Saturday afternoon stroll. Half a dozen walks aren’t good, but his ERA is still sitting at a respectable 3.77.

48
Brayan Bello
BOS

Hey-Oh! Last week’s lede didn’t disappoint with another shutout quality start on Monday. He was on his way to another strong showing at SD yesterday when I wrote this one up, too. EDIT: Well, I cursed him. He finished with 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 7 Ks, and his 6th loss. ERA at 3.25.

49
Jacob Misiorowski
MLW

I’ve removed most pitchers when they hit the IL, but I think the Miz’s ‘injury’ has as much to do with innings management as anything else. He’ll move down today because of the missed time, but stick here until he comes back at the end of this week. (He’s penciled in to start this Friday).

50
Merrill Kelly
TEX

4.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 5 BB, 4 K. Five walks and two homers allowed are almost as bad as needing 94 pitches to get 13 outs.

51
Quinn Priester
MLW

4.1 IP, 6 ER, 10 H, (2 HR), 1 BB, 2 Ks vs NYM yesterday. It’s fitting that the Priester gets blown up the same week that Jesus Luzardo comes back to life.

52
Drew Rasmussen
TB
N/R
More below.

53
Yusei Kikuchi
LAA

5 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, and his 6th win. ERA at 3.37. Yu-see a sub-.500 pitcher, I see a starter who’s managed to keep his ERA in control despite throwing for a sub-.500 team. Shrug emoji.

54
David Peterson
NYM

6 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, ERA at 2.98. Nothing like giving up four earned runs and still sitting with an ERA under 3.00.

55
Kevin Gausman
TOR

The 7 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 8 K outing was a nice bounceback after his previous blowup vs KC. Sure, he was in COL for this one, but any step forward is a good one with the Goose.

56
Casey Mize
DET

Back-to-back wins after a nasty stretch of 8.2 IP, 11 ER to end July. He heads to MIN this week.

57
Gavin Williams
CLE

8.2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 4 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.17. Gavin was havin’ himself a game – no-hitter through 8 2/3 – until Juan Soto had to ruin it with a solo HR. Aside from that stain, this is the start we’ve been waiting for with Williams. The walks were still there, but the swinging strike percentage was too. 44% of his 126 pitches were swinging strikes.

58
Max Scherzer
TOR

Moves up a smidge with that solid start at LAD. More above!

59
Yu Darvish
SD

It’s a Grey quote for this one this week: “4 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, ERA at 6.51. It’s nice that you want him to be better than he’s been, but unless your league is very deep, stop wanting and start looking elsewhere.”

60
Mitch Keller
PIT

He’d won 4 of his last 7 starts heading into Friday’s game and came within one out of recording his 16th QS (in 24 GS).

61
Shane Bieber
TOR

I wrote up Biebs last week when a friend went to watch his rehab start in Buffalo. I assumed he’d be up sooner rather than later, but it sounds like the Jays are going to play it safe and give him at least one or two more rehab starts in Buffalo before he heads up the QEW to Toronto for the stretch run. That pushes him down a bit this week.

62
Shane Baz
TB

4 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 4.92. He should capitalize all the letters in his last name since he’s been about as good as most of the guys in Arizona’s starting rotation.

63
Tanner Bibee
CLE

5.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 7 K. I’ve been watching LOST with my oldest, and every time I hear Claire talk about her kid, it reminds me of the CLE SP. It’s fitting, too, because you’d have to be just as bat-shizz crazy as she is to trust him on your active roster.

64
Clay Holmes
NYM

5 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.46. The half a dozen Ks were his most in nearly two months. At least he got through 5 innings. Maybe they’ll take his training wheels off next week, and he’ll get to 5 2/3.

65
Ryne Nelson
ARI

5.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.20. I was all set to include an “Mmm, bop” reference until I remembered that was Hanson and not Nelson.

66
Emmett Sheehan
LAD

5 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.00. He’s as solid as it comes and is buried on that Dodgers depth chart. If you can sneak in and add him or trade for him (if your deadline hasn’t passed yet), get him now.

67
Jose Soriano
LAA

4 IP, 7 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks. ERA at 4.01. I traded for this guy in a home mixed league and immediately knew it was not a good idea. Does that make it better? No. The good news is he had four solid starts before this one. The bad news is this wasn’t his 5th solid start in a row.

68
Luis Gil
NYY
N/R
5.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks, and the no-decision. Taming the Astros lineup is more impressive than last week’s Marlin meltdown, but he gets a free pass on that one since it was his first start of the year. As always, it comes down to limiting walks with Gil. “He’ll” try to repeat at STL this week.

69
Jose Berrios
TOR

He’s won three of his last four starts, and even though it hasn’t been flashy, he’s been serviceable. The home runs allowed (and earned runs) are still there, though. 

70
Cam Schlittler
NYY

5 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 K. I bet you thought The Man With The Golden Gun was just a James Bond movie. Well, the man with the 97.8 MPH fastball is checking in at the 94th percentile in velocity (overall).

71
Justin Verlander
SF

This Justin: Verlander was upset about not being added to the photo in our lede. 2 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 1 HR, 0 BB, 4 Ks (at the time of writing). As an added point of reference, while Scherzer and Kershaw are both sitting at an impressive 218 wins, Verlander leads active pitchers with 263. And he’s 1-9 this season.

72
Cade Horton
CHC

5.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.18. Horton hears a few things, but apparently, how to give up an earned run isn’t one of them. He now has a scoreless streak of 23 1/3 innings.

73
Zack Littell
CIN

7 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.46. I used to give a little, but a little wouldn’t do it, so the little got more and more.

74
Jacob Lopez
ATH

Grey’s lede from last Thursday morning. More below.

75
Shohei Ohtani
LAD

4 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.37. Ramping up and giving great strikeout totals just in time for the head-to-head leaguers that held him all year as an SP Only. He’s like the Dos Equis guy.

The most considerate man in baseball. “I don’t always dominate at the plate and on the mound, but when I do…hopefully, you have me active in a league where total points count!”

76
Michael Wacha
KC

6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.36. Wacha wacha wacha wacha … that’s Michael Pac-Man just cruising through lineups like they’re power pellet alleyways.

77
Clayton Kershaw
LAD

See the Scherzer note. More above!

78
Chris Bassitt
TOR

4.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks, and a bit of a ticker shock in the Jays’ 9-1 loss. Two homers allowed (Muncy and Ohtani) were the majority of the damage but, if you’re like me, you sat him for this one anyway.

79
Spencer Arrighetti
HOU
N/R
3.2 IP, 5 ER, 11 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks in his first start in 4 months. ERA at 7.43. On how many pitches? Because that’s the important part here. (A) Did he get through his outing without re-injuring anything? (B) Did he hit his pitch count and velocity checkpoints? (C) Ya, you know what C is(n’t).

80
Jose Quintana
MLW

6 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.57. There was a little more blood in the water this week, but Quint wasn’t entirely bested by Jaws. This was just a couple of chomps out of the boat.

81
Slade Cecconi
CLE

Yesterday was a tough ride for a lot of SPs. Cecconi had just finished 3 IP with 5 ER, 8 H, 2 HR, 1 BB, and 4 Ks when I wrote this up. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I then realized that he laid that rotten egg at CWS. Smh.

82
Brady Singer
CIN

3.2 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 4.53. Sad songs, they say so much. And this one said whatever the words to “Barf Emoji” are.

83
Colin Rea
CHC
N/R
6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and his 9th win. Is this guy for Rea-l? The 99 pitch outing was his first quality start in his last five games. You could do a lot worse than using Rea to round out a fantasy rotation.

84
Eric Lauer
TOR

Six straight starts allowing 2 ER or fewer, not including yesterday’s LAD start. He might have gotten crushed (2 HR in 0.2 IP at the time of writing), but I wouldn’t have started him in Dodgerland anyway. EDIT: The magic pixie dust didn’t work at LAD. 3 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 4 Ks. If there’s any positive here, it’s that he settled down a bit after that first inning, but the damage was already done.

85
Jeffrey Springs
ATH

More below.

86
Joe Boyle
TB

3.1 IP, 6 ER, 4 H, 5 BB, 5 Ks. Joe got into some hot water against Cal Raleigh and the Mariners on Saturday.

87
Jack Leiter
TEX

3.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.05. 68 pitches to get 10 outs? That Leiter wasn’t so fluid.

88
Adrian Houser
TB

At the time of writing yesterday,  he’d given up one home run, 3 H, 4 ER, and 1 BB. Oh, and he had zero strikeouts and hadn’t recorded an out yet in SEA. Oof. EDIT: 5 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks, and a loss to the Woo-bot.

89
Charlie Morton
DET

4.1 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 10 Ks, and his 10th loss. ERA at 5.48. “Oh, ya? But can Alex Cobb give us 10 strikeouts?” That’s Tigers fans searching for a silver lining.

90
Matthew Liberatore
STL

He hasn’t won in 6 starts and hasn’t finished 6 innings since June 29th. This guy is Freefalling more than Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

91
Bryce Miller
SEA

Started at AAA Tacoma last Thursday. 3.2 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks. His fastball hit 97.5 MPH, and he could be back this week if Seattle thinks he doesn’t need another rehab start.

92
Bailey Ober
MIN

6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks on 89 pitches, and a tough 2-0 loss to KC. I streamed him in Perts because he was all that was left that was worth the gamble, and it paid off. Hopefully, this is the start of him showing us he’s closer to the guy we hoped for way back in April.

93
Zac Gallen
ARI

6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 6 K. At least he didn’t give up 7 ER! This is where we are with Zac Gallen.

94
Zebby Matthews
MIN

5 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 5.17. He’s still too volatile for my liking, but he’s a good hold in keeper leagues. If you’re rostering him in redraft, I’d be checking the Streamonator every week just to be sure we’re not riding him into a buzz saw.

95
Nick Martinez
CIN

7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and his 10th win. ERA at 4.49. The ratios might not be ideal, but he’s tied for 15th (overall) with those 10 wins.

96
Sandy Alcantara
MIA

5 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 4 BB, 4 Ks, and his 11th loss. If you were going to take a guess, would you go with the over or under on a 6.50 ERA? (If you took the under, I have bad news for you).

97
Chris Paddack
DET

More below.

98
Brandon Pfaadt
ARI

5.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks, and his 11th win. 11 wins! So we’re trusting him to anchor our fantasy staffs, then, right? Ha! Pfaadt chance!

99
Janson Junk
MIA

5 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks, and his 6th win (9 GS). He heads to CLE this week, so be careful.

100
Andrew Heaney
PIT

4.2 IP, 1 ER, ERA at 4.77. If you’re not finishing at least 5 innings in a Pittsburgh start, are you even a real starter?