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Starting Pitcher Chart – May 18th, 2026

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Welcome to the Daily SP Chart, click here if you’re new to get an idea of what I’m doing with these rankings.

The chart includes their performance for 2026, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness, and recently added opponent’s K% (also v. SP handedness), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues – essentially a shallow, medium, deep league setup – and then a note about some, most, or all depending on the day. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations for standard 5×5 roto leagues, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. I usually won’t have much to write about aces who are locked into our rotations. If you want to discuss someone further, please feel free to leave a comment. I usually do a few sweeps of the comments before game time in case there are time-sensitive questions.

Starting Pitcher Chart May 18th
Rk PITCHER Team Opponent 10 12 15+ IP ERA WHIP K% K-BB OPP K% opp wOBA RK
1 Yoshinobu Yamamoto LAD at SDP x x x 50 3.60 1.00 25% 19% 23% 26
2 Shota Imanaga CHC v. MIL x x x 54.1 2.32 0.90 28% 22% 22% 27
3 Shane McClanahan TBR v. BAL x x x 39.2 2.27 0.98 26% 16% 25% 16
4 Ryan Weathers NYY v. TOR x x x 45 3.00 1.11 30% 23% 18% 21
5 Robbie Ray SFG at ARI x x x 50.1 3.04 1.17 24% 14% 18% 7
6 Bryan Woo SEA v. CHW x x x 53 3.91 1.00 22% 18% 24% 15
7 Framber Valdez DET v. CLE x x x 50 4.32 1.36 19% 11% 19% 9
8 Seth Lugo KCR v. BOS x x x 52.2 3.76 1.42 21% 12% 23% 29
9 Michael King SDP v. LAD x x x 51.1 2.63 1.09 24% 14% 21% 2
10 Sonny Gray BOS at KCR x x x 34 3.18 1.15 15% 9% 22% 14
11 Christian Scott NYM at WSN x x 15.2 3.45 1.40 29% 16% 21% 16
12 Nick Lodolo CIN at PHI x x 9.1 8.68 1.61 19% 9% 23% 19
13 MacKenzie Gore TEX at COL x x 48 4.50 1.25 26% 15% 30% 24
14 Trevor Rogers BAL at TBR x x 34.1 5.77 1.54 19% 11% 18% 22
15 Brandon Sproat MIL at CHC x 36 5.75 1.53 23% 10% 21% 8
16 Max Meyer MIA v. ATL x 47.2 3.21 1.15 27% 18% 21% 1
17 J.T. Ginn ATH at LAA x 43.1 3.12 1.20 19% 10% 26% 23
18 JR Ritchie ATL at MIA x 21.2 3.32 1.43 18% 2% 21% 18
19 Noah Schultz CHW at SEA x 29.1 4.91 1.36 21% 4% 24% 28
20 Patrick Corbin TOR at NYY 34.1 3.93 1.40 15% 8% 24% 4
21 Walbert Urena LAA v. ATH 27.1 3.29 1.43 22% 8% 22% 4
22 Jake Irvin WSN v. NYM 42.2 5.91 1.45 23% 13% 21% 30
23 Tatsuya Imai HOU at MIN 12.2 9.24 2.05 25% 3% 24% 22
24 Andrew Painter PHI v. CIN 37.2 6.21 1.59 20% 13% 23% 20
25 Slade Cecconi CLE at DET 45 5.60 1.58 19% 10% 23% 13
26 Zac Gallen ARI v. SFG 43 5.02 1.51 15% 8% 22% 28
27 Simeon Woods Richardson MIN v. HOU 42 7.71 1.86 10% 22% 7
28 Jose Quintana COL v. TEX 34 3.97 1.41 11% 28% 30
Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues

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Sunday Night Waiver Wire & FAAB Chat

7:30
Jeff Zimmerman: Welcome

7:31
Jeff Zimmerman: Here are the winning bids in the two 15-team Tout Wars redraft leagues.

7:31
Jeff Zimmerman:

7:32
Sasaki: Where would he have been ranked on your pitcher list in your waiver article? Thanks!

7:32
Jeff Zimmerman: Near the bottom, he’ll need more than one good start to get me to buy in.

7:32
Bill: 2 catcher redraft – keep J Rodriguez (SF) or drop for A Wells (NYY) or Ruiz (WAS)?

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FAAB & Waiver Wire Report (Week 8)


Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

In thiss article, I cover the players using CBS’s and Yahoo’s ADD/DROP rates. Both sites have the option for daily and weekly waiver wire adds. CBS uses a weekly change while Yahoo looks at the last 24 hours. Yahoo is a great snapshot of right now, while CBS ensures hot targets from early in the week aren’t missed. I start players being added at CBS who started the week on less than 40% of rosters.

The players are ordered for redraft leagues by my rest-of-season preference, grouped by hitters, starters, and relievers. Read the rest of this entry »


Lineup Analysis (5/15/26)


Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

Vaughn Grissom (.264/.353/.431, 2 HR, 0 SB) started five straight games, hitting in the top half of the lineup, and playing at first, second, and third base. Read the rest of this entry »


Ottoneu Starting Pitching Planner: May 18–24

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Welcome back to the Ottoneu Starting Pitching Planner. Based on the Roster Resource Probables Grid, I’ve organized every starter slated to start next week into four categories: start, maybe, risky, and sit for Ottoneu points leagues. The first and last category are pretty self-explanatory. Starters who fall into the “maybe” category are guys you could start if you need to keep up with the innings pitched pace in points leagues or need to hit your games started cap in head-to-head leagues; they’re good bets to turn in a decent start, but you shouldn’t automatically insert them into your lineup. If you’ve fallen behind on the innings pitched pace or you’re really starving for starts in a head-to-head matchup, you could turn to a “risky” starter or two.

I’ve also calculated a “Matchup Score” for each series using a straight combination of opponent’s home/away wOBA, opponent wOBA over the last 14 days, and the park factor for the ballpark the teams are playing in. It’s indexed so that 100 is average and anything above that is a favorable matchup and anything below is unfavorable. That matchup rating informs some of the sit/start recommendations I’m making, though the quality of the pitcher definitely takes precedence.

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Rookie Check In: Buy, Sell, or Hold These Five Rookie Hitters

Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Among the top 100 hitters on the Fantasy Player Rater, several hitters are highly touted rookies or players who entered the season rookie-eligible. We’ll examine five rookie hitters. The goal is to provide redraft, keeper, and dynasty thoughts on these rookie-eligible hitters to figure out whether fantasy managers should consider holding, selling high, or buying in various formats. Though keeper and dynasty formats can have different rules and scoring, we’ll do our best to consider these differences. 

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Starting Pitcher Chart – May 15th, 2026

David Butler II-Imagn Images

Welcome to the Daily SP Chart, click here if you’re new to get an idea of what I’m doing with these rankings.

The chart includes their performance for 2026, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness, and recently added opponent’s K% (also v. SP handedness), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues – essentially a shallow, medium, deep league setup – and then a note about some, most, or all depending on the day. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations for standard 5×5 roto leagues, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. I usually won’t have much to write about aces who are locked into our rotations. If you want to discuss someone further, please feel free to leave a comment. I usually do a few sweeps of the comments before game time in case there are time-sensitive questions.

 

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Last Chance to Buy Low on A’s Bats?

Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Some like it hot. And the A’s are certainly some. Since their move to West Sacramento, A’s hitters have finally been treated to a friendly home park. But that park is much friendlier when the weather warms up.

Mapping the A’s Bats by Month at Home (2025)
Month HR FB% HR/FB ISO wRC+
Mar/April 16 36.7% 11.0% .159 96
May 15 35.7% 11.5% .151 118
June 14 35.5% 11.6% .147 99
July 23 39.3% 20.2% .241 116
August 20 36.0% 14.2% .183 107
Sept/Oct 17 36.1% 16.2% 191 108

In this case, timing is a proxy for expected weather. Put simply, since we expect it to be hotter in the summer, especially in Sacramento, we expect offense to increase as the hitting environment becomes more favorable.

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Starting Pitcher Chart – May 14th, 2026

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Welcome to the Daily SP Chart, click here if you’re new to get an idea of what I’m doing with these rankings.

The chart includes their performance for 2026, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness, and recently added opponent’s K% (also v. SP handedness), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues – essentially a shallow, medium, deep league setup – and then a note about some, most, or all depending on the day. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations for standard 5×5 roto leagues, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. I usually won’t have much to write about aces who are locked into our rotations. If you want to discuss someone further, please feel free to leave a comment. I usually do a few sweeps of the comments before game time in case there are time-sensitive questions.

I messed around with some color-coding but I can’t promise that it’ll be consistent.

Dollander has got me breaking my “No Rockies Pitchers” credo. He still hasn’t figured out Coors (because no one does), but he’s surviving there enough to pick some selective home starts so far. His worst outing (6 ER v. ATL) was super easy to skip given how well the Braves have hit this year and most didn’t have him for his 4 IP/4 ER debut so those on the Dollander Train could reasonably have a 1.60 ERA and 39 Ks in 33.7 IP. Even if you got cute and ran the ATL outing, you’re still likely doing fine with him. He has a standout swing-and-miss profile with a 106 STF+ (17th in MLB), running the same 4 pitches to both sides at varying frequencies: four-seamer 37% total, sinker 24%, slider 15%, and changeup 11% (that’s the hierarchy v. both sides, too) and a show-me curve at 8%. It’s fueled a 26% K rate which helps him survive his 9% BB rate.

Before digging in, I wondered if maybe his BB rate trended higher at home with the idea being that he has to nibble more given how dangerous it is to pitch in Coors, but that isn’t happening at all. He’s toting just a 7% mark at home and an 11% on the road. Walks have always been part of his game as he’s never had a stop below 9% and was at 11% during his 98 IP debut last year, equal home and away, meaning I don’t think he has earned the 7% at home as a skill change and if/when it moves back to 9%+, it will likely cut him down to half a starter as primarily a road-only guy. I’m happy to run him at PIT even with them doing very well versus righties this year, but I’m a little skeptical on slamming his 2-step v. TEX/at ARI next week. He runs worse versus lefties (4% K-BB) and TEX will likely bring at least 5 to Coors. That start could really go south. The upshot is that the Rockies have shown that they’ll let him go when he’s rolling so he could drop the hammer on ARI with a 6-7 IP gem. If you can’t afford a likely 1-up, 1-down where the latter could smother former, then don’t chase this. The downside is something like a 10 IP week with poor ratios and 8-10 Ks and then upside is a potential gem week of 12+ IP with great ratios and 12+ Ks.

  • Prielipp out, Zebby in — not starting him anywhere until we see any advancement on his HR issues
  • Luzardo has been so frustratingly inconsistent this year with 4 Duds, 3 excellent outings, and 1 best described as “meh” (4.7 IP/1 ER at CHC). He’s had a heavy home/road split with all 4 Duds at home, but so is his best start of the year (7 scoreless v. SFG) so I wouldn’t read into that as a start/sit mechanic. Despite the overwhelming frustration from him this year, I just can’t see sitting him with that 24% K-BB. Since 2015, there 65 instances of a 24% K-BB in at least 130 IP and there were only 4 seasons with a 4.00+ ERA and only 2 topped a 1.20 WHIP. He just can’t stay this bad with these skills.
  • Griffin has been excellent in his return to the States and catches the Reds at a low point – they’re 30th vL in the last 2 weeks.
  • I bumped Montero to a 3-x when updating the MIN SP change. I do have some concerns about his 13% K-BB, but that NYM lineup has been so bad and is without Lindor, Alvarez, Polanco, and Robert, too.
  • We’ve seen 1 good, 1 bad from Canning so while I am a fan, I’m being careful against MIL here. I miiight run him in 12s.
  • Avoiding ATL as much as I can but I was encouraged by Brown’s 4 no-hit innings in his first start of the year.

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Paul Sporer’s Baseball Chat – May 13th, 2026

Thanks for coming out!!

1:03

Paul Sporer: Hey y’all, thanks for coming out! We’ve got day games cookin’, let’s talk some ball!

1:03

Matt: How uncomfortable with McGreevy @ATH tomorrow – particularly in Ottoneu where HR really hurt?

1:04

Paul Sporer: Quite a bit. As well as he’s been pitching, there’s plenty of regression coming and I’m not starting him here to find out if this is when it starts in earnest

1:04

Matt: McGreevy has been so hot, its tough to sit him, but that said, next week, he draws the short straw here, right (12 tm roto QS)?
Yamamoto (@SD), Sanchez (CLE), Messick (@DET,@PHI), McClanahan (BAL, @NYY), Warren (TOR, TB), McGreevy (PIT)

1:06

Paul Sporer: Yeah, it’s not as bad as at ATH, of course, but the numbers game pushes him out here. Not sure he’s all that close to the lower end of that group even on a 1-start comparison (Messick/Warren) but they both have 2 so even easier start for them over him

1:06

Ryan Raburn: Trevor Rogers was just dropped in my 10man 5×5. Do you think he is must grab?

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