Last-Minute Pitchers to Add in Ottoneu

The final week of the 2026 season is upon us. Hitting your innings pitched cap in Ottoneu points leagues is one of the most important ways you can maximize your roster to its fullest extent. And because it’s a soft cap, you can stack as many starters as you can on the day you’ll hit the cap, and you’ll receive all the points from those pitchers.

If you’re planning ahead, you might want to think about adding one or two of the following under-rostered pitchers for their start during the final weekend of the season, if you can line everything up correctly. You’ll need to start your auction for any of these starters by Wednesday to ensure they’re on your roster by Friday. And if you’re in a more traditional fantasy league or a head-to-head league, these under-rostered starters could be solid streamers for you if you need one or two more starts before the end of the season.

Here are 12 starters who are rostered in less than 60% of Ottoneu leagues who look like they have a good matchup this weekend. I’ve added the matchup rating from my Ottoneu SP Planner in the final column for reference.

Sean Manaea has had an up-and-down season, and his topline results haven’t been great recently (6.19 ERA in September), but his strikeout-to-walk ratio has been solid. That’s why his FIP is more than two runs lower than his ERA this month. The Nationals have had a strong and potent offense for most of the season, but they’re posting the sixth worst wOBA in baseball over the last 14 days. I’m not sure I’d chase Manaea in a 5×5 or 4×4 league, but in a points league, the strikeouts will definitely help.

After starting the year in the bullpen, Daniel Lynch IV has worked his way back into the starting rotation for the Royals. He has finally worked his way into 70-80 pitch starts in September which has helped him cover five innings in each of his last three outings. The results have been mixed — a 4.20 ERA and a 4.16 FIP this month are serviceable — but the underlying skills don’t produce much confidence. He’s struck out just 9.7% of the batters he’s faced during this stretch. Still, the matchup against the punchless Guardians offense looks promising.

The trio of Braves starters during their final series in Miami all look like interesting streaming candidates. I covered Grant Holmes in my Hot Right Now column a few weeks ago, writing, “[Holmes] has been pretty lucky not to have allowed a bunch more runs; both his xERA and xFIP are over four and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is merely 1.9 during this stretch.” His luck continued with two fine starts against the Phillies and Astros since writing that blurb. Martín Pérez has been a surprisingly solid starter for the Braves this year and he’s been pretty good in September; he’s running a 3.00 ERA in September. Sure, his FIP is two runs higher, but that’s because he’s allowed more walks than strikeouts in his four starts this month. If you’re truly desperate, JR Ritchie is also lined up to face the Marlins during the final weekend too.

Robert Gasser has been excellent for the Brewers in September, running 1.71 ERA and a 3.76 FIP in four starts. He doesn’t have much strikeout upside and a slightly elevated walk rate has been a bit of a concern, but he’s allowed exactly three hits in each of his outings this month. The Cardinals have been one of the weakest hitting teams in baseball this month and are running a .280 wOBA over the last 14 days.

Dean Kremer couldn’t help the Twins make a late season push into the playoffs but he could help your fantasy team. In September, he posted a 3.05 ERA and a 3.48 FIP with one of the best strikeout-to-walk ratios among this group highlighted in this column. His last outing was a scoreless affair against the Angels where he struck out eight. The Rangers are still fighting for a playoff spot which will make this weekend’s matchup a battle, but Texas’s offense hasn’t been that great recently.

It hasn’t been a smooth transition back to the United States for Anthony Kay this year but the matchup against the Rockies at home looks enticing. I’ll warn you that Colorado hasn’t been so helpless on the road this season — they rank 18th in baseball in road wOBA — and they’ve been hitting pretty well recently.

Once the Angels were finished playing around with Ryan Johnson’s role and stuck him in the rotation for good in June, he responded by putting together a solid second half of the season. He’s been their best pitcher in September, putting up a 3.18 ERA and a 2.79 FIP with a stellar 8.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The most encouraging thing about this stretch is that he’s walked just three batters over his last four starts. He just held the Mariners to a single run in six innings last week and he matches up against them again during the final weekend, this time in Seattle.