Starting Pitcher Chart – August 28th, 2026

by Paul Sporer

August 28, 2026

Daily SP Chart archive
2-Start podcast episode
SP Rankings (last update: 7/24 | next: September)

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

Pardon me for no Thursday board. I was light on sleep Wednesday night and then crashed after my morning stream. I will have some comments in the morning on Friday’s star-studded board.

Any Tigers fan who boos Skubal tonight is a stone cold loser. He was traded and it’s not like he demanded to be moved. Anything but overwhelming love for him would be really out of pocket to me.
McClanahan catches a hot hitting SDP team (9th wOBA vL in L30) but after 5 scoreless on 74 pitches last time out – his 2nd start off the IL – I’m confident installing back into every lineup.
The erosion of the Nationals offense has been a tough watch. Trades of Curtis Mead and Luis Garcia were one thing, but then James Wood’s injury and the absolute worst month of the year for CJ Abrams has them sitting just 26th in wOBA versus over the last month and down to 14th on the season. The 4th for the year going into August! I say all that and Eury was just fine against them last time out (5 IP/1 ER/3 BB/4 Ks) but there’s a chance for a big outing for sure.
Classic TJ returner season for Jones. RIGHT when you get comfortable with them as a must start, they hit the rug pull! After a nasty July, Jones has made it 5 IP just once in 4 August tries, was pasted for 8 ER v. NYM, and was lucky to survive LAD with 4 IP/2 ER given his 5 BB. Predictably, it’s been spotty command and control behind his struggles with a 14% BB rate and 2.3 HR9 over his L4. Like I said, classic TJ returner! All that said, though, and he’s still catching a relatively high slot in the 3-x tier as a trip to STL provides a good chance to get right. Another major struggle here would make him a tough start anywhere next week, though. (Note: he was moved down from 8th to 12th after the original post).
I remain terrified of anyone pitching in Sacramento but Lopez has simply been far too good over his L7 to sit anywhere: 2.36 ERA/1.05 WHIP/22% K-BB in 39 IP, including 4 home starts.
2 great, 2 awful starts for Mize with SDP so far, including an early departure after slipping down the stairs between innings and rolling his ankle in his last one. He’s said to be recovered from that and ready to go today, but with a tough matchup on tap, I can see some skips… especially if you’re protecting ratios and a Dud would really hurt you.
Brown certainly hasn’t been the frontliner we expected for a while now, toting a 4.41 ERA/1.41 WHIP combo over his L9 with a paltry 7% K-BB. He’s allowed multiple BB and 1 HR in each of his L5, too, thus taking him out of any must-start status. I still have a hard time getting away from him in deeper formats, but 10-team managers shouldn’t feel obligated to run him.
It’s only 1 spot, but Painter should be ahead of Bradford on matchup alone, especially as Bradford has been “meh” lately while Painter is surging: 3.62 ERA/1.06 WHIP/14% K-BB. He did suffer a Dud at MIN thanks to a 4-run first inning but he stabilized and dropped four strong IP after that and then bounced back in the next start (his most recent) for his best start of the year: 7 IP/1 ER/0 BB/8 Ks.
Sandoval rebounded from his Dud at PIT with 5.7 IP/2 ER/2 BB/6 Ks v. SFG, but it was his 6th straight game with at least 2 BB. This ostensibly should be a good matchup for him despite heading to NYY. Their lefty-laden lineup should play into Sandy’s strengths, despite what a disgusting .586 BABIP vL has done to his numbers this year. That’s clearly small sample flukiness to me so I’m willing to run him in some spots tonight.
I would still be pretty nervous to run Anderson or Sugano, but they are catching their otherwise tough opponents at the right moment with LAD 25th and ATL 29th in wOBA vR over the L30 days.

—

Starting Pitcher Chart August 28th

Rk	PITCHER	Team	Opponent	T	10	12	15+	IP	ERA	WHIP	K%	K-BB	OPP K%	opp wOBA RK
1	Dylan Cease	TOR	v. SEA	R	x	x	x	144.1	2.37	1.06	36%	25%	23%	8
2	Tarik Skubal	LAD	at DET	L	x	x	x	120.2	2.91	0.95	31%	26%	23%	19
3	Logan Henderson	MIL	v. TEX	R	x	x	x	69.1	2.60	0.89	30%	25%	22%	18
4	Shane McClanahan	TBR	v. SDP	L	x	x	x	107.1	3.10	1.12	22%	14%	22%	18
5	Cam Schlittler	NYY	v. BOS	R	x	x	x	158	2.16	0.96	31%	25%	21%	19
6	Eury Pérez	MIA	at WSN	R	x	x	x	127.2	3.17	1.11	27%	17%	21%	14
7	Reid Detmers	LAA	v. PHI	L	x	x	x	149	3.62	1.06	29%	21%	23%	23
8	Emerson Hancock	SEA	at TOR	R	x	x	x	133.2	3.37	1.12	23%	17%	19%	21
9	Christian Scott	NYM	v. HOU	R	x	x	x	89.1	3.73	1.32	28%	18%	22%	7
10	Blade Tidwell	SFG	v. ARI	R	x	x	x	32.2	3.58	1.16	21%	11%	20%	29
11	Michael Wacha	KCR	at CLE	R	x	x	x	162.2	3.49	1.13	19%	13%	21%	23
12	Jared Jones	PIT	at STL	R	x	x	x	68	4.76	1.25	27%	18%	22%	27
13	Jacob Lopez	ATH	v. BAL	L	x	x	x	94	4.98	1.48	21%	10%	26%	9
14	Tanner Bibee	CLE	v. KCR	R	x	x	x	156.1	3.97	1.14	19%	12%	21%	20
15	Casey Mize	SDP	at TBR	R	x	x	x	104.2	3.44	1.09	23%	16%	19%	2
16	David Peterson	CHC	v. CIN	L	x	x	x	118.1	5.17	1.50	19%	10%	25%	10
17	Hunter Brown	HOU	at NYM	R	x	x	x	74.1	3.51	1.33	24%	10%	22%	25
18	Cody Bradford	TEX	at MIL	L		x	x	20.2	3.05	1.40	15%	10%	22%	17
19	Andrew Painter	PHI	at LAA	R		x	x	92.1	6.04	1.48	19%	11%	25%	28
20	Brandon Young	BAL	at ATH	R		x	x	123.1	3.50	1.36	19%	10%	22%	24
21	Patrick Sandoval	BOS	at NYY	L		x	x	39.2	4.54	1.76	22%	13%	25%	8
22	Grant Holmes	ATL	v. COL	R		x	x	123.2	3.64	1.32	19%	9%	22%	22
23	Dean Kremer	MIN	v. CHW	R			x	58.2	5.22	1.18	24%	16%	24%	10
24	Drew Anderson	DET	v. LAD	R			x	81.1	4.09	1.29	26%	18%	21%	1
25	Tomoyuki Sugano	COL	at ATL	R			x	121.2	4.96	1.32	14%	8%	22%	17
26	Luis Castillo	CHW	at MIN	R				118	5.19	1.42	20%	13%	21%	6
27	Quinn Mathews	STL	v. PIT	L				14	6.43	1.79	20%	9%	26%	27
28	Kohl Drake	ARI	at SFG	L				16.2	5.40	1.56	17%	9%	24%	28
29	Jackson Kent	WSN	v. MIA	L				12.1	8.03	2.11	23%	5%	23%	21
30	Rhett Lowder	CIN	at CHC	R				107	5.13	1.47	17%	8%	22%	4

Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues

Intro

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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Color Coding:

Green – Good Matchup (lower OPS output by SP opponent) – 21st to 30th
Yellow – OK – 11th to 20th
Red – Bad – 1st to 10th