Starting Pitcher Chart – July 21st, 2026
- Daily SP Chart archive
- 2-Start
podcast episoderanking (in lieu of our Friday pod) - SP Rankings (last update: 6/5 | next: Friday)
Welcome to the Daily SP Chart, click here if you’re new to get an idea of what I’m doing with these rankings.
Fell asleep on the couch after that excellent Tigers game, so I’ll get some comments up in the morning!!
- Gausman might not be fully out of his funk (7.46 ERA in L5) but after 13 ER in the first two, he has 2 QS in his L3. It hasn’t been a great season, but I can’t see sitting him in many spots.
- Framber has struggled with start-to-start consistency as evidenced by his ER counts over his L12: 7-2-4-1-4-1-4-0-1-4-5-1. So while he’s fallen short of expectations with his composite ratios, it’s hard to get away from start him. I could maybe see a skip in 10s here if you have a deep rotation, but 12s and deeper should keep him locked in.
- ReyLo’s back! One of my favorites over the years, he’s fully stretched out with 5 IP in each of his L3 outings and now gets the worst offense in the league.
- If you’re a big Thornton backer, I can see starting him in some 10s, too. I played it cautiously with MIL but he’s been impressive in his spot starts and has the skills to be a part of this rotation. We’ll see if Clay Holmes kicks him out upon return but then the deadline should clear a spot for him assuming they don’t win every game between now and August 3rd and miraculously get back into the mix.
- Sproat has a looked a lot more like the breakout pick many thought he could be coming into the season, posting a 3.55 ERA/1.12 WHIP/17% K-BB in his L7 after a 6.24 ERA through May. I don’t blame anyone who cut him after back-to-back months of mid-6.00s and the walks that plagued him early aren’t fully handled with a 9% BB during this run.
- Warren, Imai, and Schultz are scary streamers. They have the upside to pop off, but we’ve seen the downside, especially lately with all 3 toting an ERA north of 5.00 in the last month of work. Warren and Schultz also get tough matchups and while Imai’s MIA matchup isn’t super difficult, they have been known to go off at times, too.
- It was a begrudging 1-x for Perkins and probably should be 0, but I keep getting drawn in by the quality core skills. Even in this nightmare run of his L7 with an 8.32 ERA/1.68 WHIP, he still has a 17% K-BB (f0r context, that’s a Top 30 mark among qualified SPs). While Sacramento is to blame for some of the trouble, he has a 6.08 ERA on the road, too, but with ARI ranking 28th in wOBA and Corbin Carroll possibly out of the lineup again as he’s nursing an elbow issue that kept him out Monday. I want to love Perk, but he has punished fantasy mangers who’ve believed in him so far.
- MIN yoinked Anderson from BOS and will be in a Follower position today which could put him in line for a W. He throws strikes and is stretched out enough to go 4-5 IP.
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Starting Pitcher Chart July 21st
| Rk | PITCHER | Team | Opponent | T | 10 | 12 | 15+ | IP | ERA | WHIP | K% | K-BB | OPP K% | opp wOBA RK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zack Wheeler | PHI | v. LAD | R | x | x | x | 93 | 2.13 | 0.89 | 30% | 24% | 21% | 1 |
| 2 | Chase Burns | CIN | at SEA | R | x | x | x | 102.2 | 2.54 | 1.11 | 29% | 20% | 23% | 12 |
| 3 | Drew Rasmussen | TBR | at TOR | R | x | x | x | 99.1 | 3.26 | 0.95 | 25% | 21% | 19% | 16 |
| 4 | Parker Messick | CLE | v. MIN | L | x | x | x | 112 | 2.73 | 1.07 | 25% | 17% | 22% | 21 |
| 5 | Ranger Suarez | BOS | v. BAL | L | x | x | x | 91.1 | 3.15 | 1.16 | 26% | 19% | 26% | 23 |
| 6 | Kevin Gausman | TOR | v. TBR | R | x | x | x | 112.1 | 4.33 | 1.22 | 25% | 18% | 20% | 7 |
| 7 | Framber Valdez | DET | at CHC | L | x | x | x | 107.2 | 4.10 | 1.32 | 19% | 11% | 21% | 2 |
| 8 | Justin Wrobleski | LAD | at PHI | L | x | x | x | 100.1 | 2.69 | 1.02 | 18% | 13% | 24% | 26 |
| 9 | Kyle Bradish | BAL | at BOS | R | x | x | x | 107.1 | 3.61 | 1.35 | 23% | 12% | 22% | 27 |
| 10 | Reynaldo López | ATL | v. SDP | R | x | x | x | 61.2 | 3.50 | 1.26 | 21% | 11% | 23% | 30 |
| 11 | Zac Thornton | NYM | at MIL | L | x | x | 17.1 | 2.60 | 0.92 | 22% | 15% | 21% | 19 | |
| 12 | Walbert Ureña | LAA | v. STL | R | x | x | 81.1 | 2.88 | 1.32 | 22% | 9% | 22% | 11 | |
| 13 | Brandon Sproat | MIL | v. NYM | R | x | x | 82 | 5.16 | 1.37 | 25% | 14% | 22% | 29 | |
| 14 | Will Warren | NYY | v. PIT | R | x | x | 98.1 | 4.03 | 1.36 | 22% | 15% | 23% | 2 | |
| 15 | Tatsuya Imai | HOU | v. MIA | R | x | x | 52 | 6.06 | 1.50 | 27% | 13% | 21% | 22 | |
| 16 | Noah Schultz | CHW | at TEX | L | x | x | 53 | 5.60 | 1.36 | 20% | 8% | 25% | 6 | |
| 17 | Luis Castillo | SEA | v. CIN | R | x | x | 87.2 | 4.93 | 1.37 | 21% | 14% | 25% | 26 | |
| 18 | Tyler Mahle | SFG | at KCR | R | x | 78 | 5.31 | 1.46 | 22% | 12% | 21% | 19 | ||
| 19 | Bubba Chandler | PIT | at NYY | R | x | 94.1 | 4.77 | 1.45 | 20% | 7% | 23% | 3 | ||
| 20 | Luinder Avila | KCR | v. SFG | R | x | 56.2 | 5.08 | 1.62 | 20% | 6% | 20% | 15 | ||
| 21 | Jack Perkins | ATH | at ARI | R | x | 57.2 | 6.87 | 1.44 | 27% | 19% | 21% | 28 | ||
| 22 | FW: Jack Anderson | MIN | at CLE | R | W | 8 | 3.38 | 1.25 | 19% | 13% | 22% | 25 | ||
| 23 | Kumar Rocker | TEX | v. CHW | R | 90 | 4.40 | 1.37 | 21% | 12% | 24% | 21 | |||
| 24 | Tyler Phillips | MIA | at HOU | R | 75 | 3.48 | 1.39 | 17% | 6% | 22% | 14 | |||
| 25 | Matthew Liberatore | STL | at LAA | L | 93.2 | 5.00 | 1.48 | 21% | 13% | 26% | 15 | |||
| 26 | Walker Buehler | SDP | at ATL | R | 89 | 5.36 | 1.44 | 21% | 12% | 21% | 13 | |||
| 27 | David Peterson | CHC | v. DET | L | 82.1 | 6.45 | 1.64 | 18% | 9% | 23% | 14 | |||
| 28 | Miles Mikolas | WSN | at COL | R | 94.1 | 5.53 | 1.33 | 13% | 8% | 22% | 4 | |||
| 29 | Kohl Drake | ARI | v. ATH | L | 24% | 8 | ||||||||
| 30 | Michael Lorenzen | COL | v. WSN | R | 97 | 6.22 | 1.77 | 16% | 8% | 21% | 17 |
Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues | FW: Follower | W: Win chase
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
Weather will be a factor today in the Northeast, let’s just combo everything today:
PHI – out to R center at 11, but rain is the issue. 70-90% all game. Drops to more like 60% after the game so maybe it’s a delay. Another game tomorrow and both teams off Thursday and not far to travel for Friday so wouldn’t be too hard to postpone it.
CLE – Out to R at 12 and 50-66% rain before, during and after the game. They play each of the next 2 days so they’d have to double up if they need to postpone it
NYY – across from R to L at 10 but rain is the issue. 95% basically all day. They play again tomorrow and both are off Thursday with not far to travel for Friday.
BOS – Out to L at 12 but rain here also. 45% before the game rising to 90% after the game. As with above, another game tomorrow and both off on Friday with not super long trips for Friday
KCR – in from L at 10, warm (89* at 1st pitch)
Wrigley – in from L at a stout 17, not exactly cool but cooler than recently (76* at 1st pitch). Slight chance of rain at 23% during the game but lower after. Bump to arms today
Coors – Out to L at 11, warm too (89* at 1st pitch). 33% chance of rain all day. Bump to bats (as if they needed it with Mikolas vs Lorenzen)
These are awesome, Anon, thank you!
Man the offenses should sing in that Rockies game
2 starters with no swing-and-miss stuff and HR issues with the wind blowing out on the moon?
If you go to the Lab dropdown up top and click on the Baseball Sim and then click this game, the Sim projects all but 2 guys with at least an .800 OPS today. (Jacob Young just misses with a .788 while Nasim Nunez’s 85 MPH EV and 50% GB rate only gets him a .721 because even at Coors you still have to hit the ball in the air to hit it out of the park) It projects James Wood for a 1.087 OPS today. Ezequiel Freaking Tovar gets an .819 OPS today. It’s projecting Lorenzen and Mikolas to each put up 6.76 ERAs and a total of 13.5 runs for the game.
And that’s with no weather adjustment (I played with the weather adjustment in the Sim a little bit but don’t feel confident that I know how it works)
Look, these things never seem to quite work out as the disasters they’re set up to be, but I’m stacking as many hitters as I can in this game today.
Yankees/Pirates postponed. Even though they have an off day Thurs, they are playing two tomorrow instead.
MIN/CLE forecast has improved some since I originally posted.
We’ll see about Fenway and Philly.