Starting Pitcher Chart – July 27th, 2026

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• I just rebuilt the board since Cole was switched out for Fried in addition to the Chandler/Keller switch.
• Thornton has been strong in 4 starts with at least 6 IP in the last 3. The Mets stink hasn’t infected him yet.
• It’s been a rollercoaster, but if you just held your way through Bradish’s ups and downs, you’ve gotten 20 starts of 3.49 ERA/1.32 WHIP with 110 Ks and 7 Ws. I won’t pretend that WHIP isn’t painful and he’s still not paying off the Top 25 SP price tag he had at the draft table but he’s certainly not sinking your season.
• Montero returned to the rotation with a gem in Wrigley (5.3 IP/1 ER/8 Ks!) and his .229 BABIP seemingly has some regression coming, but we’ve been saying that all year and he just keeps plugging along. His weekend trip to ATH could be a major regression start so let’s be careful with that one.
• Ureña, like Montero, is running super hot with skills that don’t really support his tiny ERA (10% K-BB, 2.78 ERA) but we have seen more consistent bat-missing lately with 42 Ks in his last 43 IP. Similar to Montero, he also has a tougher matchup on the weekend (v. MIL) that make the weekly play a bit of a tougher choice.
• Chandler’s lack of control makes him risky regardless of matchup, but I do like that he’s facing an ARI team that has struggled vR all year. It’s Keller, not Chandler… and I’m probably a bit less interested in Keller, but I can still see against this ARI offense. Y’all know I’m not the biggest Keller fan, though.
• Rocker and Sproat have been maddeningly inconsistent and likely will remain so this year. Rocker has weirdly been better on the road despite TEX being a great spot to pitch. Sproat, meanwhile, gets a trip to SFG which is always a nice spot but he brings a measure of risk every time out.
• Peterson & Perez are mostly full week plays for me as I’d take on their 2-steps in medium or deeper leagues. Neither inspire a ton of confidence, especially for a one-off start, but getting the pair in a weekly setup increases my interest in them.
• Schultz gets an NYY team that is 30th vL in the last month, so don’t let that Judge-infused full season 9th ranking mislead you here. They can still clip a guy even without Judge, but this is exactly the kind of spot where you can stream a Schultz type.
• Imai’s Duds have consistently erased his good starts every time he strings a couple together. I still think we run him in a decent number of spots against this LAA offense, but we’ve seen clearly this year that matchup doesn’t matter for him. When he’s on, he can get anyone and when he’s off, he’s susceptible against any team.
• Scherzer and Kelly head on the road for remarkably difficult matchups while Perkins is just unusable in his home park (7.41 ERA/1.56 WHIP). I can’t find spots for any of ’em.

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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.

Color Coding:

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