Starting Pitcher Chart – May 18th, 2026

by
May 18, 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.

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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

Intro

The chart includes their performance for 2026, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s 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.

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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

  • Blue – Best
  • Green – Good
  • Yellow – OK
  • Red – Bad
  • Black – Worst





 

Paul is the Editor of Rotographs and Content Director for OOTP Perfect Team. Follow Paul on Twitter @sporer and on Twitch at sporer.

5 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
AnonMember since 2025
2 months ago

Wind at 10+:

PHI – out to center at 10
DET – in from R at 16
WAS – out to L center at 10
NYY – in from R at 10
Wrigley – out to L at 16, bump to bats
KCR – out to L at 17
Coors – in from center at 11

Rain:

DET – 44% at 1st pitch dropping to 26% by game end
Wrigley – tops out at 20%
KCR – 23-26% during the game
MIN – 60% at 1st pitch increasing to 89% by game end and 97% after the game
Coors – 47-55% all game

4
CromulentMember since 2017
2 months ago

Ugh. I’m in the stupid position (in a 15 team mixed pts H2H weekly lineups) where the whole reason to roster a Slade Cecconi type is for 2-step weeks like this and I can’t pull the trigger. I agree with you the outlook is bleh if not outright bad (he matches up against Framber today and Zach Wheeler later in the week). Would you give any consideration to starting him over a superior 1 start guy like Bradish or de Grom? Should I just cut him for a bat I might actually use?

0
Paul SporerFanGraphs Staff
2 months ago
Reply to  Cromulent

I think it’s Cutsville for Slade!!!

1
Michael MaynesMember since 2025
2 months ago

Concern for shota with the wind? Apparently this wind pattern bumps up HR by 57%

Last edited 2 months ago by Uncle Stevie
0
Paul SporerFanGraphs Staff
2 months ago

Errr… I meant to put 10-x on Ginn 🤣 🥵

0