Starting Pitcher Chart – May 8th, 2026

by
May 8, 2026
Kyle Ross-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, 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.

  • Alright, we have a ton of 3-x’ers today and they’re definitely not created equally so I want to break that group down in a bit more detail.
  • Easy studs: Fried, Luzardo, McLean, Cease, Sale, Miz, and Ray – the ones you don’t need detail on to know they’re starts
  • New 3s: I can’t ignore Hancock’s 1.5 HR9 and 93% LOB rates but there is a foundation to work with here (29% K, 4% BB, 12% SwStr – all far and away career bests) so we’re riding the the train; Detmers has brought his RP skills to his SP role wholesale with an equal 21% K-BB, though constructed more soundly trading 4 pts of K% for -4 of BB%. The 6% HR/FB will regress but these skills will soften the blow and he’s a rotation staple right now; Messick-Bubic-Burke is a rising AL Central trio who closed strong last yr and have rolled the success over into 2026 so far making them all easy starts right now; Burke might be a little fringier in 10s, but Messick/Bubic are all systems go
  • Sketchy 3s: Prielipp needs more than 3 starts to join his AL Central brethren but the early returns are strong; Montero’s .245 BABIP and 0.8 HR9 are helping squeeze a 3.48 ERA out of these skills (14% K-BB) and I’m open to running him at KCR; regression is coming for Griffin, particularly his .220 BABIP and 84% LOB, but I willing to bet he can stave it off another start with a trip to MIA; I’m not moving off Dollander for a rough one v. ATL and he’s catching PHI hitting even worse than their full-season line (hopefully he gets an opener again!); Sheehan gets that tough ATL lineup now and while the 21% K-BB is excellent, the 1.7 HR9 looms large against the MLB HR leader against righties… one silver lining is being on LAD gives him a chance to struggle a bit but still net the W as long as he goes 5 IP; 14 ER in 5.3 IP is going to stain Nelson’s ERA for a whiiiile but he rebounded at CHC and NYM hasn’t given us any reason to avoid them with streamers; Mlodzinski’s 18% K-BB is 10th best on the board today but I just don’t see how a 9% SwStr can sustain that 26% K rate and yet we’re obviously not turning down this trip to SFG; Early hasn’t quite lived up to expectations despite the decent ERA (3.79), so it’s time to show something in this next 3-start run (TBR, PHI, at KCR) or else the ATL might need to be skipped
  • I’m ready to get hurt by Canning again! I will say that we need to be a little tighter with streaming against STL as they sit 10th vR on the year and they’re riding high at 1st over the L2 wks
  • It’s Lodolo’s season debut so of course do what you will with first starts off the IL; his rehab did go very well with a 34% K-BB in 12 IP so there has at least been some ramp up
  • If you want to run McGreevy in a 10, it’s not crazy at SDP but this is pure run-hot; all the ERA indicators are north of 4.00 and his xERA is at 5.77!!
  • Holding Bradish and Rocker in 15s comes down to the fact that there probably just isn’t anyone better on the wire but they surely haven’t done anything to earn the roster spot
  • Snelling is a premium prospect making his MLB debut on Friday! Paddack was DFA’d so if this goes well, he’s going to stay in the rotation

SP Chart for May 8th, 2026
Rk PITCHER Tm Opp 10 12 15+ IP ERA WHIP K-BB opp wOBA RK
1 Max Fried NYY at MIL x x x 52.2 2.39 0.89 14% 28
2 Jesús Luzardo PHI v. COL x x x 40.2 5.09 1.28 24% 25
3 Nolan McLean NYM at ARI x x x 39.1 2.97 0.94 26% 27
4 Dylan Cease TOR v. LAA x x x 38.1 3.05 1.33 23% 19
5 Chris Sale ATL at LAD x x x 42 2.14 0.90 23% 2
6 Jacob Misiorowski MIL v. NYY x x x 38 2.84 1.00 28% 3
7 Robbie Ray SFG v. PIT x x x 39.2 2.95 1.06 17% 18
8 Emerson Hancock SEA at CHW x x x 41.2 2.59 0.96 25% 24
9 Reid Detmers LAA at TOR x x x 40 4.28 1.15 21% 22
10 Parker Messick CLE v. MIN x x x 41.1 2.40 0.92 22% 12
11 Kris Bubic KCR v. DET x x x 40.2 3.32 1.13 14% 15
13 Sean Burke CHW v. SEA x x x 39.2 2.72 1.01 15% 12
14 Connor Prielipp MIN at CLE x x x 14 3.86 0.93 18% 11
15 Keider Montero DET at KCR x x x 33.2 3.48 1.01 14% 20
16 Foster Griffin WSN at MIA x x x 39.2 2.27 1.08 12% 21
17 Chase Dollander COL at PHI x x x 37.1 3.38 1.15 19% 17
18 Emmet Sheehan LAD v. ATL x x x 31 5.23 1.32 20% 2
19 Ryne Nelson ARI v. NYM x x x 31.1 6.61 1.44 10% 29
20 Carmen Mlodzinski PIT at SFG x x x 34 4.76 1.50 18% 30
20 Connelly Early BOS v. TBR x x x 35.2 3.79 1.32 9% 16
21 Griffin Canning SDP v. STL x x 5 1.80 1.20 21% 10
22 Nick Lodolo CIN v. HOU x x 10
23 Michael McGreevy STL at SDP x x 39.1 2.52 0.92 11% 22
24 Kyle Bradish BAL v. ATH 34 5.03 1.82 9% 6
25 Kumar Rocker TEX v. CHC 28.2 4.71 1.47 11% 5
26 Robby Snelling MIA v. WSN 3
27 Mike Burrows HOU at CIN 37.2 5.97 1.65 14% 23
28 Javier Assad CHC at TEX 20.1 7.08 1.38 7% 14
29 Jacob Lopez ATH at BAL 30 6.60 1.90 1% 13
30 Mason Englert TBR at BOS 12.2 7.11 1.82 10% 28
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.

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

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AnonMember since 2025
8 days ago

Wind at 10+:

CIN – in from R at 10
SF – out to L center at 10 in a ballpark designed to minimize wind effects

The only rain potential is CLE where it increase to 47% by game’s end and higher than that afterward

5