Starting Pitcher Chart – September 11th, 2025

The chart includes their performance for 2025, their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. 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, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more valuable focusing on roto.

Holy Toledo, what a rough board for the short slate Thursday! I keep a running loose ranking all throughout the year and only 2 guys in my Top 40 are going today. I’ll let you guess which 2 and neither is Schlittler or Seymour yet despite their impressive small samples. But that lack of experience also stands out when they rank 2nd and 4th on a board, respectively.

• Luzardo draws the top spot, but the Mets are blazing hot vL lately sitting 1st in wOBA over the L30
• I’m still starting Schlittler and Seymour in virtually all spots so that wasn’t a diss earlier, just underscoring how thin Thursday is. These two will be the subject of many offseason conversations and appear on a lot of breakout/sleeper lists as the next big thing. I need to do more research on Seymour to see where I land, but I can see myself contributing to the Schlittler hype for sure.
• Gausman’s been undeniably good this year (SP23 on Player Rater) and yet I never feel that good starting him and I really can’t explain it. It’s also theoretical for me this year because I don’t have him so I should say “recommending him” more than “starting him’. It’s idle concern, though, because I can’t see benching him anywhere even in tougher matchups.
• Love that my guy Gav Williams has his ERA down to a strong 3.17, but I haven’t been sprinting victory laps around everyone because I understand the 1.29 WHIP mitigates some of his impact… he’s SP40 which is 1 spot higher than my SP41 spring rank.
• Peterson’s been all over the map lately: 26-79-55-6-41 Game Scores over his L5 so I really wouldn’t blame anyone for passing in Philly, but he’s at least worthy of consideration everywhere even if only in hopes of nabbing a W.
• Smith’s had an excellent 2H rebound and honestly as I’m typing this I’m realizing I like him over Peterson but I’ve already remade the board like 6x writing these comments so pardon me for being a lazy bum and leaving it as-is and just telling y’all I prefer our boy Shane!
• Weathers is coming off the IL so he’s a total wildcard but he reached 4.7 IP in 68 pitches during his last rehab so if they expand that to 75-80 pitches, 5 IP should be doable… I’d say pickup and stash but he’s headed to Coors next week and I’m doing my best to avoid ALL Coors starts down the stretch (studs still starting there, though).
• Oviedo’s a hot hand play, but he’s legitimately hot and someone I really liked both coming up with St. Louis and during his platform 2023 season with Pittsburgh; more BB (13%) than we’d like in his 5 starts off the IL, but also a 29% K and very few hits fueling a sharp 1.10 WHIP. BAL can still clip a pitcher, but I don’t run from them.
• Sori’s WHIP remains terrifying and despite the elite matchup, I’m not sure how good Kolek is so I don’t think he’s an overwhelming must start.

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