Starting Pitcher Chart – September 17th, 2021

September 16, 2021

With the season winding down, I wanted to find something that would be useful for those still contending in their leagues. I decided to do something that isn’t particularly new, but we don’t have it here at the site: a starting pitcher chart for the day’s slate of games. I’ll include their performance over the last five starts, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness, and then my start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues.

Let me know what y’all think about this. Obviously 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 value focusing on roto. For the weekend, Justin & I will use the Friday podcast to discuss the relevant weekend streamers. By popular demand, these will start coming out the day before the slate in question.

German Marquez will start Friday after the weather ppd. for Colorado on Thursday. I’d start him across the board.

September 17th Starter Chart

PITCHER	TM	OPP	10	12	15+	L5 STATS	OPP wOBA L30 days	NOTE
Walker Buehler	LAD	at CIN	x	x	x	3.45 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 17% K-BB	.306 – 21st	6 ER dud at SF is his only start over 4 ER this yr
Zack Wheeler	PHI	at NYM	x	x	x	4.32 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 22% K-BB	.337 – 3rd	Not worried about elevated ERA in L5
Logan Webb	SFG	ATL	x	x	x	2.45 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 22% K-BB	.312 – 16th	Putting finishing touches on a brilliant season
Luis Castillo	CIN	LAD	x	x	x	3.06 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 20% K-BB	.294 – 24th	Not the best matchup, but I can’t see sitting him
Chris Sale	BOS	BAL	x	x	x	2.52 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 22% K-BB	.314 – 14th	Ugly WHIP isn’t a deterrent
Hyun Jin Ryu 류현진	TOR	MIN	x	x	x	6.20 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 19% K-BB	.276 – 29th	Struggling w/2 7 ER stinkers in L5, but I’m still starting
Chris Flexen 플렉센	SEA	at KCR	x	x	x	3.56 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 11% K-BB	.308 – 20th	Quietly enjoying a very solid season
Dylan Cease	CWS	at TEX	x	x	x	5.06 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 19% K-BB	.322 – 11th	Last start really pushing the ERA, 3.00 in other 4
Adrian Houser	MIL	CHC	x	x	x	1.82 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 6% K-BB	.320 – 13th	Only 6 ER in his last 7 outings (37 IP)
Cole Irvin	OAK	at LAA		x	x	7.04 ERA, 1.91 WHIP, 4% K-BB	.293 – 26th	Still worth throwing in favorable matchups like this
Taylor Hearn	TEX	CWS		x	x	3.94 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 15% K-BB	.352 – 8th	Tough matchup, but streamers are inherently risky
Taijuan Walker	NYM	PHI		x	x	5.59 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 17% K-BB	.329 – 5th	Has gone 6+ IP in 5 of last 6
Zach Plesac	CLE	at NYY		x	x	3.81 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 9% K-BB	.324 – 8th	Underwhelmed this yr, but usable streamer
Brady Singer	KCR	SEA		x	x	3.07 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 15% K-BB	.293 – 25th	L7 ER shows volatility: 7, 5, 2, 1, 1, 0, 6
Luis Patiño	TBR	DET		x	x	4.57 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, 7% K-BB	.310 – 17th	Inconsistent IP totals make him a complete wildcard
Elieser Hernandez	MIA	PIT		x	x	4.74 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 17% K-BB	.290 – 27th	AVG’ing <5 IP in L5 w/a 2.2 HR9; matchup is the only positive
Ian Anderson	ATL	at SFG			x	4.71 ERA, 1.95 WHIP, 1% K-BB	.330 – 4th	Don’t be afraid to play it safe here & pass
Miles Mikolas	STL	SDP			x	6.04 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 8% K-BB	.269 – 30th	Matchup & desperation would be the only reasons to stream
Michael Pineda	MIN	at TOR				3.92 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 15% K-BB	.355 – 1st	Never TOR is a standing rule in streaming for me
Josiah Gray	WAS	COL				7.88 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 6% K-BB	.315 – 15th	Just too many HR to trust this late in the season
Wil Crowe	PIT	at MIA				8.71 ERA, 1.93 WHIP, 10% K-BB	.273 – 29th	Matchup not enough to lure me in here
Casey Mize	DET	at TBR				3.60 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 7% K-BB	.308 – 19th	Back on the managed IP plan probably rest of the way
Corey Kluber	NYY	CLE				7.98 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, 17% K-BB	.297 – 23rd	Not nearly enough upside to risk this
Madison Bumgarner	ARI	at HOU				5.81 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 7% K-BB	.372 – 4th	5 ER in each of the last 3 outings
Keegan Akin	BAL	at BOS				4.00 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 9% K-BB	.298 – 22nd	Your ratios will likely be Akin if you take this gamble
Vince Velasquez	SDP	at STL				12.23 ERA, 2.27 WHIP, 2% K-BB	.309 – 18th	He’s a Padre now?!?! Still unusable
Zach Davies	CHC	at MIL				7.71 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 11% K-BB	.320 – 14th	No
Kyle Freeland	COL	at WAS				5.92 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 16% K-BB	.383 – 1st	No Ks, brutal matchup, hard pass

*road vR for COL