Starting Pitcher Chart – September 18th, 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.
Board tonight, comments in the morning! (Yes, I’m going back to the well on Tong even after the nightmare v. TEX)
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| RK | PITCHER | GAME | 10 | 12 | 15+ | IP | ERA | WHIP | K-BB | 2025 wOBA RK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tarik Skubal | DET v CLE | x | x | x | 183 | 2.26 | 0.86 | 28% | 28th |
| 2 | Max Fried | NYY at BAL | x | x | x | 181 | 3.03 | 1.13 | 16% | 20th |
| 3 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | LAD v SFG | x | x | x | 162 | 2.66 | 0.98 | 21% | 13th |
| 4 | Logan Webb | SFG at LAD | x | x | x | 188 | 3.34 | 1.26 | 21% | 5th |
| 5 | Hunter Greene | CIN v CHC | x | x | x | 92 | 3.01 | 0.99 | 25% | 9th |
| 6 | Quinn Priester | MIL v LAA | x | x | x | 146 | 3.25 | 1.23 | 12% | 25th |
| 7 | Chris Bassitt | TOR at TBR | x | x | x | 166 | 3.90 | 1.30 | 16% | 11th |
| 8 | Jonah Tong | NYM v SDP | x | x | x | 11 | 8.49 | 1.71 | 11% | 16th |
| 9 | Tanner Bibee | CLE at DET | x | x | 170 | 4.44 | 1.24 | 14% | 17th | |
| 10 | Luis Castillo | SEA v KCR | x | x | 167 | 3.76 | 1.25 | 15% | 24th | |
| 11 | Brayan Bello | BOS v ATH | x | x | 157 | 3.25 | 1.22 | 10% | 7th | |
| 12 | Colin Rea | CHC at CIN | W | W | 146 | 4.23 | 1.31 | 11% | 15th | |
| 13 | Yusei Kikuchi | LAA at MIL | x | 167 | 4.08 | 1.46 | 13% | 7th | ||
| 14 | Stephen Kolek | KCR v SEA | x | 99 | 3.71 | 1.20 | 10% | 12th | ||
| 15 | J.T. Ginn | ATH at BOS | x | 80 | 4.69 | 1.34 | 19% | 10th | ||
| 16 | Cade Povich | BAL v NYY | x | 101 | 5.05 | 1.45 | 16% | 2nd | ||
| 17 | Sandy Alcantara | MIA at COL | 161 | 5.53 | 1.29 | 11% | 27th | |||
| 18 | Shane Baz | TBR v TOR | 157 | 5.15 | 1.37 | 16% | 4th | |||
| 19 | Randy Vásquez | SDP at NYM | 123 | 3.72 | 1.35 | 4% | 3rd | |||
| 20 | Tanner Gordon | COL v MIA | 66 | 6.14 | 1.50 | 13% | 14th |
Recommendations for Roto 5×5 Leagues
KEY x: Standard Recommendation | W: Chasing the Win
Love you Paul, but Tong at #8 is insane.
LOL that’s fair. It’s funny bc ppl were overrating the hell out of him after ONE start back in early-Sept., but now after the dud v. TEX, he’s radioactive. I certainly won’t pretend it’s a CONFIDENT start for him, but I really do believe in the top tier talent so I’d consider running him in any format. Maybe he deserves 2-x with 10s being more of a Hail Mary
Sorry Paul, I will never doubt you again.