Starting Pitcher Chart – September 8th, 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!

• Not all the 3-xs are created equally, of course, w/Crochet-Woo-Webb-Lodolo-Glasnow-Imanaga sitting a cut above youngsters Bergert and McLean, but I can’t envision sitting those two in many – if any – spots. McLean is in PHI which isn’t easy, but he’s just been SO elite so far.
• TEX isn’t a total walkover so I don’t think Q coasts to a win, just that I’d be willing to chase a W with him as opposed to relying on him for ratios.
• Darvish-Morales-Cecconi-Cavalli is an interesting group of risky upside arms… any of the four can pop off or get smoked and figuring who will do what is the tough part. I, of course, lean toward Darvish and Morales with their 2-x rankings, but not exponentially ahead of Cecconi-Cavalli by any stretch.
• Crismatt’s WHIP makes clear that ERA is fraudulent laced with good fortune. Still might not be the worst spot to do a haf-assed Win chase as the D’Backs can still swing it a bit so while they are an also-ran team at this point, they still have a fair win probability on most nights.

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