Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!

If you’re a fan of numbers, I have some good news for you. They’re real. And they’re fantastic.

In the words of the famous American poet, Carlton Ridenhour…

“Here it is. Bam! And you say, ‘God Damn’. This is the dope jam.”

Maybe it’s not as dope as you expected, but I managed to piece together my Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2026 list for today!

It’s been an extensive build. The Top 20 Starting Pitchers for 2026 was a lot easier to construct than this one, but alas, this is what y’all want. And I’m here to give it to ya.

Today, you get my Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2026, along with the R$ column that indicates each player’s value from our Preseason Player Rater.

Besides that, I added in Grey’s ranking of each pitcher, followed by a couple of columns with the average draft position of each guy from NFBC and Fantrax.

There are a few names that I am higher on than others. There are also a few names that didn’t survive the cut (for various reasons). 

As I’ve said before, the Top 100 SP list is an ever-evolving mass of information. To be completely honest, I could sit here for another 15 hours and talk myself into re-organizing sections until my fingers bled. (Bryan Adams bonus points for that one).

But, as I did last week, I’ll defer to the Fantasy Master Lothario for the quote that sums the process up better than I ever could.

“Did I consult others’ rankings? Of course I did, it would be ignorant not to, but in the end these are my rankings”.

I’ll also include the final caveat from last week here, too…

“It’s tough to rank starting pitchers alongside the GOAT of starting-pitching rankings. At risk of getting a bit of brown on my nose, a lot of you have known this for as long as I have. FantasyPros knows it. Regular readers have known it for years (as have I). These are not criticisms of Grey’s rankings. If anything, I defer to Grey’s rankings whenever I’m unsure of a player’s worth or potential just because I know how much research and consideration go into the boss’s list, and we all know his track record for success. Think of this as a supplement to Grey’s rankings—a bit of extra sprinkles on top of Grey’s multi-layered pitcher cake.”

In other words, this isn’t set up to go head-to-head with Grey’s rankings. If anything, treat it as an ever-evolving supplement or , at the very least, another opinion to consider when it comes to certain players.

Before we get to the goods, though, a bit of business first. The Razzball subscriptions are well worth the price of admission. This should be your go-to reference for the entire season. That resource that the other “experts” from other sites use as often as they look at Statcast or Fangraphs data? This is it.

Ok. Does everyone have their pitchforks and torches ready? Because I’m sure we’ll have more than a few “WHAT? LOLZ! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU RANKED <PLAYER X> THERE!”

Well, for all of you living base-heads, public enemies, and all of you other folks, too…I give you…

The Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2026

Sorted by 15-team default for NFBC & 12-team (RCL) rankings

MARMO RANK	Name	Team	R$	GREY’S RANKING	NFBC RANKING	FANTRAX RANKING
1	Tarik Skubal	DET	40.8	1	1	1
2	Paul Skenes	PIT	35.8	2	2	2
3	Garrett Crochet	BOS	29.3	3	3	3
4	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD	19.7	4	4	4
5	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI	23.2	7	5	5
6	Bryan Woo	SEA	19.3	6	9	9
7	Logan Webb	SF	19.4	10	14	10
8	Logan Gilbert	SEA	23.8	9	6	8
9	Hunter Greene	CIN	18.3	8	11	12
10	Hunter Brown	HOU	18.9	5	7	6
11	Cole Ragans	KC	21.2	22	12	14
12	Jacob deGrom	TEX	20.3	15	10	13
13	Max Fried	NYY	19.5	17	13	11
14	George Kirby	SEA	21.0	13	17	20
15	Kyle Bradish	BAL	10.8	11	15	24
16	Chris Sale	ATL	23.6	16	8	7
17	Dylan Cease	TOR	16.9	21	19	19
18	Joe Ryan	MIN	24.1	14	16	18
19	Framber Valdez	DET	17.9	24	25	21
20	Freddy Peralta	NYM	16.7	18	15	15
21	Shohei Ohtani	LAD	3.3	12	1 (UT)	1 (UT)
22	Jesus Luzardo	PHI	19.8	23	20	16
23	Tyler Glasnow	LAD	13.6	37	28	31
24	Kevin Gausman	TOR	14.1	25	30	26
25	Eury Perez	MIA	10.2	32	24	28
26	Sonny Gray	BOS	10.9	39	32	29
27	Nolan McLean	NYM	5.5	33	26	32
28	Chase Burns	CIN	7.6	29	31	30
29	Nathan Eovaldi	TEX	12.6	27	46	47
30	Emmett Sheehan	LAD	7.2	30	38	42
31	Trey Yesavage	TOR	5.2	35	44	39
32	Nick Lodolo	CIN	8.8	28	35	41
33	Brandon Woodruff	MLW	12.4	26	29	36
34	Zack Wheeler	PHI	15.6	60	40	54
35	Blake Snell	LAD	15.6	19	18	17
36	Jacob Misiorowski	MLW	-2.3	34	33	27
37	Nick Pivetta	SD	15.4	38	23	23
38	Spencer Strider	ATL	16.5	36	27	22
39	Robbie Ray	SF	5.8	42	42	45
40	Michael King	SD	13.5	40	37	44
41	Cam Schlittler	NYY	-1.6	31	34	40
42	Trevor Rogers	BAL	-3.6	46	50	43
43	Pablo Lopez	MIN	13.5	41	36	33
44	Ryan Pepiot	TB	6.4	43	39	37
45	Shota Imanaga	CHC	12.3	59	51	55
46	Bubba Chandler	PIT	-8.0	77	47	51
47	Gavin Williams	CLE	1.8	61	41	34
48	Ranger Suarez	BOS	8.9	45	53	49
49	Tatsyui Imai	HOU	-2.7	52	52	53
50	Drew Rasmussen	TB	6.3	44	45	50
51	Matthew Boyd	CHC	2.8	49	66	65
52	Edward Cabrera	CHC	2.1	47	57	62
53	Shane Bieber	TOR	-4.0	53	49	46
54	Luis Castillo	SEA	12.4	48	48	35
55	Jack Flaherty	DET	8.7	55	64	60
56	Tanner Bibee	CLE	6.7	62	54	52
57	Andrew Abbott	CIN	1.9	51	62	63
58	Merrill Kelly	ARI	8.4	56	67	67
59	Sandy Alcantara	MIA	1.1	57	43	38
60	Mackenzie Gore	TEX	9.9	63	58	48
61	Carlos Rodon	NYY	3.9	58	56	57
62	Shane Baz	BAL	3.9	50	59	64
63	Logan Henderson	MLW	-6.8	72	81	87
64	Joe Musgrove	SD	5.3	69	71	71
65	Kris Bubic	KC	-2.8	75	61	66
66	Quinn Priester	MLW	-6.2	70	78	73
67	Zac Gallen	ARI	3.1	54	63	58
68	Joey Cantillo	CLE	-8.8	66	80	102
69	Shane Smith	CWS	-3.1	64	77	82
70	Noah Cameron	KC	-2.8	74	75	68
71	Roki Sasaki	LAD	-6.7	78	65	61
72	Jack Leiter	TEX	-4.5	71	72	70
73	Grayson Rodriguez	LAA	0.8	76	83	91
74	Ryan Weathers	NYY	0.4	87	100	104
75	David Peterson	NYM	7.6	65	116	92
76	Cody Ponce	TOR	-4.1	73	101	94
77	Ryne Nelson	ARI	-2.3	68	74	76
78	Cade Horton	CHC	-7.3	80	55	56
79	Clay Holmes	NYM	-2.4	67	103	85
80	Shane McClanahan	TB	6.8	82	70	80
81	Will Warren	NYY	-7.3	83	99	101
82	Seth Lugo	KC	2.9	89	104	96
83	Gerrit Cole	NYY	-0.5	86	79	74
84	Hurston Waldrep	ATL	-8.1	81	73	88
85	Casey Mize	DET	1.3	84	76	78
86	Brayan Bello	BOS	-3.0	88	96	81
87	Kodai Senga	NYM	-7.4	99	82	90
88	Mike Burrows	HOU	-6.1	85	102	111
89	Mitch Keller	PIT	2.1	101	110	75
90	Sean Manaea	NYM	7.3	91	92	98
91	Aaron Nola	PHI	7.2	98	60	59
92	Connelly Early	BOS	-16.8	109	68	72
93	Zebby Matthews	MIN	-7.0	100	94	99
94	Jonah Tong	NYM	-22.0	107	105	105
95	Andrew Painter	PHI	-19.7	116	109	119
96	Payton Tolle	BOS	-13.3	119	123	120
97	Bryce Miller	SEA	2.2	105	69	69
98	Braxton Ashcraft	PIT	-12.2	113	98	103
99	Michael Wacha	KC	0.6	94	113	93
100	Parker Messick	CLE	-9.6	79	93	106

Regular readers know that I usually break the Top 100 SP write-ups into smaller sections with “Jumpers”, “Dumpers” and “Bumpers”, but today I’m going to focus on some of the names that need a bit of spotlight from the Preseason Player Rater’s Top 100. (I’ll do 101-200 next week, then the 200+hellscape the following week!)

 

Quick Hits from the Top 100

• Shohei’s R$ is misleading. In the overall Player Rater, he’s listed as a DH, and his $45 is driven by that hitter value. I’d bet the over on his $3.3 as a pitcher.
• Spencer Schwellenbach was my SP23, but with the news that he’s likely out for three months (or more), I’ve removed him from the list entirely. He’s NFBC’s SP22 by ADP. For reference sake, he’s still the SP25 in the Fantrax player pool.
• Reese Olson was ranked in the early 70s, but was removed after news broke about his season-ending shoulder surgery.
• Justin Steele was another one who I contemplated adding to the bottom 10. He’s still recovering from April UCL surgery, but he threw in January, so he’s progressing. An April/May return is likely (barring any setbacks), so he’s on the radar to add early season and would make a good stash in leagues where you have reserve roster room to burn.
• The bottom 10 here are sprinkled with rookie/youth upside plays. I play in more keeper leagues than redraft, so I always like to highlight some of those deeper names to keep an eye on here. This is just a small bunch of a much larger pool of names to watch.
• Mick Abel was one of a few guys I had as the SP100, but he and the others got bumped out because I missed Nick Pivetta in my first draft. Some of those names are in the final bullet here.
• I left Hurston Waldrep on the list, but the news on Feb. 15th was that he’d likely start the season at Gwinnett (AAA) because he has options remaining. It’s a situation to monitor along with his tender elbow.
• The Top 100 isn’t easy to put together because it means we lose out on quite a few of those deeper league names to watch. Some of the guys I had a tough time bumping out for other names include: Dean Kremer, Yusei Kikuchi, Lucas Giolito, Jameson Taillon, Bailey Ober, Brady Singer, Jared Jones, Cade Cavalli, Chad Patrick, Ian Seymour, Corbin Burnes (IL), Reid Detmers, Cristian Javier, Taj Bradley, Landen Roupp, Ryan Bergert, Tyler Mahle, Jose Soriano, Max Scherzer, Jose Berrios, Kutter Crawford, Johan Oviedo, Kumar Rocker, Spencer Arrighetti, Jacob Lopez, Joe Boyle, Brandon Sproat…really the list feels endless. I’ll highlight some of these (and other) names in the next couple of weeks.

 

PLAYER PROFILES from the TOP 100
I’ll feature some of the players from the 1-100 range from our Preseason Player Rater projections here. Others won’t be featured until next week’s SP101-200 Player Rater piece.

**Parentheses indicate Preseason Player Rater Ranking or PPRR, not the player’s spot in my Top 100**

Shane Baz (PPRR: 57)  – I don’t believe in the bounce back. I was burned far too often by the walk rate and earned run implosions that happened much more often than they should have. Four of his first five starts were quality starts last year. After that, he had two more…before July 1st. And just five more the rest of the way. Maybe that’s not a big deal, but it does warrant a mention that Baz started out great and fell apart early on. I’m not falling for that tailpipe banana again, even if he’s got a new set of digs (in Baltimore).

Zack Wheeler (PPRR: 22) – I said last week that he’d likely land in the 60s in today’s write-up, but edited his place in my list with the Feb.9th news that he should be good to go shortly after opening day. I’m keeping him up in the 30-ish zone here based on the projection that he’ll be missing minimal time, but it’s a ranking with some injury worry baked in. Either way, I won’t be drafting him.

Carlos Rodon (PPRR: 56) – He’s been throwing bullpens and getting “platelet-rich injections” to help speed up his recovery. The official timeline is late-April to early-May, but I’m still hesitant to draft him anywhere near that 50-60 spot with his health still in question.

Spencer Strider (PPRR: 21) – His final six starts from last year were actually solid except for the walks. 36 IP, 10 ER, 32 H, 15 BB, 29 Ks. IF he can get back to his old 2024 self, this will be a bargain price. And, yes, for what it’s worth, the “IF” in that sentence is doing more heavy lifting than a house mover.

Blake Snell (PPRR: 23) – Sorry, Blake, I like you. I really do. And I would be the first one to give you props for the two Cy Young awards if we were to meet face-to-face. I also appreciate the Twitch chat interactions we had over Covid time when I watched you stream MLB The Show and Call of Duty. But seriously…

Please, Snellzilla, don’t clap back at the trash talkers until you throw more than 130 innings in a season again. (He’s surpassed that just twice in 10 years – 2020 not included). I’m hoping he stays healthy and can show what he can do, but the fact that we have news about ‘lingering shoulder issues’ already? It’s a begrudging ‘Pass’ from me.

Shota Imanaga (PPRR: 32) – The K rate took a big dip last year (down to 7.28 K/9 from 2024’s 9.03), but the walk rate is still solid. His 1.62 BB/9 would have slotted him as third best in the league if he had qualified with enough innings. For those who need more of a reference point, that’s one spot higher than Bryan Woo’s 1.74.

Joe Musgrove (PPRR: 52) – Both Keelin and I have mentioned Joe Musgrove already this preseason, and at this ADP, I can see myself getting in on him in multiple leagues. Monitoring health and usage in Spring Training is going to be a big deal with this guy. The team has already said if he’s healthy, they won’t impose any kind of innings limits. Just tell him to wear steel-toed slippers to the workout room, please.

Shohei Ohtani (PPRR: 58) – It feels silly to consider Shohei as a pitcher since anyone in a league that treats him as a single entity is going to be using him as a hitter almost every week. That said, I felt guilty about ranking Shohei as low as I did in the Top 100 list. Is his arm strength back? Will he throw enough innings to be a difference-maker as a pitcher? Counting this guy out from bouncing back is a mistake. If anyone can return from injury and immediately put up a Cy Young award season, you have to think it’s him, right?

Gavin Williams (PPRR: 69) – This guy was the other half of the stress twins for me last year, along with Shane Baz. The amount of explosive meltdowns burned me far too many times to count. BUT…if your league mates are thinking about that on draft day, and this guy keeps flailing down the draft board, don’t mention his final few months. This was his line from July 6th to the end of the season last year.

Sure, the walks could use some tidying up. But if he’s available on the cheap, I’m ready to get hurt again.

Ryan Weathers (PPRR: 74) – I mentioned this guy as my BUY on the AL East preview with Mike and Jeremy. I don’t know if it was the research that I did on him last Spring, or the piece that Cool Whip put together on him, but I was one of the many fans that was excited when Ryan Weathers started last season like a “G” before the lat strain turned it into an “UGH”. I’m in on Weathers again this year, and hopefully he can stay strong. I also chose to run with this Yankee first just so I can’t be accused of any biased analysis. HA!

Gerrit Cole (PPRR: 76) – I saw a clip with Cole on the MLB app where he said he felt good and was looking forward to competing again. He mentioned that he missed the physical challenge of putting in work and being tired every 5 days, but he also mentioned that everyone needs to pay close attention to the TJS timeline. Tommy John surgery recovery has a strict 14-18 month window before the player is deemed “fit to return”. Cole’s surgery was March 13, 2025. This puts him at 11 months right now, so the earliest we can expect him to be ready to go is May 13th. ‘Feeling good’ is much better than the other option, but I wouldn’t be drafting him with the expectation that we get anything of substance before June 1st.

Cam Schlittler (PPRR: 79) – In my list, Cam Schlittler slots into the area he’s being drafted in, but I pushed him down a bit because of the back inflammation news. The Player Rater doesn’t have as much faith. I’m sure he’s fine, and the PPRR is likely based on the fact that he was a rookie that didn’t throw enough innings in the majors to be considered in that Top 30-40 group. I value some of the other kids above him anyway, so this works either way.

That’s it for this week! Regular readers know the drill here. If you have anything to share or comment on, feel free to drop it in the comments, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

This week was the Top 100 with some write-ups from the same section of the Player Rater. Next week, I’ll do a deeper dive of the Player Rater’s Preseason rankings from SP101-200, just to make sure we knock out some of the names that didn’t get a chart position or write-up today.

And you know what? I’m going to give you a link to that opening lyric too. Just because it’s never too early in the season for some P.E. to melt away those winter blues.

Public Enemy – Night Of The Living Baseheads (Dope Version) (Official Music Video)

See you next Monday!

Follow me @marmosdad on Twitter/X and Bluesky @marmosdad.bsky.social