Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!

We’re officially in the final week of August, which means it’s a good time to check in on our AL Cy Young Award odds (according to the ESPN odds tracker).

Let’s get something out of the way first: Cam Schlittler is having himself a fantastic year.

But why put your hard-earned dollars down on the favorite when it’s much more exciting to pick a dude with better odds?

Or, in other words, why aim for A’s when you can have Cease?

Our statistical runner-up was at it again this week. Dylan Cease rolled into Yankee Stadium, threw 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 8 Ks on Saturday afternoon, and steered the Blue Jays one step closer to that wild card position no one thought was reachable just a few weeks ago. 

This superstar carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning yet again. And to say the “Pro-Cease” posts flying around up in these parts are plentiful would be an understatement.

Have a peep at this one…

And, for the record, that 1900 isn’t from one of the youngsters as they refer to the events of the past, AKA 1997.

“But MarmosDad? What about the walks?” 

Oh! And did I mention the 8 strikeouts? Yep. He struck out eight in that start. AND he had a 34.1 whiff rate on Saturday afternoon! Wow!

“Ok, but what about the walks?”

I’m sorry, italicized voice, did you say, “What about the wins?” Oh ya! Thanks to a solid performance from the bullpen, he also managed to record his 8th win of the season!

“YES, THAT’S FINE, BUT I SAID WHAT ABOUT THE WALKS!?”

Wow. There’s no need to shout. I will admit, though, that it’s probably time to address the elephant in the room.

But first, let’s settle in for a True Story Alert!

My youngest and I were sitting in Harvey’s (a Canadian burger joint) for lunch on Saturday, and the Jays/Yankees game was on their big screen TV. 

The kiddo looks up and nonchalantly announces: “Ball. And that’s a ball, too. Oh look, another ball.” Then he gets serious and says, “Dad? Every time I look at the screen this guy throws a ball. Maybe I shouldn’t look anymore.”

I reassured him that Dylan Cease missing the strike zone on multiple occasions was not a new development, nor was my dear Marmolet’s fault.

So, let’s say that Dylan Cease’s walk total from his most recent start wasn’t quite a half dozen and leave it at that!

But that tiny addendum wouldn’t push our co-Cy Young favorite (at least in my books) down the rankings this week, would it?

Well, before we get to that answer, let’s not forget about the Razzball tools. 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.

Oh, and one more thing before we get down to business. I covered another Friday night roundup for Dan Pants again this week, so if any of the Friday night starter notes that show up in quotation marks today look a bit odd (eg., referring to Friday as ‘last night’), that’s why!

Ok? Let’s get to it!

The Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2026

MARMO RANK	Name	Team	Notes
1	Jacob Misiorowski	MLW	“6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and his 13th win. “Hey Gandalf, why don’t you shuffle over here so I can snap that wooden staff in half and stuff it up your nose!” Wow. I mean, I don’t have any proof that this is what Jacob Misiorowski said to Chris Sale before they both took the hill on Friday night. Still, I can confirm that The Miz wasn’t all that welcoming to the Grey-bearded Sale and his band of merry Braves when they walked onto American Family Field.”
2	Tarik Skubal	LAD	7 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 11 Ks, and a villain arc that grows stronger every day. Oh, and he won his 8th game, too.
3	Chris Sale	ATL	“6 IP, 2 ER, 8 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, and his 9th loss. Talk about burying the marquee matchup of the day! Sale vs The Miz was must-see-TV, and the two aces did not disappoint. Well, that is, they didn’t disappoint unless you were banking on a Chris Sale win to push you over the top in your head-to-head playoff matchup this week.”
4	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD	“6.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks. I watched the last few innings of this game and wondered why the Dodgers had Yoshi still throwing in the 7th inning with a 4-2 lead and a pitch count at 103. Well, let’s just say he ended up with the no-decision after they lifted him at 107 pitches. And there’s a bit of poetic irony that the guy who gave up a two-run home run to wipe out Yamamoto’s win is named “Hurt.”
5	Dylan Cease	TOR	More above! Again!
6	Cam Schlittler	NYY	“6 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks, and his 11th win. ERA at 2.17. WHIP at 0.96. I can’t wait for those AL Cy Young votes to come in, then sit back and sift through the comment sections to read all of the irate Schlittler or Dylan Cease fan reactions. Fun times!”
7	Chase Burns	CIN	5 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.51. Ah, yet another youngster quality start of fewer than 6 innings pitched, but fewer than 3 earned runs allowed. It’s a lot easier to stomach when it comes with 8 strikeouts, though.
8	Logan Gilbert	SEA	5 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.35. Hey, cut him some slack. He gave us 4 QS in his last 5 GS. He can be forgiven for giving us a ‘Drew Rasmussen special’ in this one.
9	Gerrit Cole	NYY	6 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.11. Workin’ in the Cole mine, but this one is NOT goin’ down, down, down. He’s UP today!
10	Drew Rasmussen	TB	5 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 3.01. The back-to-back 5-inning outings aren’t ideal, but he’s won 6 games in a row. He’s an auto-start at DET this week.
11	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI	Game 1: 6 IP, 1 ER, 11 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.51. Game 2: 6.2 IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks. He’s 7-1 in his last 10 starts.
12	Gavin Williams	CLE	5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 11 Ks, ERA at 3.72. Almost a dozen strikeouts? Who cares if he was one out short of a quality start; this pushes him back up a bit.
13	Paul Skenes	PIT	4 1/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.95. I know choosing 17 starts is a bit of a random pick here, but guess how many times Skenes finished 7 innings in all of those games. If you guessed ONE…you’re right. Sad emoji. Down.
14	Jacob deGrom	TEX	6 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 10 Ks, and one big old “HOLY CRAP”. That’s one way to convince folks that your right triceps fatigue is no longer a thing.
15	Logan Henderson	MLW	6 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and his 8th win. He’s won 5 of his last 6 starts, and 8 of his last 10. This is about as automatic a start as any other SP in the game.
16	Zack Wheeler	PHI	5 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners (4 BBs), 7 Ks, ERA at 2.92. Ok, I’m sure it’s fine, but Wheels hasn’t completed 6 innings in any of his last five starts. I mean, did he ask for the “Tampa treatment”, or is this load management for a 36-year-old pitcher? (I assume it had something to do with the walks and the 98 pitches thrown as well). Down.
17	Jesus Luzardo	PHI	“5.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks, no decision. ERA at 3.35. WHIP at 1.15. The two 2-run home runs allowed didn’t do him any favors, but aside from that, it was another solid outing with limited baserunners from the Luzard King.”
18	Blake Snell	LAD	Game 1: 6 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.60. Game 2: 6 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 6 Ks, and his second win of the week! UP!
19	Payton Tolle	BOS	5 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.08. A youngster quality start, and the faith that he’s an auto-start for me until he gives me a reason to believe it’s not a good idea.
20	Cade Cavalli	WSH	Jumper. More below.
21	Logan Webb	SF	“2.2 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 2 Ks, his 8th loss, and WHAT HAPPENED HERE?! The 3.75 ERA and 1.11 WHIP mean this little speed bump of an outing doesn’t hurt his already solid ratios all that much, but still. Logan Webb was treated like he rolled into Fenway holding a giant pot of Manhattan Clam Chowder. Actually, that doesn’t work because I assume he would’ve been thrown out into the middle of the Massachusetts Turnpike if he’d done that.”
22	Parker Messick	CLE	6 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 6 hits, zero walks, 10 Ks, ERA at 2.54. That looks good enough to get him his 10th win, right? Uh…nope. He’s had back-to-back losses, both of which should have been easy wins (if his team had given him any run support).
23	Sonny Gray	BOS	“6 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and his 16th win. “See?! He got crushed for TWO homers, AND gave up four earned runs! What a bum!” That’s the half dozen Yankee fans who are still carrying a grudge and agree that Sonny Gray shouldn’t have been an All-Star in July.” But…he still slips a bit today.
24	Sandy Alcantara	MIA	6 IP, 3 ER, 9 baserunners, 1 K, ERA at 3.46. No sandy cheeks here! Just a smooth quality start! (Ignore the lone strikeout).
25	Troy Melton	DET	“5.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 2 Ks, and his 2nd loss. ERA at 1.60. WHIP at 1.00. I don’t know exactly how bold a prediction this is, but I’m guessing Grey will write up this cat as an offseason sleeper. I’m already wondering what Melton’s ADP will be this offseason. He feels like he’ll be one of those big helium arms on a lot of short lists when draft season rolls around.”
26	Reid Detmers	ANA	“6 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks, and that should be enough for an easy win, RIGHT?! Well, the easy answer is no. I joked last week that Detmers would have 15 wins if he played in Tampa all year, but it’ll seem a lot less jokey as we watch him post a few more of these scoreless no-decisions.”
27	Tyler Glasnow	LAD	He’s expected back this week for a Tuesday start.
28	Braxton Ashcraft	PIT	8 IP, 1 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.68. That’s two straight gems for the World of Ashcraft, and I have to thank the roto-gods that he didn’t totally collapse like a lot of other 26-year-old starters have this year.
29	Shane McClanahan	TB	He’s back! Game 1: 3 1/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.25. Game 2: 5 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks. This was much better than his first start of the week, and the Rays are never going to let a guy coming back from injury get anywhere near a complete game shutout anyway. We just have to settle for the Drew Rasmussen special. The “almost” quality start.
30	Bryan Woo	SEA	His start was pushed back last week, and he was scheduled to throw a bullpen yesterday. On one hand, it’s terrible news, especially if you’re in H2H playoffs. On the other hand, it opened up some space for Kade Anderson to make his debut, so there’s some silver lining in that dark raincloud.
31	Hunter Brown	HOU	5.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks, and no decision. He was at 101 pitches, so I get not wanting to push it to get that last out. If we’re pointing out negatives, he’s winless in four starts.
32	Nolan McLean	NYM	Game 1: 6 IP, 1 ER, 10 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.34. Game 2: 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 4 BB, 6 Ks. If a tree falls in the woods (and walks four guys) and no one is around to see it (but allows zero earned runs)…
33	Sean Burke	CWS	“6 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks, and the no-decision. He just missed out on a quality start here, and kudos to the White Sox for letting him go 6 innings and throw 98 pitches. It sounds obvious, but when a guy posts a goose egg in the walks column and pairs it with just four hits, he’s on his way to finishing up innings and limiting those earned runs. Erasing that Bo Bichette solo HR would have given Burke the QS.”
34	Eury Perez	MIA	5 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks, and his 7th win. Pretty good! And that was good enough!
35	Kyle Harrison	MLW	Game 1: 5 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.84. They can’t take any earned runs away if you don’t give any runs up! (Follow me for more tidbits of wisdom!)
36	Carlos Rodon	NYY	He’s back! Game 1:  4 IP, 1 ER, ERA at 3.22. Game 2: At risk of repeating myself – 4 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks. Speaking of twos, he left too early to pick up the win, too. Either way, it’s a solid first week back from the IL.
37	Kyle Bradish	BAL	5 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 10 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.70. I traded a couple of keepers for this guy and George Kirby in a mixed league because I needed to load up on SPs, and both guys have been on my bench because I’ve been too chicken to start them for two weeks. This week might be the week for Bradish, though. (He’s at STL).
38	Emerson Hancock	SEA	“5.2 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, no-decision. He settled down after early home runs to Bregman and PCA, and was solid the rest of the way. I can’t even give him a hard time and ask when Kade Anderson is coming up anymore.”
39	Trevor Rogers	BAL	“7 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and his 9th win. That’s his 7th QS in his last 10 starts. I’d run him out there next week at STL, but be careful about the one after that (at COL).”
40	Shota Imanaga	CHC	Game 1: 6 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 10 Ks, and no decision. I know it was likely due to the walks, but I always hate seeing more earned runs than hits. But I don’t mind seeing Shota’s best start of the year. I’m starting at home vs CIN this week. Game 2: 2 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks. Not a bad start…if he threw about 4 more innings. I’m still starting him this week as long as there isn’t an injury.
41	Kevin Gausman	CHC	4 1/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 4.58. This is almost as sad as the photo that Shane Bieber shared last week of the two of them with the caption, “I just miss him, OK?”
42	Jared Jones	PIT	4 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 5 BB, 5 Ks. I got a bit annoyed when I saw the 4 IP and thought, “Just let him pitch already!” Then the more sensible part of my brain thought to look at how many walks he had, and it all made sense. Like most others with command issues, he should be a Blue Jay…I mean, he should be started after a quick Streamonator and matchup check.
43	Eduardo Rodriguez	ARI	“5.2 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks – continued his wizardry, picking up his 13th win. If you’re still waiting for him to fall apart, I’ve got bad news for you. This guy has a 2.61 ERA and 1.21 WHIP in 155 innings.”
44	Ranger Suarez	BOS	Game 1: 5 1/3 IP, 4 ER, 6 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.41. He starts at MIA today.
45	Nick Martinez	TB	Game 1: 3 2/3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 3.05. Oh. Oh no. The King of the Marshmallow Tossers leaned in too close to the bonfire. Game 2: 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks, and a hearty THANK YOU to the Baltimore Orioles for rolling over so he could get back on track.
46	George Kirby	SEA	Reluctant Dumper. Ugh. More below.
47	Foster Griffin	CLE	Game 1: 6 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.18. And the eagle-lion adoption center is officially back up and running! Game 2: 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks. Ok, so maybe I’ll just walk to the adoption center instead of running. But I’m still going!
48	Michael King	SD	6 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.38. I know the lack of strikeouts is a big old wet blanket on this guy, but the ratios are solid, and he’s giving us decent innings.
49	Joey Cantillo	CLE	“4.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 5 Ks, and no decision. The 3.73 ERA is fine, but that 1.45 WHIP isn’t doing anyone any favors. 14 outs on 89 pitches is tough sledding, but at least it didn’t come with a bunch of earned runs.”
50	Ian Seymour	TB	5 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.17. Grey mentioned last week how great the starter numbers were, so I took a peek under the hood, too. In 11 starts, Seymour allowed more than 3 ER just once. That’s what we call good, kids!
51	Mackenzie Gore	TEX	“6 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks, no-decision. ERA at 4.26. WHIP at 1.23. A quality start, a few more shaves off the sides of those ratios, and a successful RCL stream for your guy here!”
52	Walbert Urena	LAA	5 IP, 3 ER, 5 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 2.80. A youngster quality start! Not as good as last week’s real one, but a heck of a lot better than his outing two weeks ago!
53	Robbie Ray	SD	6 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.20. That’s three starts with the Padres and a line of 15 IP, 9 ER, 12 H, 11 BB, 10 Ks, and one win. That’s also a long-winded way to say he’s still struggling with command and not much has changed.
54	Jose Soriano	TOR	Game 1: 5 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 9 hits, zero walks, 2 Ks, ERA at 3.23. I’m telling you, Pete Walker has the magic bag of BB/9 powder. What’s that? No, it isn’t something they found stuffed in a loose tile above Roger Clemens’ old locker with the faded name “MCNAMEE” written on a piece of masking tape. Game 2: 5 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 7 Ks, and his 7th loss. I blame Pete Walker for using up all the magic dust on Spencer Arrighetti on Friday.
55	Jackson Jobe	DET	5 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.50. Grey mentioned it last week, and I’ll kind of paraphrase it here too. This guy could be an ace next year…or he could completely fall apart again and be a waste of a pick. Wow. See how easy it is to predict starting pitcher success!?
56	Jake Bennett	BOS	7 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and his 8th win. Easily his best start since back-to-back scoreless outings in mid-July. Hopefully he starts up another streak of solid games with this one.
57	Taj Bradley	MIN	5 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.90. Hey! Cut him some slack! It could’ve been 6 walks and 5 earned runs!
58	Noah Cameron	KC	“5 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 Ks, and his 8th win. If you count last night’s “Youngster Quality Start”, that’s 5 QS in his most recent 6 GS. It doesn’t really count without the extra three outs last night, but the kid has been dealing for about a month now. I’d start him at TOR this week, even with the Jays on a bit of a roll (winning 7 of their last 10 games).”
59	Nick Lodolo	CIN	“3.1 IP, 6 ER, 10 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks – was tagged with his 3rd loss. So much for that stream in my RCL. Woof.”
60	Shane Drohan	MLW	Game 2: 5 IP, 2 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 5 Ks. Much better than the 2-inning, 39-pitch jobber from last Tuesday.
61	Michael Wacha	KC	7 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and his 7th win. Wacha wacha. The PacMan rides again. I don’t know what was more surprising here, the half dozen strikeouts or that Craig Kimbrel pitched a clean 9th for the save.
62	Tyler Mahle	ATL	My original note was: “6 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.53. He needs to be in there today.” And would ya look at that! He is! Game 2: 5 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks. Confirmation bias…confirmed?
63	Roki Sasaki	LAD	5 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and no decision. Some Dodger arms are finally getting healthy, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Roki ends up at the back end of the pen sooner rather than later. That said, he’s still in the rotation for now, so he’s still here.
64	Bubba Chandler	PIT	“4 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks. Minimal walks and a half dozen strikeouts is a double bonus. I don’t think we’re getting 7+ innings anytime soon, though.”
65	Jacob Lopez	ATH	6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks, and no decision. When I wrote up Saturday’s starters, one thing kept coming up. A bunch of these guys had solid quality starts, but either lost when the bullpen blew up, or their offense didn’t give them enough support to snag a win. Lopez’s story was the latter. Regardless, he jumps over a bunch of other worse arms today.
66	Kade Anderson	SEA	Jumper! More below!
67	Peter Lambert	HOU	3 2/3 IP, 9 ER, ERA at 3.68. Holy gyros. This lamb is cooked. Originally, he slipped a few spots. Then he got pushed down even further because I kept looking at the name below his and saying, “Nope. He’s lower than this.”
68	Dustin May	MLW	2 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 4.57. Uh…May-be I was too optimistic when I said the Brewers were going to unlock a new level here.
69	Matthew Boyd	CHC	“6 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks, and the no-decision. Hey, at least he didn’t give up 3 HRs to a rookie kid in their debut again this week.”
70	Casey Mize	SD	2.2 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 0 Ks, 3 HR allowed. And just hang on one second? I have to go back in the archives and wipe last week’s blurb about how I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be the best arm that anyone picked up at the deadline.
71	Shane Bieber	TOR	7 IP, 1 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.53. That’s a pretty solid game from a guy who is very sad that the Jays traded away his best buddy (Gausman).
72	Michael Soroka	ARI	3.1 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, and his 4th loss. Can we call him “Mike” when he has a good start and “Michael” when he doesn’t? Like he’s in trouble and his mother is screaming his full name out the window and telling him he’d better get home right now or else? EDIT: Michael or Mike, he just landed on the 15-day IL either way. He’ll be removed next week.
73	Freddy Peralta	TB	“7 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and his 11th loss. ERA at 5.33. WHIP at 1.46. Yep. Just like we said a couple of weeks ago. That Rays coaching staff is gonna turn him around. Anytime now. Yep.”
74	Clay Holmes	CHC	“5 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 1 K, ERA at…Guess. What’s his ERA? I won’t expect you to get it to the tenth of a decimal. Get it to within .25. C’mon! It’s fun to be wrong! No? Okay, it’s 2.49.” And that’s me quoting Grey!
75	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI	5 2/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 3.39. Awesome. I resisted running him out as the lede for weeks, then last week when he was our headliner in The Pfaadt Boy Is Back, I cursed him.
76	Tanner Bibee	CLE	6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and his 5th win on everyone’s bench last week. Because OF COURSE the guy with 13 losses would stroll into Colorado and bite his thumb at all the signals pointing to “do not start this guy”.
77	Michael McGreevy	STL	5.1 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and no decision. It’s a youngster quality start, but the regular “Meh” still applies.
78	Andrew Abbott	CIN	Game 1: 6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.07. I know we can expect every pitcher to be excellent in every start, so the 2 BBs and quality start from Abbott are a welcome positive. Game 2: 6 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and his second loss of the week.
79	Kyle Leahy	STL	Game 1: 5 IP, 0 ER, 3 hits, zero walks, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.24. This was his third straight win, and his TENTH straight start allowing fewer than three earned runs. Game 2: 4 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks. Make that ELEVEN straight starts.
80	Shane Baz	BAL	Game 1: 6 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 6 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 4.02. If you stuck with him through the 4.02 ERA and every one of the 13 losses, congratulations on this win (and on being in last place in your fantasy league). Game 2: 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks. See the note from Game 1.
81	Bryce Miller	SEA	Game 1: 4 2/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 3.71. And there was a time when I had a bit of FOMO about not keeping or drafting Miller in any of my leagues this year. That FOMO is no mo’. Game 2: 7 walks. And I’m not even listing the rest of it. Down. And I mean down. I moved him at least 3X because I kept saying to myself, “No way. I like these three arms a lot more than I like his”.
82	Will Warren	NYY	4 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks. The strikeouts are fine, but when 42 of your 92 pitches miss the strike zone, it’s not too tough to figure out what you need to work on to get some more outs. Down.
83	Framber Valdez	DET	Game 1: 5 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 9 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.35.
84	Brandon Young	BAL	5.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, and no decision. I shook my head and said I should know by now when I had to ask myself if his name was Brandon or Braden. Then I thought, “Hey, it could be worse. You could be trying to figure out a hodgepodge of vowels and consonants that make up some European hockey player’s full name.” Yep. That’ll be me in about a month, too.
85	Patrick Sandoval	BOS	5.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and he pitched on Saturday. So that means a no-decision for him and a win for the bullpen!
86	Landen Roupp	SF	5 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 9 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 4.34. Grey said he was surprised that so many people rostered this dude in NFBC leagues (86%) and wasn’t sure about RCLs. Vin probably has more reliable information about that than I do, but I checked anyway, and his ownership on Fantrax was 78%. Whether that’s for all leagues or just RCLs, it still feels too high.
87	Christian Scott	NYM	4.2 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 6 Ks, and no decision. I can make a stock “copy/paste” comment and use it each week for this kid. “Too many walks, not enough outs, too many pitches. Needs to build stamina and/or throw strikes.” Ok! See ya next week!
88	Grant Holmes	ATL	6 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 3 walks, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.64, as he carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning. Yes! Now it’s time to push this dude up and away from the curse of the bottom 10!
89	Janson Junk	MIA	4.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 Ks, and no decision. He was too high to begin with here, so it’s a bit of a dip today to correct the boost from last week.
90	Robert Gasser	MLW	3 2/3 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 4.79. Uh, you can just drop the G for this one, Bobby.
91	Luis Castillo	CWS	Game 1: 4 2/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 4.99. Game 2: 2.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks, and after teasing us with a couple of “good enough” starts, he’s right back to square one. Or square ten if you’re counting the losses.
92	Keider Montero	DET	He was skipped last week, and the Tigers are “unsure” as to whether or not he’ll throw this week against the Rays. There’s no injury report yet, so we might see him at LAD mid-week. Monitor the news with this one, but I’d sit him in weekly moves leagues just in case.
93	Connor Prielipp	MIN	“6 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, and his 7th loss. ERA at 5.57. WHIP at 1.40. Ok, ok, but how about those 7 strikeouts!? *dodges flying tomato*.” Needless to say, he’s down today.
94	Shohei Ohtani	LAD	I said it in this week’s Friday roundup that you can read here, but if this dude is stealing bases as a DH, he has to be able to pitch with that sore knee, right? (I mean, not LITERALLY, but I’m sure you get what I’m saying).
95	Martin Perez	ATL	Game 1: 5 IP, 4 ER, 11 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.15. Game 2: 4 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 2 Ks, and his 8th loss. The 97 pitches were the reason for the early exit, but even with a few walks, he still had a decent enough outing. Fun Fact: That was me talking myself out of removing him this week.
96	Zebby Matthews	MIN	5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, ERA at 5.12. Yes! That’s his best start in his most recent 4…no, 5…no, 6…and oh my goodness, his last 7 starts have been bad. Nowhere to go but up!?
97	Cody Bradford	TEX	5.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks, and his 2nd loss. The bad news is he’s 0-2 on the year. The good news is he hasn’t had a bad start in any of his four games. He’s a Streamonator check for now.
98	Anthony Kay	CWS	6 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.96. Steady, but unexciting; the production is nice, but let’s not forget that this kind of steady meh can become a nightmare in the wrong matchup. Be careful and check the Streamonator if you roster him.
99	Edward Cabrera	CHC	More below. Dumper. Of course.
100	Gage Jump	ATH	4 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.83. He dropped a ton over the last few weeks, then had the 11 K game on August 8th, which saved him from a full-out dump. If you wanted to convince me someone else deserved this spot, it wouldn’t take much.

JUMPERS (Players who jumped up the list this week).

(Apologies for the short sections today; it was birthday chaos with the kids yesterday. Oh, and that reminds me. Happy Birthday yesterday to Miles Mikolas, too).

Cade Cavalli – 6 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 11 Ks, ERA at 3.22. Maybe he was angry that I only boosted him to the SP25 spot last week. O-Cade, O-Cade. I’ll move you up some more! Honestly, a lot more could be said about this kid, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like the Cade/Kade jumper duo here, but his numbers speak for themselves.

He’s on a heater of 14 innings with zero earned runs allowed, and hasn’t given up more than 3 ER in a start since June 7th. And that was fourteen starts ago. 

The question here is not if he should jump again; it’s how high he climbs by the end of the season. 

If he keeps this up and gives us double-digit strikeout starts along the way…it’s going to be silly where his final resting spot on the list is by the end of the year.

Kade Anderson – OH MY GOODNESS, THE KID HAS ARRIVED! Ok, so I was a bit excited when I heard the news about Kade Anderson’s promotion. I mean, you know it has to be a big deal if I didn’t even get all that rattled that it came at the expense of a Bryan Woo start getting pushed back (more on that above). 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks, and no decision. A youngster quality start for his first MLB game? Ya, we’ll take it. 

DUMPERS (Players who dropped down the list this week).

George Kirby – 3 1/3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 4.18. Ya, ya, ya. I took a lot of heat for having our guy Kirby ranked up in the Top 30 for the last few weeks, but if we’re tracking his trends (which is kind of the gig here), he’s certainly not trending upwards. Sure, the walks are still looking good, but he’s been Kirb-Stomped in 3 of his last 5 GS. Woof.

Edward Cabrera – Right back to the IL with a case of late 1990s – “PSYCHE”. That’s when you think the player is healthy, so you activate him and…PSYCHE! He still sucks! The official word is a middle-finger blister, which is about as fitting as it sounds, as I’m sure a lot of his fantasy managers were flashing that same digit when they heard this news. He’ll be removed next week.

Davis Martin – He threw a bullpen session last week and is supposed to start a rehab assignment “soon”, but he’s on the IL with that same middle finger blister that Edward Cabrera has. Weird. I didn’t know that Chicago had a giant metal rod sticking out of a communal kiln at City Hall with the note “If you’re an MLB pitcher, I double dog dare you to touch this with the “eff off” finger on your pitching hand!”

Ryan Weathers – 3.1 IP, 2 ER, 8 H, 0 BB, 2 Ks, and his 8th loss. The guy gets removed because of an injury and still gets tagged with a loss? That’s dirty pool. EDIT: He’s headed to the 15-day IL and was removed this week and replaced by Tyler Glasnow. Apologies to the Yankees, who are unable to make that same move. 

STUMPERS (These names might stump you as to why they aren’t on the Top 100…yet. Some of these guys are close).

Blade Tidwell – 5.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, and no decision. Tidwell did well, but not well enough for a dub.  

Robert Stock – 4 1/3 IP, 1 ER, ERA at 5.40. 

Hayden Wesneski  “5 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks, and his 3rd win. This was a heck of a bounce-back after last week’s 4 IP, 5 ER debacle. He’s at NYY next week, and I’d check the Streamonator first, but I could see streaming him in deeper leagues.” 

Jameson Taillon 

Tyler Phillips 

Bailey Ober – Game 1: 4 1/3 IP, 2 ER, ERA at 4.62. Game 2: 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks. I’m not falling for it again! (Or at least not yet).

Ryan Johnson – 7 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks, and as dominant a start as we’re going to get from an LAA starter. This was his third win and his 4th straight start that he allowed two or fewer earned runs. 

Eric Lauer 

Kyle Freeland

Slade Cecconi 

Zac Gallen 

George Klassen – 7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 3 walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.74. He’s been solid, and it’s almost time to start moving some dead weight out to get guys like this in.

Chris Bassitt

David Peterson – 6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks, and no decision. Saturday was quality start day for a lot of SPs, but if you had them going in a league with wins as a category, you likely had a tough day.

Adrian Houser

Rhett Lowder – 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 1 K, and his 5th win. And JJ Bleday hit for the cycle! Oops, sorry. I thought I was doing another Friday night roundup. 

Tanner Gordon – 5.1 IP, 5 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks, and his 4th loss. ERA at 5.75. Don’t worry, Tanner, you’re still the second-best T. Gordon to pitch in the big leagues.

Tomoyuki Sugano – 3 IP, 5 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks. 

Colin Rea

Jose Urquidy

Sean Manaea – “6 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and 3 HR allowed. Manaea left the loss for Jefry Yan in this one (1-1). No word on how the “Loser Leap” on the mound looked, but I bet it was a sad one. As a quick side note, I kind of can’t wait for someone to hit a walk-off home run off that dude and instead of tossing the bat, doing a big old starfish hop at home plate before cartwheeling around the bases.”

J.P. Sears  

Walker Buehler – 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks. Phew. Now I can exhale. I’d been holding my breath since I picked him up to stream yesterday morning.

Yusei Kikuchi – I nearly replaced Michael Soroka with him today. 

Cal Quantrill – 7 IP, 0 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.13. If you streamed him, you got a beauty of a start. Game 2: 6 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, his 6th win, and another successful RCL stream for yours truly! He should be in there today, but I couldn’t find a spot. Honestly, he’s a better add than Kikuchi (for Soroka next week). 

Matthew Liberatore – 6 IP, 3 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 9 Ks, ERA at 5.04. It’s a good start, but there are more names ahead of him that deserve a shot on the list for now. Monitor.

Aaron Nola – 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 5.12. Just know that if I add him to the list, he’s going to get ripped for a dozen earned runs in 0.2 IP and make us all look like fools.

Brady Singer – 6 IP, 4 ER, 6 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.72.

Seth Lugo

Bryce Elder

Grayson Rodriguez – 7 IP, 0 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 6.41. Ok. Add him and start him the rest of the way now, then. I dare you. 

Erick Fedde

German Marquez

Kumar Rocker 

Brayan Bello 

Hunter Dobbins – “4 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, and the no-decision. “Dobbins can’t get a win for Harry Potter if he’s pulled after just 78 pitches and 12 outs! And Dobbins won’t be pitching this week either because Dobbins has a sore right forearm!” (He was removed from this start, and we’re waiting for more information. I’d be checking for updates before starting him vs BAL this week.)”

Randy Dobnak 

Zac Thornton

Drew Anderson – 5 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, and his 5th loss. He should change his first name to Kade. 

Carson Whisenhunt

Mitch Bratt – 3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks. Couldn’t you have given up three hits just to keep the numerologists happy?

Max Scherzer 

J.T. Ginn – “5 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and his 8th loss. Sure, the line would look a lot better if he’d been able to get another three outs with those 94 pitches, but the Athletics were another team that couldn’t hit their way out of a wet paper bag last night. No matter how good you pitch, it’s tough to come away with a win when your offense gives you just three singles to work with.”

Andrew Painter – 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, and I wrote this up before the game was done because I figured there was no way the Phillies let him go back out for the 7th inning. EDIT: He went 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 8 Ks, and picked up his 3rd win. Speaking of picking up…check your free agent lists! I nearly added him to the list this week.

Andrew Alvarez – 5 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.60.

Ryan Gusto – “4 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks, and the no-decision. It’s not quite enough to get MC Gusto on the Top 100 Starting Pitchers list on Monday, but the scoreless outing gives him a total of 4 ER in his last 18.2 IP. That’s enough for a monocle in deep leagues.”

AJ Smith-Shawver – I streamed him in an RCL for this one, and it went just about as well as I expected: 4 1/3 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 6.23.

Gabriel Hughes – 5 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks, and his 5th loss.

Cristian Javier – 4 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks, and no decision. The strikeouts are great. Now work on a more economical approach to that pitch count.

Quinn Mathews – 4 IP, 1 ER, ERA at 3.00. That’s the good news. The 6 BBs in 9 IP (in 2 GS)? That’s the not-so-good news. Game 2: Oh, there’s more bad news. Lovely. 5 IP, 7 ER, 10 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks. That line makes it pretty tough for Quinn to win. 

Jackson Kent – 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 5 Ks.

Spencer Arrighetti – “3.1 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and his 6th loss as he made his first appearance in a Blue Jays uniform. The Jays eased the spaghetti pirate into his new uniform last night at Yankee Stadium by having Mason Fluharty open up for him. The two walks were encouraging. Pitching coach Pete Walker must have brought his bag of magic control dust with him to The Bronx.”

Randy Vasquez – “7 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks, and his 9th win. The good news is this was another quality start. The not-so-good news is it was only his 5th game started in his last 10 appearances.”

BUMPERS (Injured starters or minor league guys who could or would bump others off the list if they were active on the big league roster).

Kris Bubic

Justin Wrobleski

Max Meyer

Jack Flaherty

Reynaldo Lopez

Connolly Early 

Joe Musgrove – There were reports of a wonky back last week, but it sounds like he’ll be ready for one more rehab start this week, then back by the weekend, or just before September 1st. Stash him now if you have room on your bench.

Ben Brown

Ryne Nelson

Lucas Giolito

Justin Steele 

Robby Snelling 

Jeffrey Springs 

Jonah Tong

JR Ritchie

Spencer Strider

Jack Kochanowicz 

Joe Boyle

Spencer Schwellenbach

Zach Eflin

Javier Assad

Cole Ragans

Cody Ponce

Cade Horton

Shane Smith

Quinn Priester

Noah Schultz

Clarke Schmidt

River Ryan

Corbin Burnes 

Pablo Lopez

Nick Pivetta

Thomas White

Ryan Pepiot

Jose Berrios 

Justin Verlander

Reese Olson

Mick Abel 

Didier Fuentes

Garrett Crochet 

Emmett Sheehan – He could be recalled after Dave Roberts said Justin Wrobleski is headed to the bullpen upon activation (from the IL). But with Tyler Glasnow returning, it might just mean Roki Sasaki gets some more time in the rotation. Monitor this for news during the week.

Hunter Greene

Trey Yesavage

Griffin Jax

Mitch Keller

Brandon Sproat

Joe Ryan

Nathan Eovaldi

Merrill Kelly

WHEE! – These players vaulted onto the Top 100 list this week.

Shane McClanahan

Carlos Rodon

Tyler Glasnow

Kade Anderson

Tyler Mahle

OOF! – These players fell off the Top 100 list this week.

Max Fried – Hit the IL with an elbow bone bruise. Sad emoji.

Ryan Weathers – Removed from Saturday’s game against TOR with left forearm discomfort. Ugh. Down. EDIT: Placed on the 15-day IL.

Davis Martin – More above in the Dumpers.

Dean Kremer – Game 1: Sorry, bro. The 5.1 IP, 4 ER sealed your fate, and we needed a spot to move in Kade Anderson. Game 2: 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 5 Ks. I wrote up that Game 1 and my drop note before Saturday’s game, so I knew he’d have a decent start. Not decent enough to stick on the list, but still halfway decent? Ya, I guess.

Andre Pallante – 15-day IL. Right elbow inflammation.

That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it! If you’re feeling extra fired up about some of the names I do (or don’t) have here, drop some comments in the chat. Have a great week!

 

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