Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!

Ah, September. The month when the Earth, Wind, and Fire collide in a flurry of falling leaves, a sharp turn in outdoor climate, and that dreaded pumpkin spice scent that, whether good or bad, gets everyone fired up.

This is also the time when us northern folks’ smiles turn to frowns as summer is officially over and the kids get ready for the post-Labor Day back-to-school early-morning zombie march.

And when it comes to kids getting some extra attention, it also allows us to run with a clunky segue.

After yesterday’s games, we’re right around 20 games remaining in our MLB regular season. (Talk about turning smiles into frowns).

That means a lot of things, but specifically for our Starting Pitchers, it means we should be ready to see many changes in how our fantasy ball-chucking guys are managed.

Listen, I get it. And I’ll be the first to announce, loudly, that predicting ANYTHING about starting pitcher success or failure is a tough row to hoe.

Evidence of this from just last week that, admittedly, made me chuckle was when I saw someone cursing their terrible decision to start Paul Skenes (4.2 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks) in a head-to-head playoff matchup along with Randy Dobnak (6 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks) for each pitchers’ first start of the week. 

If you had said that Randy Dobnak would give our H2H playoff teams more points than Paul Skenes did last week…well, I don’t think many people would have listened.

And now, with the number of scheduled games creeping closer to single digits, it’ll be even tougher to predict which arms will get a chance to actually throw innings (even if they give us stinker outings like those two guys did last week).

As a perfect encapsulation of the “baby gloves treatment” point, have a peek at this announcement from this past weekend regarding another hot-shot young starting pitcher.

And so it begins…

Will innings-management concerns push down guys like Kade Anderson, Bubba Chandler, and Walbert Urena if their teams fall out of (or never were in) playoff contention?

How many more times are we going to see top teams let super studs like Jacob Misiorowski, Drew Rasmussen, or Parker Messick go the distance instead of managing innings and saving some juice for the playoffs? 

And, of course, how much will the threat of an early hook or a skipped start affect our Top 100 Starting Pitchers rankings today?

Well, before we get to those answers, 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.

Let’s get to it!

The Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2026

MARMO RANK	Name	Team	Notes
1	Jacob Misiorowski	MLW	4 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 1.97. I know I set this up in the lede write-up above, but if you’re a Brewers fan, are you secretly hoping for a phantom IL assignment for The Miz so he gets some rest before the playoffs? Because I know that’s what I’d be hoping for if I were a member of the Brew Crew nation.
2	Chris Sale	ATL	6.0 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, BB, 7 K, 14th win, ERA at 2.10. I watched a bit of this one against Cris Sanchez and the Phillies. I don’t know if I’ll ever understand how a guy with that frame can throw like he’s got 275 lbs behind him. Misiorowski seems like the easy money for the NL Cy Young, but every start that Sale throws like this has to at least mess with the odds a bit.
3	Tarik Skubal	LAD	5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 11 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.86. That’s three more baserunners than his superstar opponent, Quinn Mathews, gave up. Hee hee hee!
4	Dylan Cease	TOR	“6 IP, 0 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 4 Ks, ERA at 2.25. First time he was under seven strikeouts since April 27th. He’s allowed only 97 hits in 156 1/3 innings all year. Cease mode. Give him the AL Cy.” I’m quoting Grey here just so no one can call me a biased homer for saying ‘Give him the AL Cy’.
5	Cam Schlittler	NYY	8 IP, 1 ER, 2 hits, zero walks, 9 Ks, ERA at 2.04. At this point, let’s have co-winners of the AL Cy Young Award, just so we can listen to even more people freak out and complain about it.
6	Blake Snell	LAD	6.0 IP, 5 hits, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 3rd win. He’s on that same list as Max Fried and Hunter Brown – Guys who missed so much time in the early part of the year that they should be hitting their stride in mid-September, with plenty left in the tank for October.
7	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD	7 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks, and no decision. Sure, I’d prefer to see three earned runs instead, but if the only runs that scored were from two 2-run bombs, it feels like less of a poor showing. He’s down just a bit today, and probably still higher than anyone else has him.
8	Gerrit Cole	NYY	Last Tuesday he came two outs from his 5th straight quality start. And I moved him up to the SP8 spot before his start last night at SD, so I’ll assume he’s now cursed. EDIT: 7 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks, and his 8th loss.
9	Drew Rasmussen	TB	7 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks, and no decision on 97 pitches. All this talk about innings management, and Drew Rasmussen has thrown three straight quality starts. Because the Rays are gonna Rays.
10	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI	6.0 IP, 5 hits, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. One less H than Chris Sale and one more L after this game, too.
11	Zack Wheeler	PHI	Jumper. More below.
12	Logan Henderson	MLW	7 IP, 2 ER, 3 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 2.48. I watched a bit of this one while I was BBQ’ing out back for the kids and thought it was pretty cool to see two aces at work. Henderson doesn’t look out of place when you put him up against pretty much anyone. In other words, he’s an auto-start.
13	Jacob deGrom	TEX	6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks, and no decision. He’s got 3 QS in his last 4 GS and throws at ARI this week. Up.
14	Gavin Williams	CLE	7 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners (1 BB), 13 Ks, ERA at 3.81. He was Grey’s lede on Wednesday morning, and seeing the boss say a bunch of nice things about him makes me feel a lot better about being way too early on Gavin Williams last year (he was one of my preseason breakouts for 2025).
15	Payton Tolle	BOS	Jumper. More below.
16	Logan Gilbert	SEA	4.2 IP, 8 hits, 7 ER, 2 BB, 10 K. The double-digit strikeouts make it a bit less of a kick in the nuts. But a kick in the ribs isn’t fun either. He’s down a bit today.
17	Jesus Luzardo	PHI	6 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.02. In a world full of demon geckos, get yourself a Jesus Lizard and ride the wave to eternal happiness.
18	Cade Cavalli	WSH	6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 8 Ks, and no decision at LAD. If someone can roll into Dodger Stadium and throw a dominant start like Cavalli just did, it should at least count as half a win, no? He’s at WSH this week.
19	Parker Messick	CLE	6 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 12 Ks, and his *checks notes* 9th loss? What? Because the Guardians couldn’t score any runs off of Framber Valdez and Kyle freaking Finnegan? Smh emoji.
20	Sonny Gray	BOS	7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 7 Ks, and his 17TH WIN! *in my best Borat voice* “King of the castle! King of the castle!”
21	Tyler Glasnow	LAD	6 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 8 Ks, and no decision. He got outpitched by Cade Cavalli at home and watched Alex Vesia pick up the win instead. At least the strikeouts were there. That’s the thing about being a Dodger – even when it’s not great, it’s still good.
22	Bryan Woo	SEA	6 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.25. Yep, I sonofabenched him too. Woo on the road at Fenway? Nopers. If you started him for this one, pick my lotto numbers for me this week, please. Game 2: 8 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 9 Ks, and his 11th win. I missed adding this one until this morning, and it pushes him up just a bit more than he would’ve been without it.
23	Chase Burns	CIN	Skipped last week. More about his innings management above in the lede. He’s down a good bit today based on his value for the rest of the season (but should stay in the Top 10 if you’re ranking for keeper/dynasty leagues).
24	Hunter Brown	HOU	6 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.31. He’s looking as good as ever, and the good news is he’s only thrown 87 innings. Houston is gonna ride this bull right into the playoffs.
25	Sandy Alcantara	MIA	6 IP, 4 ER, 7 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 3.54. When I typed this up (from the stands while we were waiting for our local playoff game to start on Saturday), the Marlins were just 3.5 games out of a wild card spot. As long as they’ve got a shot, they’re not going to be limiting any of the starters’ workloads. That’s good news for Sandy (but probably bad news for Eury Perez).
26	Paul Skenes	PIT	4 2/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 3.97. My guy, wtf is happening here? He’s going from the Allegheny Ace to the Alleyway Ass. Down. (I dropped him 10 spots and it still doesn’t feel like I moved him enough.) His 2nd game was better – 5.1 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks – but not by much. What happened to the days when Paul Skenes would have ripped up a team like the Angels for a dozen punchouts? Something definitely isn’t right here.
27	Max Fried	NYY	5.2 IP, 4 hits, ER, BB, 4 K. I say it with a few others today, but the time Fried missed early in the year is likely a boon for Yankee fans. Having Will Warren piggyback with him means he probably won’t pitch deep into games either. That’s not great news if you’re relying on him for wins in fantasy leagues, but he should be fresh for the playoffs!
28	Braxton Ashcraft	PIT	5 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 9 Ks, and his 6th loss. He got the hook after just 67 pitches, and he only threw 71 in the start before this one. I hate to say it, but it sounds like his 90-pitch outings are a thing of the past. If you’re in a quality start league, it’s time to start considering other arms (depending on the matchup).
29	Nolan McLean	NYM	6.0 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 11th win. I still think he finishes the year in the Top 20 SPs on the Player Rater. (He’s the SP15 right now).
30	Reid Detmers	ANA	7 IP, 1 ER, 6 hits, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.44. And the win, right? WRONG! This dude has allowed A TOTAL of three earned runs in his last five starts (33 innings), and his offense gave him 9 runs to work with. Again, that’s total runs. And his win total from those 5 GS? ONE. It’s so gross.
31	Carlos Rodon	NYY	5 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 7 Ks, and his 5th win. He still hasn’t pitched more than 5 innings in a game since coming back from injury on August 18th (5 starts), but he’s increased the pitch count in each of those four starts. He gets Colorado at Yankee Stadium this week, so that’s about as good an opportunity to roll out a complete game as there ever will be for him.
32	Eduardo Rodriguez	ARI	5 IP, 3 ER, 11 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 2.59. Dan Plesac had him as his SP6 in his September rankings. I’m not going there, but he’s sticking tight where he’s at for now and trending upwards again.
33	Troy Melton	DET	5 1/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 2.20. Melton froze up. And he’s down today.
34	Logan Webb	SF	2 IP, 9 ER, ERA at 4.21. Whatever the opposite of sonofabench is, this was it. And I’ll assume it’s not “thankgodibenchedhim”. Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
35	Kevin Gausman	CHC	7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 4.38. The splitter is splitting again, but it still looks weird to see him in a Cubs uniform. I told my kid I wouldn’t be surprised if Goose hits that next level heading into the playoffs. We can count on one thing for sure – the Cubs won’t be limiting his innings at all.
36	Nick Martinez	TB	6.1 IP, 5 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 14th win, ERA at 3.04. What’s the over/under on total Cy Young votes here? Are you taking the over if we set it at 20?
37	Kyle Harrison	MLW	Dumper. More below.
38	Jared Jones	PIT	6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks. I don’t know what’s more surprising, that Jones broke a personal 8-game winless streak here, or that Dan Pants is as big a fan of Jones as I am. You can see Dan’s gushing review of this game in his Saturday roundup here.
39	Sean Burke	CWS	5 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners (4 BBs), 6 Ks, ERA at 3.20. The good news is it was a scoreless outing. The walks are still there, though, so this looks more like a magic act than an act of dominance.
40	George Kirby	SEA	6.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks. The good news is the walks are still low, and that this was his 2nd QS in three starts. The bad news? He’s won just twice in his last 10 GS.
41	Trevor Rogers	BAL	Jumper. More below.
42	Foster Griffin	CLE	6 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks, and his second straight no-decision. It’s the most earned runs he’s given up in 5 GS, but it’s still about as exciting as watching grass grow.
43	Shota Imanaga	CHC	6.0 IP, 3 hits, ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 9th win. This guy and Gausman throwing scoreless outings is exactly what we want to see. It’s never a given with Shota, but when he’s on, he’s on.
44	Michael King	SD	6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, and his 10th win. I left him where he was last week, thinking he’d be okay at home last night against the Yankees. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in three starts: 19 IP, 0 ER, 13 H, 8 BB, 16 Ks. I’m starting him at SF this week, too.
45	Ranger Suarez	BOS	7.0 IP, 5 hits, 0 ER, BB, 3 K, 6th win. It’s been a while since we saw this version of Suarez, and the Sawx are gonna need more of this heading into the playoffs.
46	Eury Perez	MIA	4 2/3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 3.72. Is it a coincidence that this guy’s first name, when added to a strikeout, sounds like “You reek”? Down.
47	Kyle Bradish	BAL	4 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 3 Ks, and his 13th loss. He threw 85 pitches, so it’s not like he got the hook because of a pitch count. The walks were his bane yesterday. Well, that and Payton Tolle’s wizardry on the other side of the box score.
48	Michael Wacha	KC	Jumper. More below.
49	Jake Bennett	BOS	6 IP, 3 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.34. Quality start? Check. No walks? Check. More than a half dozen strikeouts? Check. Now the only thing we need to check is the innings count. (He’s thrown 139 innings this year, and his previous high was 150 IP in 2025).
50	Jackson Jobe	DET	5 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, and no decision. If he’d given us a full season up to now, I’d put him on the short list for that dreaded “innings management”, but he’s only thrown 28 innings since his return from the IL, so I don’t see why the Tigers can’t just let him run with it the rest of the way.
51	Ian Seymour	TB	3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks on 75 pitches. He allowed two home runs yesterday, too. This was his lowest pitch count in 7 starts, and I still get the feeling he’ll have his workload changed up really soon. Down.
52	Jose Soriano	TOR	4 2/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.52. Three walks would be no big deal…if he’d gotten about 10 more outs with those 98 pitches. Down.
53	Walbert Urena	LAA	8 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, and the LOSS?! Well, the good news is, with an 88-pitch count, it doesn’t look like Walbert is going to be ‘managed’ quite yet. The bad news is he has the same offense that offers no run support to Reid Detmers, too. Up.
54	Mackenzie Gore	TEX	5 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 9 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.31. It was an autostart against the A’s on the road, but even more so because they were without Nick Kurtz.
55	Noah Cameron	KC	“5 IP, 4 ER, 6 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.08. So, the ball was bouncier yesterday than VH1’s Pop-Up Video (very new reference).” That’s me quoting Grey, but it’s also me agreeing that a lot of starters from last Wednesday night got rocked.
56	Robbie Ray	SD	2.1 IP, 5 ER, and his 8th loss. And, of course, I left off the baserunner and strikeout total just to prove a point. I’ve looked at so many of these pitchers all year, that it was simple to guess what this guy’s undoing was on Saturday. And it wasn’t the 5 hits. (Yes, he walked four, but also struck out just one).
57	Cal Quantrill	TEX	Jumper. More below.
58	Bubba Chandler	PIT	5 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.30. Cool story, but HOW MANY WALKS!? It was three. And that was the most he’s issued in his last 5 GS.
59	Tyler Mahle	ATL	6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks, and no decision. He gets the Phillies again, but at home this week.
60	Joey Cantillo	CLE	5 1/3 IP, 4 ER, 11 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.81. “You get a base, and you get a base, and you get a base.” That’s Joey Cantillo doing his best Oprah Winfrey impression.
61	Taj Bradley	MIN	5 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and his 11th win. I don’t know why it bothers me so much, but Walbert Urena pitched a freaking gem and took a loss while Taj backed into a dub with that crappy line? Ugh.
62	Matthew Boyd	CHC	5 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.05. I’d say it’s a youngster-quality start where he goes more than 5 innings, but less than 6, and it would be true…if he wasn’t 35 years old.
63	Nick Lodolo	CIN	6 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 5.08. A good start from Nicky Blisters and a successful RCL streamer for yours truly? I’ll take it!
64	Shane Drohan	MLW	4 IP, 6 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks, and no decision. Ok, so maybe Cincinnati messes with the Drohan?
65	Peter Lambert	HOU	7 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, and his 8th loss. I almost streamed him against ARI, but I chickened out when I saw it was against Eduardo Rodriguez. Just typing that made me feel silly.
66	Freddy Peralta	TB	6 IP, 1 ER, 3 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.96. I cannot tell a lie; I hesitated to add Freddy as an RCL streamer, but when I saw he was throwing against the Mets, I assumed he’d be fired up. Flame on!
67	Jacob Lopez	ATH	6 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.71. Hey, he’s giving us complete games at a time when a ton of other guys are having their outings shortened or getting pumped for earned runs. That should be worth a bit of a boost. Up.
68	Andrew Painter	PHI	7 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, zero walks, 6 Ks. And a no-decision? As the Phillies lost 1-0? To ARIZONA? Wow. Either way, he’s up today.
69	Dustin May	MLW	3.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks. The early exit was a bit of a ticker shock here, but it was due to a 2-hour rain delay and nothing injury- or performance-related. He gets CIN at home this week.
70	Kade Anderson	SEA	Dumper. More below.
71	Clay Holmes	CHC	If you were looking for another solid strat to make it five in a row, I suggest you skip this one and move on to the next name. 4.1 IP, 8 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 2 Ks, and his 7th loss.
72	Casey Mize	SD	4 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 3.64. I’m sure he’s still adjusting to the West Coast time difference. That takes about a month, no? Down.
73	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI	6.1 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and his second straight quality start. He’s also winless in 4 GS.
74	Christian Scott	NYM	4.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks. A team can’t start managing a kid’s innings in September if they already started way back at the beginning of July! Check out the big brain on the Mets!
75	Tanner Bibee	CLE	4 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.06. Part of me was happy that this was against the Jays. But the part that rosters him in one league was wishing it were one of those bizarro-world leagues where you get rewarded for getting rocked and losing the game.
76	Brandon Young	BAL	6 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 6 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.42. I watched some of this one, and he looked legitimately angry that his team only scored three runs for him before he got the hook. Hey man. Chill out. You could get Reid Detmers’ run support instead.
77	Andrew Abbott	CIN	4 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks. He was the other starter in the MLW/CIN rain delay game. It’s too bad, too. He looked like he was cruising in this one.
78	Zebby Matthews	MIN	5.0 IP, 4 hits, 4 ER, BB, 4 K, 3 HR. One step forward, two steps back makes sense when he picks up a W one week. Because two steps back from a W is a Z.
79	Landen Roupp	SF	5 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.17. Meh.
80	Framber Valdez	DET	7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks. As much as I do not trust this arm, credit where it’s due. He outlasted a stellar Parker Messick start and picked up his 9th win.
81	Shane Baz	BAL	6.1 IP, 4 hits, ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 15th L. Tied for the loss lead with Tanner Bibee, but I’d still take the Guardian over the bird any day.
82	Patrick Sandoval	BOS	4 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 4.41. If anyone was expecting him to come back from that lengthy layoff and drive their squad as a league winner, they’re likely very disappointed. Sandoval wasn’t ever going to be an ace, but he’s serviceable in deeper leagues. That said, I’d have him active for his next two starts. Both are at Fenway (vs LAA and KC).
83	Davis Martin	CWS	5 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.13. He was dumped in our AL-Only league, so I put in a modest bid ($4) because I need starters. That said, I’d be very hesitant to start him in mixed leagues, even with the encouraging return from injury.
84	Keider Montero	DET	4 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, and no decision. More like Keister Mon-Zero. Woof.
85	Corbin Burnes	ARI	Who? OH, that guy?! Yep, Burnes is slated to return tomorrow at KC. I usually advise to err on the side of caution with these returns, but I don’t think it’s a terrible matchup even though the Streamonator disagrees (-$4.2). For the record, it loves his second start vs MIA ($22).
86	Grant Holmes	ATL	3 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K. A perfect game ruined by a 90-minute rain delay. 3-innings still counts, right?
87	Ryan Johnson	LAA	6.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 8th L. Or, 9th L if you count The Last Jedi. Boom.
88	Hayden Wesneski	HOU	7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 2 walks, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.18. I was waiting for a solid start to nudge me towards adding him to the list. This one was more of a cattle prod than a subtle nudge. He’s in today.
89	Michael McGreevy	STL	5 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and his 6th win? Really?
90	Kyle Leahy	STL	2.2 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks. If you started him at COL, it’s your own fault.
91	Will Warren	NYY	2.1 IP, 1 BB. He piggybacked Fried here. If that’s the plan the rest of the way, we’ll walk out with words of farewell for Will Warren. (aka he’s out next week).
92	Janson Junk	MIA	5 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, and his 9th loss. He’s down here in the “too good to drop, but not good enough to jump out of the 90s” group. There’s a Creed joke in here somewhere.
93	Connor Prielipp	MIN	5 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks, and his 4th win. He followed Andrew Morris in this one, so it wasn’t technically a start, but it was encouraging.
94	Gage Jump	ATH	4 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks. I don’t know if this was more Jump figuring things out or the Mariners not being able to figure anything out on offense yet again. It feels like a little bit from Column A and Column B. Regardless, it’s enough to move him up a bit today.
95	Andre Pallante	STL	5 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 1 K. That’s not a bad start after a two and a half week hiatus, but it’s even more encouraging when you see that it was at COL. He’s back in today.
96	Bryce Miller	SEA	Dumper. More below.
97	Luis Castillo	CWS	Dumper. As if there’s any more room for him to dump down here. More below.
98	Shohei Ohtani	LAD	The knee is still barking, and now the biceps isn’t great. We’ve even heard whispers of an IL assignment. Either way, you shouldn’t be banking on a mound return anytime soon.
99	Martin Perez	ATL	3.2 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 4 BB, 3 Ks, and his 9th loss. THAT’S the Martin Perez we know! All jokes aside, the guy has completed 6 innings just twice in his last 10 starts.
100	Anthony Kay	CWS	14 ER in his last 13.2 IP. Maybe it’s time to pull the plug in those deep leagues.

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

Zack Wheeler – There was a bit of worry that the Wheels were falling off from the end of July until the end of August. Well, he picked up two wins last week and threw a combined line of: 12 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 5 BB, 15 Ks. Oh, and he gave us a nice zinger of a video clip about Ronald Acuna Jr. while he was at it.

Hoo, Baby! The Wheels are back in motion! 

Payton Tolle – Well, it was supposed to be business first here. And for the record, I had this one planned out before Tolle and the Red Sox rolled into Camden Yards and the big man destroyed the Orioles yesterday.

Then, when I went to double-check clips for the one I wanted to use? Lo and behold, Payton Tolle had given us ANOTHER beauty – this one during yesterday’s start.

I mean, come on. I could probably write a column about just this guy every week. 

But let’s look at his line from Sunday: 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 12 Ks, and his 9th win.

As if that wasn’t enough to put a smile on everyone’s face, a Boston news outlet ran a story about how Tolle will not be limited by management for the rest of the season. For reference, the 146 innings in 2026 is just a bit more than he threw last year (108 IP across 4 levels in 2025).

Take that kind of news, sprinkle in a bit of the magic from his dominant outing from yesterday, and you’ve got yourself a fan favorite. Not just a Red Sox fan favorite, either. He’s a baseball fan favorite.

But if you need any more convincing, check this clip about why he has “You’re So Pretty” inscribed on his glove. Warning: After you watch it, you might need one of those big bear hugs he gives to dudes running down the first base line after they hit a soft comebacker.

Michael Wacha – 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks isn’t all that impressive or eye-popping. Sure, it’s good. The 7 Ks are a bit of a surprise from a guy like Michael Wacha. But I did a double take when I looked at his most recent three starts as a whole.

3 GS, 21 IP, 4 ER, 13 H, 3 BB, 3 HR allowed, and 26 Ks. Oh, and he won all three of those starts (as well as the one before that streak began).

As an extremely cherry-picked comparison, Chris Sale’s last three games yielded a line of: 21 IP, 4 ER, 19 H, 1 HR allowed, 1 BB, 24 Ks.

So you’re saying Michael Wacha is better than Chris Sale? 

No. I’m pointing out that Michael Wacha has been on a heater and is pitching as well as anyone in baseball right now.

Trevor Rogers – 6 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 6 hits, zero walks, 11 Ks, ERA at 4.30. He saved the best strikeout game of his career for when he was AT Colorado? If you started him, congratulations. He gets CLE this week.

Cal Quantrill – 7 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 2.79. Oh, and as a tiny extra tidbit, he led the American League with a 1.45 ERA in August.

He’s been really good for about two months now. That means it’s doubtful he’s available in any league, but it’s worth checking in case someone with an itchy trigger finger cut him after that August 29th loss.

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

Kyle Harrison – 3.2 IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 4 BB, 4 Ks, and oh my goodness, his last two starts have been doozies. If we include the August 31st start, the total is enough to make a slow trickle of bile creep up the throat: 7.1 IP, 13 ER, 19 H, 6 BB, 6 HR allowed, 7 Ks. 

I said it last week in the comment section, but two things are likely the culprit here: (1) A dip in velocity (there were reports his fastball was down as much as 2 MPH), and (2) Tipping pitches. 

At least his second start of the week wasn’t another homerfest. Regardless, his 107 IP are nearly three times as many as he threw last year, and just below his career high of 124 (from 2024). The Brewers pitching coaches have some work to do here.

Kade Anderson – 5 IP, 4 ER, 9 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 5.40. I mentioned it in last week’s comment section, but I’ll repeat it here. The Mariners are free-falling, and if they end up out of the running this week, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a lot less of Kade Anderson the rest of the way. Down.

Emerson Hancock – I left Hancock in the Dumpers again today because we have more information about the injury. The official word is a “strained adductor”, which makes me wonder why one would boil a pot of adductors, then have to remove the water in the first place…badum tss…But I digress.

It’s a 15-day IL assignment, but he’s expected to be out longer than the minimum.

And more importantly, this one gives me a chance to shout out our top-tier Ambulance Chaser, Keelin. 

The current outlook note was as follows: “As you’ve seen throughout the season, groin strains can linger. However, Hancock is scheduled to throw (Sunday/yesterday). So it can’t be that bad? We will find out more of a timeline after that.”

And that reminded me of my own experience/expertise from a similar injury. If you want to see a gnarly photo of your Top 100 Starting Pitchers’ leg after he tried to run on a baseball field and tore up the groin/quad in multiple places, have a look at our old YouTube clip from the Wayback Machine when Keelin and I ran down some AL-East injury risks ahead of the 2024 season. Just do me a favor and don’t make a drinking game out of this. If you took a sip every time I said, “uh”, you may not make it to the photo part.

 (For the record, the photo was all of the blood that had pooled and made its way to my hamstring a couple of days after the initial tears).

If it’s more of a TL/DR for you, I can sum it up in a short sentence. Groin injuries hurt a lot, and they don’t heal quickly.

Bryce Miller – 4 2/3 IP, 1 ER, ERA at 4.01. If you’re wondering how a line like that gets the guy a ticket to the Dumper section, sit tight.

After his August 23rd start, Bryce Miller told people he’s been pitching through an injury.

Now, call me crazy, but if a guy is pitching injured, wouldn’t the logical move be to…oh, I don’t know…maybe place him on the INJURED LIST?

 I don’t know how hard up folks are for starters right now, but I’m avoiding starting this guy unless it’s a very good matchup. And I know Emerson Hancock got much more of a spotlight above than he needed to get, but let’s not forget that just last week Dan Wilson announced that Bryce Miller was headed to the bullpen before Emerson Hancock ended up on the IL

I’d understand if the Mariners were hard up for starting pitchers, but when I see stuff like this, I shake my head and picture Ryan Sloan sitting on an old wooden stool in a dark room, staring at an old rotary phone, waiting for it to ring.

Michael Soroka – I swear some of the Dumpers are actually on the list. 

Similar to Emerson Hancock above, I wanted to give an update on Soroka’s injury and also add a note about his teammate.

Soroka threw a simulated game on Friday with teammate Zac Gallen. The former threw 60 pitches over 4 innings, and it sounds like he could be activated as soon as this week. 

I don’t know how much faith I have in an arm that got shut down just three starts after a two-month absence (glute injury), but both of these guys could return for the D-Backs series against the Royals. Monitor the news on both of these guys for now.

Shane McClanahan – 5 IP, 4 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.36. You can always count on the Rays to doubt that any of their starters can McClanahandle a full 6 innings. Woof. EDIT: I had him dropping in the list, but Tampa put him on the IL, AGAIN, on Friday night. It’s a 15-day jobber with “forearm tightness”, and I wouldn’t count on anything from him until the playoffs (if even then).

Griffin Jax – 2 2/3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 4.10. I swear some of the Dumpers are actually, uh, not on the list?

I nearly added Jax to the list again this week, but he got rocked…again, and I figured it would be silly to explain why I’m not starting a guy while also pushing someone else off the list to make room for this guy.

This guy is either the most stubborn pitcher in the American League or the Rays are stricken with the worst kind of clouded optimism. Insert the “Why not both?” meme <here>.

Either way, I’m not starting Jax until it looks like he can give us at least 5 innings of decent pitching. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s shut down before that happens.

Luis Castillo – 4 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 5.57. I was writing some of these up at our local CBL ballpark before Game 2 of the playoffs started, and when I started to punch up Luis Castillo’s note, the sound system started to belt out old WWE star Kurt Angle’s song.

Lastly, Luis, please know that if you ever see this, I’m sorry. Seriously, one love and all that, but don’t blame me. Blame the baseball gods for the perfect setup.

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 IP, 2 ER, 2 hits, 5 walks, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.43. 5 walks? Uuugggghhhhh.

Robert Stock

Jameson Taillon 

Tyler Phillips 

Bailey Ober – 4.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 6 Ks, and his 5th loss.

Eric Lauer 

Kyle Freeland

Slade Cecconi 

Zac Gallen 

Chris Bassitt 

David Peterson – 3 2/3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 5.39.

Adrian Houser

Rhett Lowder

Tanner Gordon

Tomoyuki Sugano

Colin Rea

Jose Urquidy

Sean Manaea 

J.P. Sears  

Walker Buehler – 5.0 IP, 3 hits, ER, 2 BB, 6 K.

Matthew Liberatore

Aaron Nola – 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks.

Brady Singer

Seth Lugo

Bryce Elder 

Grayson Rodriguez

German Marquez

Kumar Rocker.

Dean Kremer

Hunter Dobbins 

Randy Dobnak – Game 2: 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks, and his 3rd win.

Zac Thornton 

Drew Anderson – 5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.73.

Carson Whisenhunt

Mitch Bratt

Max Scherzer

J.T. Ginn – 15-day IL.

Andrew Alvarez – 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks.

Ryan Gusto

AJ Smith-Shawver

Gabriel Hughes 

Cristian Javier – 5.0 IP, 1 hit, ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 2nd win, ERA at 5.98.

Quinn Mathews – 5 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.38.

Jackson Kent

Spencer Arrighetti – 4.2 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, and his 9th loss. 

Randy Vasquez – 4 2/3 IP, 2 ER, ERA at 4.02. On 69 pitches? Come on, man. Even when you start, it looks like you followed an opener.

Elmer Rodriguez

Ethan Pecko

Cody Bradford – 4 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.45. Ugh.

Robert Gasser – 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and no decision. Getting the Cubs this week was the part that tipped the scales. He’s out today.

Anthony Molina – Wait. I thought they were only allowed to be catchers.

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 – 3 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks. He started this one, but it sounds like he’s bullpen-bound for the rest of the year.

Max Meyer

Jack Flaherty

Reynaldo Lopez

Connolly Early 

Joe Musgrove

Ben Brown

Ryne Nelson

Lucas Giolito

Justin Steele 

Robby Snelling 

Jeffrey Springs

Jonah Tong – Recalled from the minors.

JR Ritchie

Spencer Strider

Spencer Schwellenbach

Zach Eflin

Javier Assad

Cole Ragans

Cody Ponce

Cade Horton

Shane Smith

Quinn Priester

Noah Schultz

Clarke Schmidt

River Ryan

Pablo Lopez

Nick Pivetta

Thomas White

Ryan Pepiot

Jose Berrios 

Justin Verlander

Reese Olson

Garrett Crochet 

Yusei Kikuchi

Emmett Sheehan

Hunter Greene

Trey Yesavage

Griffin Jax – More in the Dumpers section.

Mitch Keller

Brandon Sproat

Joe Ryan

Nathan Eovaldi – The official word from our Ambulance Chaser, Keelin, was “Elbow inflammation, started pitching progression but timeline still uncertain”. 

Merrill Kelly

Roki Sasaki

Ryan Weathers – Strained forearm flexor. 15-day IL. The Yanks hope he can start throwing this week, but he’s still a couple of weeks away from any solid throwing program or rehab assignment.

Shane Bieber

Emerson Hancock

Michael Soroka

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

Max Fried

Davis Martin

Hayden Wesneski

Corbin Burnes – Remember him?!

Andre Pallante – It was between this guy and Jonah Tong for the final spot.

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

Shane McClanahan

Emerson Hancock

George Klassen – Well, that was short-lived. One week on the list, then a 15-day IL assignment (back inflammation).

Cody Bradford

Robert Gasser

And I wasn’t going to add the September clip, but I had it on while I was editing and figured it would be sacrilege not to put it in here in case anyone needed a boost on a Monday afternoon.

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!

 

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