Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!

It’s (not) been 7 hours and 15 days…Since you blew the A’s away.

I don’t necessarily eat many dinners in a fancy restaurant, but, according to the kids, I can make a pretty mean pot of Mac & Cheese (please don’t make me launch into the Kraft Dinner explanations).

But you know who I haven’t taken any love away from? 

The rare instance when AI worked. And of course it did, because he’s the Woo-Bot.

And why is that?

Because Nothing Compares To Woo.

Yessir (and five Yesmaams). It’s full-on MarmoCrush mode for Seattle’s superstar Starting Pitcher, and we’ve got more than a few reasons why this Dad’s obsession isn’t entirely misguided.

It took a lot of self-restraint not to run with the Woo-bot as my lede in the Saturday morning Daily News round-up, but here’s what I wrote about him at the end of that piece.

“Bryan Woo – 7 IP, 1 ER, (HR), 1 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, and his 11th win. ERA at 2.94. WHIP at 0.94. Needless to say, the graphics folks at Root Sports will need to edit this photo for his next start. The Woo-Bot secured his 25th consecutive start of 6+ innings last night to move into a tie for 2nd place with Randy Johnson for the all-time franchise lead. I’m betting he can pass King Felix by the end of September.”

When you’re in a Seattle Mariners graphic with King Felix and the Bird Exploder, I’d say things are going a wee bit better than “pretty good”. 

I’d also like to amend my timeline and say that Woo should be able to reach Felix’s 27 consecutive starts as early as the first week of September. He’s scheduled to face San Diego at home on August 27th, then heads to Tampa to take on the Rays on September 2nd. 

Does this march to the record books mean Woo is still a Top 10 pitcher? Oh yes. Yes, it does.

But Top 5? Well, we’ll have to check the list for that one.

But before we get to the list, I need to remind you to lock in your Razzball Fantasy Baseball Subscription. This should be your go-to reference for the entire season. The Streamonator is also a helpful resource when making lineup decisions. Rudy’s tools are well worth the price of admission. 

The Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2025

SP RANK	Name	Team	UP / DOWN	Notes
1	Tarik Skubal	DET		OMG! He hasn’t won in three starts! Yes, but the 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 10 K outing last week wasn’t to blame. Do you want him to start hitting home runs now, too?
2	Garrett Crochet	BOS		Strolled into Yankee Stadium and struck out 11 on Saturday for a two-game total of 19 Ks in his last 14 IP. It’s going to be a sad reading of the Cy Young votes for Red Sox fans this year. He and Skubal are 1 A & B.
3	Paul Skenes	PIT		I mentioned this in Saturday’s round-up, but holy hell does Bubba Chandler ever look like Paul Skenes’ twin. As for Skenes, he pitched against COL yesterday. I wonder if he threw a perfect game. EDIT: Well, it wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty darned close. 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks.
4	Bryan Woo	SEA		The bad news about Zack Wheeler, coupled with Yoshi’s struggles last week, means there’s space to move some of these guys up. More above!
5	Tyler Glasnow	LAD		I went back to look at Glasnow’s totals after his July 9th return from injury, expecting to see innings and strikeouts. The 10.72 K/9 is pretty awesome, but he’s averaged fewer than 6 innings in those 8 GS, and pitched into the 7th inning just twice. NBD, but something to pay some attention to.
6	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD		9 ER in his last 11.2 IP is a small sample size, but that it was at LAA then at COL is a bit of an eyebrow raiser. He started at SD last night, and I have faith that he’ll turn it around. EDIT: 6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and his 11th win. ERA at 2.90.
7	Blake Snell	LAD		“7 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks, and his 2nd loss. ERA at 1.97. It wasn’t a bad start for Snell; he just ran into a guy who pitched a bit better than he did last night.” Lost a head-to-head duel to Yu Darvish. Second half Snell is back in ace form.
8	Nathan Eovaldi	TEX		More below.
9	Jacob deGrom	TEX		Pushed back to rest, shoulder fatigue. No need to sound the panic gong just yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that collective sucking in of breath from fantasy managers altered some weather patterns in some fantasy circles last week. The rejigged rotation means he should get two starts this week, though.
10	Joe Ryan	MIN		4 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks vs ATH last week. And the SacTown A’s offense snuck up on another star pitcher. Hey, don’t blame Ryan. They can’t all be as good as Bryan Woo.
11	Hunter Brown	HOU		6 IP, 0 ER, 8 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.36. He slid down the list last week and probably shouldn’t have. This kind of game is enough to push him back up, even more so when you see that it was in Detroit against Skubal. He should feast on COL at home this week.
12	Logan Gilbert	SEA		What’s eating Logan Gilbert? Well, last week it was the Phillies offense (2 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, 1 K). He looked to right the ship last night vs that pesky ATH squad. EDIT: LoGi got overshadowed by Cal Raleigh setting the single-season record for HR by a catcher, but 13 Ks in 6 IP qualifies as an excellent start. This moved him up even higher than I already had him.
13	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI		6.1 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 12 Ks, ERA at 2.46. Sanchez gave us a dirty dozen strikeouts last week and is lined up for two starts this week (at NYM, vs ATL). The Phillies are going to need a lot more of this, especially with Zack’s Wheels falling off (More below in the Bumpers).
14	Logan Webb	SF		Rolling into MLW isn’t a fun time this year for many teams. Webb took care of business last week, though. 6 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks, and his 12th win. He gets a cookie matchup vs BAL this week.
15	Freddy Peralta	MLW		He missed out on his 4th straight win when he couldn’t get past the 5th inning on Saturday (96 pitches). He’s given up 7 BBs in his last 11 IP, but other than that, he’s been about as solid an ace as you could have hoped for when you drafted him back in April.
16	Nick Pivetta	SD		6 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 10 Ks, and his 13th win last week. ERA at 2.81. He took on the Dodgers yesterday in SD. EDIT: He was cruising yesterday until Feeman took him deep. His 6 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 7 K line was actually better than Yamamoto’s.
17	Framber Valdez	HOU		5 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 3.32. Framber’s fumble was run back for a touchdown.
18	George Kirby	SEA		6 innings of 4-hit ball with just one earned run is usually enough to cruise to a victory. Unfortunately for M’s fans, Jeff Springs and the ATH bullpen had other plans. Kirby heads to CLE this week.
19	Max Fried	NYY		“6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 7 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 3.14. He got outdueled by Bello and will have to wait for (this) week’s start vs WSH for another crack at win #14.”
20	Hunter Greene	CIN		6.1 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 12 Ks, ERA at 2.63. Wrap this guy in foam between every start, please! He gets two starts this week, but today’s is at LAD, so tread carefully.
21	Trevor Rogers	BAL		I took some heat for having Rogers ranked this high, but if we go way back to June 30th, and somehow gave him two more outs in that start, last week would have been his 9th consecutive quality start and 11th in 12 GS. It’s fitting that he’s an Oriole because this ranking might ruffle some feathers.
22	Robbie Ray	SF		6 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and his 10th win. Ray cruised through 6 innings last week at SD and looked to do the same yesterday afternoon at MLW. EDIT: 5 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 0 K (!), and the no-decision.
23	Carlos Rodon	NYY		Back-to-back wins and consecutive quality starts for Rodon, and all is well. That certainly couldn’t jinx him for the Red Sox matchup last night, could it? EDIT: 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 5 BB, 3 Ks, and his 14th win. The walks were still Rodonculous, but he was the Yankees’ stopper once again and helped them avoid a Red Sox sweep.
24	Shota Imanaga	CHC		7 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.06. Look, Imma let you finish. But even without the dominant strikeout totals, Shota has been an ace. He’s winless in his last 4 GS, but also recorded a quality start in each one.
25	Brandon Woodruff	MLW		4.1 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 2.47. He had 6 QS in 7 games before posting back-to-back short ones. Hopefully, nothing to be concerned about. (He did throw 94 pitches in this one.)
26	Sonny Gray	STL		5 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks, and his 12th win. ERA at 4.33. Mr. Underrated keeps on truckin’.
27	Ranger Suarez	PHI		He got roughed up pretty good (bad?) in his previous 3 GS, so last week’s 10 K W against SEA was a much-needed breath of fresh air. He threw yesterday afternoon vs WSH. EDIT: I hesitated giving him a big boost yesterday, but it was warranted. He threw a 7-inning 3-hit shutout with 11 Ks.
28	Eury Perez	MIA		4 BB in 4.1 IP last week isn’t what the Eury-heads wanted to see. I would have had a tough time starting him yesterday vs TOR, too. EDIT: I watched this game, and Eury threw really well. The two earned runs (in 6 innings) scored when his reliever, Lake Bachar, gave up a 3-run bomb to Dalton Varsho.
29	Dylan Cease	SD		5 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.71. It’s so frustrating that I keep going back to the well for this guy, only to find that the well leads to a deeply buried and overflowing septic tank from 1981.
30	Seth Lugo	KC		6.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.73. “Steady Sethy” might sound like a Nick Kroll character, but after a couple of bumpy starts, it was good to see him settle down for another QS in this one.
31	Jesus Luzardo	PHI		6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 12 Ks, ERA at 4.10. One strikeout from Jesus for every disciple? (Yeah, I had to look that one up to make sure I was right).
32	Drew Rasmussen	TB		6 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.62. Grey laid down an old school B-Fire bar for this guy last week, “Nobody be fussin’ with The ‘Mussen’.”
33	Noah Cameron	KC		He’s completed 6 innings just once in the last month, but he also won 3 of those 5 games, so maybe it’s not such a big deal.
34	Brayan Bello	BOS		“7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks, and his 10th win. ERA at 3.07. Last night was his 4th QS in his last 5 starts. Bello’s ability to rip off 6+ innings with 3 or fewer earned runs has been a bit of a thing this season, and something I highlighted in my August 4th Top 100 Starting Pitchers article here. Rolling into Yankee Stadium and doing it against their ace? That’s another level. “ This one is gonna make some people angry, but he’s been pretty good lately.
35	Spencer Strider	ATL		Skipped this weekend in favor of Cal Quantrill and the patchwork ATL rotation. He’s allowed 20 (!) ER in his last 11.2 IP. Just shut him down already. The temptation of a two-start week lingers today.
36	MacKenzie Gore	WSH		4.1 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 4.11. I’ll give you the 411, alright. After two solid, quality starts, Gore went right back to being gross.
37	Matthew Boyd	CHC		5.1 IP, 4 ER, 9 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 2.61. YeaaaaOUCH, Boyyyyyd! Hey, at least he got the win (his 12th).
38	Luis Castillo	SEA		4 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.57. Back-to-back drubbings at PHI and NYM.  Giving up 19 hits, 9 ER, and 3 BBs is fine…if it’s over his last 30 innings. This was the line from his most recent 8 IP. Ouch.
39	Merrill Kelly	TEX		The strikeout totals aren’t flashy, but Kelly notched his 15th QS last week at KC. He hosted CLE yesterday afternoon. EDIT: 7 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks. He was a lot lower before I edited and added in the results from this one. Nice work, M.K.
40	Cade Horton	CHC		Back on track! 6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks at LAA on Saturday for his 5th win in 6 starts! He heads to COL this week.
41	Edward Cabrera	MIA		4.1 IP, 4 ER, 11 H (career worst). ERA at 3.52. That’s 9 ER in his last 9.2 IP, and I’d be hesitant to start him today vs ATL, let alone on Saturday at NYM.
42	Will Warren	NYY		4 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, and his 6th loss. Warren was one of the many sources of collateral damage in the Red Sox’s weekend warzone trip to the Bronx. Hopefully, heading to CWS this week helps him regain some confidence.
43	Ryan Pepiot	TB		The strikeouts are there, and the ratios don’t look bad, but he’s given up 17 ER in 21.2 IP since July 31st.
44	Andrew Abbott	CIN		There are some cracks in the armor here. Saturday’s 6 ER implosion (in 4 IP) dropped him to 0-3 in his last 7 GS. It’s time to start looking elsewhere if you need a reliable starter.
45	Kodai Senga	NYM		5 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 2.58. Kodai would be one of those guys that I held for far too long, and that would have cost me a bunch of points this month. Good thing I rostered him nowhere.
46	Lucas Giolito	BOS		4.2 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.72. We know that Gio’s a “let’s go” next week, yo. (At BAL, then at PIT for two starts).
47	Jack Flaherty	DET		7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks, and his 7th win (vs HOU). There’s the guy who took the league by storm last year. Now he needs to keep it up this week vs KC.
48	Quinn Priester	MLW		4.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 5 BB, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.44. It looked fine until I saw the walk total. He needed 95 pitches to get 13 outs at CHC. Hopefully, this isn’t him losing steam for the stretch run.
49	Shane Bieber	TOR		More below.
50	Sean Manaea	NYM		4.2 IP, 4 ER, 4 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 5.15. “Joe Boyle or Sean Manaea: Which 2nd half sleeper darling disappointed you the most, and why?” That’s a sneak peek at the end-of-year essay question on the final exam.
51	Max Scherzer	TOR		More below.
52	Aaron Nola	PHI	N/R	Former All-Star and ace returns and flashes the old form. 6 IP, 2 ER (solo homers), 5 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks is a solid return, but it’ll take a few more of these before I’m convinced he’s out of the woods.
53	Yu Darvish	SD		“6 IP, 1 ER, (HR), 1 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks, and his 3rd win. ERA at 5.36. Yu came out on top in a pitching duel with Blake Snell. Let’s not lose sight of the bullpen work that helped shorten Darvish’s outing to 6 innings, though. Jason Adam pitched a perfect 7th inning. Mason Miller gave up two walks in the 8th. And Robert Suarez threw a scoreless 9th for his 34th save.”
54	David Peterson	NYM		8 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 3.18. What a way to bounce back after your worst game of the year. He threw at ATL yesterday, too. EDIT: 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 8 Ks, and the no-decision.
55	Jacob Misiorowski	MLW		4 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 4.19. He’s going to finish as a Bottom 75+ guy, isn’t he? Man, the term “innings management” is almost as annoying as the “back-to-school” one.
56	Yusei Kikuchi	LAA		7 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.42. Hey! POP Kikuchi, baby! This one was a nice bounce back after giving us 9 innings/8 ER in his last 2 GS (total).
57	Kevin Gausman	TOR		The goose was cruising into the 5th inning yesterday when he ran into trouble and loaded the bases. The 3-run triple to a certain Marlins rookie cost him a shot at a comeback. As Uncle Jesse would’ve said, “Have Marsee”
58	Cam Schlittler	NYY		6.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.22. Just making that little ERA even (Sch)littler. Jokes aside, the Schlittler had a perfect game going into the 7th in this one. Eyes emoji. He should be a two-start guy this week, too, and I’m triple-checking that I have him active in my TGFBI league.
59	Casey Mize	DET		“5.2 IP, 3 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 0 K, and the no-decision. ERA at 3.68. I can handle the 9 hits. The single walk is fine too. But ZERO STRIKEOUTS? Come on, man. Did you use them all up last week when you wiped out 10 Twins?”
60	Mitch Keller	PIT		More below.
61	Gavin Williams	CLE		Rowdy Tellez tagged him for a 2-run HR yesterday in the 4th inning, ending his day after just 10 outs. 3.1 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 3 Ks on 90 pitches. I know the answer to the question, “Would you rather have Shane Baz or this guy in your active lineup?”, but that doesn’t make it any easier to roster him.
62	Jacob Lopez	ATH		6 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.28. This guy is going to blow through a giant list of preseason “sleepers” and post some sneaky value numbers the rest of the way, isn’t he? He got the M’s in SEA yesterday. EDIT: Crushed for 9 ER and 6 BB in 2 IP. I had him all set to move up, then had to reshuffle in the edit. Smh.
63	Clay Holmes	NYM		Notched his 11th win on Saturday at ATL, but the most important stat was the innings pitched. He must’ve heard us needling him last week about not going 6+ innings. He pitched into the 6+ for the first time in 13 starts (the last one was June 7th).
64	Clayton Kershaw	LAD		5.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks, and his 8th win. ERA at 3.13. He’s now won 4 straight games and allowed just 5 ER in his last 23.2 IP. Working in front of The Avengers every day makes it a lot tougher to lose.
65	Noah McLean	NYM	N/R	More below.
66	Ryan Bergert	KC	N/R	“5.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 2.79. WHIP at 1.09. I was thisclose to running with a “Can I get a Bergert and an order of Mize…and a Diet Coke” as our lede today, but decided on Bubba instead. That said, Ryan Bergert has managed to allow more than 2 ER in just two of his 11 starts. The bad news? He also hasn’t completed 6 innings in any of those games.”
67	Tanner Bibee	CLE		5.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.62. Sometimes he seems like the only land mine that I managed to avoid everywhere this year, then I remember the entire Arizona rotation (that I have no shares of) and continue to breathe a sigh of relief.
68	Jose Berrios	TOR		6.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 B, 8 Ks, and the no-decision Saturday at MIA. I know Eric Lauer deserves a spot in the rotation, but which Jays SP gets bumped if that’s the case? For all of Berrios’s volatility, he is a proven playoff performer (no matter how early the team decides to pull him from a start), with an 11.4 K/9 in those 15 playoff innings.
69	Ryne Nelson	ARI		“6 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 3.63. That’s more like it. A solid quality start. That must mean the D-Backs only used … oh, they used 7 pitchers in this one.”
70	Jose Soriano	LAA		Sent to the paternity list, then moved to the restricted list on Saturday because he needed more time in the DR. Scheduled to pitch today at TEX.
71	Luis Gil	NYY		More below.
72	Braxton Ashcraft	PIT	N/R	“5 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and his 4th win. ERA at 2.70.  Wow. You’d think a guy named after a female ’90s R&B artist would be used to having to elevate his game, but still, this was very impressive. It’s almost as if he were trying to prove he belongs. Like the Pirates were auditioning a new pitcher this week, and “Don’t call me Toni” was chucking for his rotation spot. Hmm…I wonder who that could be.” It was Bubba Chandler. And it felt great to replace Shane Baz with this guy in the list today.
73	Shohei Ohtani	LAD		4 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.61. The Nicest Guy in baseball with a heart of gold! He’s so kind that he gave away a bunch of earned runs. To the Rockies! All he needs is a big red suit, and he can run Christmas. Sant-ani!
74	Justin Verlander	SF		4.1 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 4.64. Oh, man. This guy needs to get back in that DeLorean. And fast.
75	Emmett Sheehan	LAD		6 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.17. He’s given up a bunch of earned runs in his last three games, but still has two wins to show for his efforts. That’s how offensive run support works, folks.
76	Michael Wacha	KC		He won last week, allowing 9 H in 5.2 IP, then lost on Saturday when he gave up 3 ER in 6 IP. The strikeout totals will never be exciting, but this dude hasn’t surrendered more than 3 ER since the first week of July.
77	Sandy Alcantara	MIA		7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 6.04. He’s going to do JUST ENOUGH to pull a bunch of us back in next February, isn’t he?
78	Jason Alexander	HOU	N/R	Another new member in the two first names club! 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 9 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.59. Insert “assistant to the travelling secretary” joke here. Three wins in his last 4 GS, and just missed recording his 4th straight QS in this one.
79	Cade Cavalli	WSH		“6 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 2.82. He’s averaged 90 pitches through his first four starts and has allowed just 7 ER in his 22.1 IP. To say the audition for a permanent spot in the rotation is going well would be an understatement.”
80	Brady Singer	CIN		He was at 1 IP, 1 ER, 1 H (not a home run), 1 BB, and 2 Ks at ARI when I wrote this up yesterday. EDIT: 6 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 9 Ks, and the no-decision?! Tough luck for the masked Singer.
81	Jose Quintana	MLW		I wrote this up for Saturday morning after his ‘clash’ with Carson Wisenhunt. “Jose Quintana – 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks. ERA at 3.32. I had a Jaws reference all queued up where the shark was on a wisenhunt for Quint, but I should have expected a less-than-stellar outing from both of these guys to ruin that fun. The no-decision funkillers were the only winners here last night.”
82	Zack Littell	CIN		“3 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 3.62. The Reds used 8 pitchers in this one, with Scott Barlow ultimately getting saddled with the loss (his 2nd).”
83	Spencer Arrighetti	HOU		Lost his 5th start in a row (the streak started before his injury on April 5th), but yesterday’s game wasn’t too discouraging. Unless you count the opponent (at BAL). 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 2 Ks.
84	Michael McGreevy	STL		6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.42. It looks like he’s a two-start guy this week with PIT coming to town today, then in CIN on Saturday.
85	Zebby Matthews	MIN		“4.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 5.30. I know it’s a lazy comparison because the Twins just traded for Taj Bradley, but are these two guys the same person? All I know is the pitching coaches have some work to do this offseason. At least they don’t have to sort out Chris Paddack, too.”
86	Eric Lauer	TOR		More below.
87	Chris Bassitt	TOR		5.2 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 4.18. Mr Smoke and Mirrors continues to do enough to justify sticking in the rotation. True story – when I used the 10 Ks to talk an Eric Lauer stan off of a cliff, the “Ya, against PIT” reply was expected, and automatic.
88	Jeffrey Springs	ATH		I mentioned it in the Kirby note above, but Springs gave his fantasy managers a much-needed bounce-back on Saturday night at SEA. 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks, and the no-decision.
89	Charlie Morton	DET		6 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 5.09. It was risky, but I streamed him for this one, and it worked out. People love to hate on this guy, and I have the parachute all ready to go for when the wheels fall off, but outside of a hiccup against LAA a few weeks ago, he’s been thriving in a mentorship role in Motown.
90	Adrian Houser	TB		“6.1 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks. ERA at 2.88. A 10-6 final isn’t exactly a cruise to the iVictory Coast, but it was enough to get Houser his 7th win on a night where he was less than stellar.”
91	Colin Rea	CHC		5.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 5 BB, 3 Ks, and his 10th win (vs MLW). 5 walks, he couldn’t finish the 6th inning, AND he still pulled out a dub? Yeesh.
92	Bailey Ober	MIN		5.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 5.05. I attached him to Jackson Holliday and Dustin May in a trade for some hitting (Rice Bowl and LouBob) and Kevin Gausman in the AL-Only title run last week. I’m pretty much Ober him. Such a bummer.
93	Joe Boyle	TB		4 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 5.15. Everyone’s shining beacon of upside from a few weeks ago is turning into a bad burn. Fantasy managers are getting steamed that Boyle might be overcooked.
94	Bryce Miller	SEA		5 IP, 4 ER, 6 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 5.87. I picked him up in one league’s FAAB run a few weeks ago and traded for him in another. There’s a fine line between blind faith and blatant stupidity, and I’m hoping this doesn’t turn into the latter. Oh, and see if you can guess how many quality starts Bryce Miller has in 11 starts this year. I’ll give you a hint. It’s the same number of QS that Felix Hernandez and Randy Johnson have recorded this season. Yeesh.
95	Jack Leiter	TEX		He was on shaky ground after completing 5 innings just once in four August starts. Saturday’s gem against Cleveland (7 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 10 Ks) keeps him afloat for now.
96	Zac Gallen	ARI		He started yesterday at home against Brady Singer and the Reds, striking out 2 in 1.2 IP. EDIT: He actually posted a quality start – 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks, but the bullpen blew the shot at a win for him.
97	Hurston Waldrep	ATL		Two starts this week for the kid! At MIA should be ok. At Philly? Pull up your hip waders for that one, Lovey. It could get messy early.
98	Dustin May	BOS		All three of his starts for the Red Sox have been decent, and yesterday’s late game (at NYY vs Carlos Rodon) was another test for him to pass or fail. Here’s hoping he fares better than that old Red Sox pitcher, MayDay Malone. EDIT: 4.1 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks. ERA at 4.79. Aaaaaand, that’s a jinx. *Raises glass*. Cheers.
99	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI		7 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.95. The ugliest 12-win season continues! (He’s now allowed 156 hits in 140 innings).
100	Chris Paddack	DET		I nearly banished him after the 8 ER meltdown against his old club on Aug. 17th, but he bounced back with a strong start Saturday against KC. He’s living on borrowed time here, though, if he keeps alternating between good and bad starts.

JUMPERS (These are some of the players who jumped up the rankings this week)

Nathan Eovaldi – I wrote up Big Nate in the Saturday morning recap: “7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 9 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 1.73. WHIP at 0.85. It’s getting tougher and tougher not to rank this guy among the best in my Top 100 Starting Pitchers list. He moved up to SP16 last week and needs another boost on Monday. Seriously. Which 10 SPs do you rank ahead of this guy? Is it close?” Oh, he’s closer than close. And this question was just as much for you, dear readers, as it was for me before I bumped him up into the elite zone today.

Shane Bieber – “ 6 IP, 1 ER, (solo HR), 2 H, 0 BB, 9 Ks, and his first win as a Blue Jay. Baby, baby, baby, OH! Biebs threw 87 pitches in this one, and if anyone is looking for tips on how to impress your new co-workers, this is it. Could he do even better in MIN next week? Never say never.” If that isn’t enough to get the Bieber-fever going, check this clip out, too.

“I’m really excited to be a Toronto Blue Jay. This is a great team. I’m happy to be a part of it!” – @ShaneBieber19 pic.twitter.com/CCgl4HFKB2

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 23, 2025

Max Scherzer – 6 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.60. He’s got a 5-game quality start streak and a 32 IP, 8 ER, 23 H, 7 BB, 28 Ks line over that stretch. I almost didn’t include this clip today because it felt like Blue Jay overkill, but I love seeing behind-the-scenes stuff like this and assumed you would too.

John Schneider talks about what it’s like to manage Hall of Famer Max Scherzer pic.twitter.com/MJJlPvY002

— Gate 14 Podcast (@Gate14Pod) August 21, 2025

Nolan McLean – Another Saturday note: “7 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks, and his 2nd win. ERA at 1.46. That’s No L for Nolan once again, and boy oh boy did he look good. Posting zero walks after putting up four against Seattle in his first start last week is even more encouraging. If your league has checked out for that other fantasy game that starts up this month, go grab him off waivers now!”

DUMPERS (With apologies to Cal Raleigh, these are some of the big dumpers in the rankings this week)

Mitch Keller – 3.1 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 4.34. So much for Mister Quality Start. He’s pitched into the 6th inning just ONCE in his last five games. Last week vs TOR, it took him 85 pitches to get 13 outs. He’s slated to go at STL today, then pitches at Fenway on Saturday, but I’d be sitting him this week if I had other, more reliable options.

Luis Gil – 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 5 BB, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.26. So…this guy has strikeout upside but little-to-no command of the fastball. And his last name is what you’d say aloud when you’re training your dog and taking it out for a…Hey! Wait a minute! Galaxy Brain activated!

Eric Lauer – The expected news came trickling down with Bieber’s activation on Friday. Eric Lauer, the man with the cleanest ratios in the Jays’ rotation, would be moving into a relief role to make space for “Not Justin”. Although Lauer will start this week (Wednesday), it looks like the team won’t be employing a 6-man rotation the rest of the way. I said to some friends that if there’s one team that could use an extra day of rest for starters (especially for Bieber and Scherzer), this is it.

Lauer’s left-handedness might be a part of the rationale in moving him to a bulk role out of the bullpen, and he’ll continue to be successful, but you can move on in 10 or 12-teamers if you were hoping to collect some wins and quality starts here ROS.

Slade Cecconi – It’s not fair that he’s getting the boot today, but someone had to be the late sacrifice after Aaron Nola returned and didn’t look terrible (not an easy thing to do on either front). Even as I type this up, there’s a not-so-quiet voice in my head saying it should be Chris Paddack getting the axe instead of Slade today. Here’s what I wrote up for him Saturday morning. “6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 4.41. Not a bad start, but not good enough to knock out Eovaldi.”

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

Nestor Cortes – he took a big step forward Saturday night when he carried a perfect game into the 6th inning.

Dean Kremer

Cade Povich

Brandon Young

Cristian Javier 

Jake Irvin

Joey Cantillo

Mick Abel

Eduardo Rodriguez

Jameson Taillon

Tyler Anderson

Brad Lord

Tomoyuki Sugano

Landen Roupp – 2.1 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 3.80. Looks like Bob Barker got to the RouppDogg. Yelp. Speaking of yelps, he was carted off the field after taking a liner off the booty cheek. Yes, that’s the official term, and yes, that’s what happened. For reals. Guy is getting full notes, and he’s not even back on the list! Wishing the RouppDogg a healthy booty cheek recovery.

Javier Assad

Taj Bradley

Slade Cecconi

Bubba Chandler – He’s up! And off the Bumpers list! But he’s not a starting pitcher (at least not right now), so he’s ineligible.

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)

Cole Ragans 

Spencer Schwellenbach

Shane McClanahan 

Jared Jones

Gerrit Cole

Justin Steele

John Means

Grant Holmes

Griffin Canning

Reese Olson

Grayson Rodriguez

Jackson Jobe

Andrew Painter

Tyler Mahle

Pablo Lopez

Tylor Megill

Chris Sale 

Ryan Weathers

Clarke Schmidt

Logan Henderson

Corbin Burnes

Max Meyer

Michael King 

Chase Burns 

Zack Wheeler – thoracic outlet surgery. Out 6-8 months. 

WHEE (New arrivals to the list this week)

Cade Cavalli

Aaron Nola

Braxton Ashcraft

Ryan Bergert

Jason Alexander

Nolan McLean

OOF (Stumbled or were replaced by others in the list this week)

Shane Baz – 7 losses in his last 8 starts with one no-decision. I’m done with him for 2025, and he’s going to need to do some serious offseason homework to be anything more than a deep league flier in 2026.

Matthew Liberatore – June 29th. That was the last day he threw a pitch in the 6th inning, and the last time he won a game.

Slade Cecconi – See ‘Dumpers’ above.

Nick Martinez – Like I mentioned above with Cecconi, Martinez also didn’t even do anything wrong. I just had to make room for Jason Alexander.

Shane Smith – The good news is he finished 6 innings. The bad news is he hadn’t done that since June 10, which was also the last day he notched a victory.

Troy Melton – Apparently, a 5-inning one-hit shutout with 6 Ks on August 13th wasn’t good enough to keep him in the rotation. Detroit used him out of the bullpen for just 2.1 innings over the next 10 days.

 

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