Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!

Last week, I wrote about how this time of the year is a tough one to navigate when you’re deciding on which starting pitchers to activate from week to week.

Many teams are managing their pitchers’ workloads, skipping rotation pieces, and calling up young arms for spot starts. Other teams that aren’t in the playoff race are starting to audition other guys for 2026 roles on the big league squad.

Just as a reminder, this kind of volatility means it’s more important than ever to stay informed and double-check for new news (stutter!) bits before making those daily lineup decisions. 

Could one bad decision cost us valuable standings points in a charge to the title?

With this in mind, I took the liberty of snipping Rudy’s caveat from our Streamonator page to serve as a reminder as we hurtle headlong towards the final days of the MLB season.

So sayeth our Master of Metrics, Mister Rudy Gamble.

Now that this is out of the way, it’s time for me to strain my shoulder and give myself a hearty pat on the back for last week’s recommendation of the Blue Jays’ newest Macho Man, Trey Yesavage.

So, the Blue Jays’ hotshot rookie finally got the call-up that he deserved after a stellar season in which he blew through all four minor league stops. For those of you who prefer the numbers to the words, have a peek at this screenshot of his FanGraphs page.

Yes. It’s time to step into a Slim Jim. Or, into a major league rotation.

But how would the minor league success translate at he big league level? Have a look for yourself.

Trey Yesavage's 2Ks in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/fBT4zh4jI1

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 16, 2025

Oh. Boy. 

Toronto’s own Macho Man showed up at the Rogers Centre and delivered a gem last Monday night: 5 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 9 Ks, and the no-decision. The 9 strikeouts set a new Blue Jays rookie record. He was slated to throw again yesterday, but the Jays are playing it safe and giving him some extra rest. EDIT: They didn’t. 4 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks, but the line doesn’t do him justice. He left with two on in the top of the 5th, after a botched ruling on the field when Dalton Varsho’s caught fly ball was called a ‘trap’. Both inherited runners ended up scoring.

There’s already been talk of adding Yesavage to the team’s postseason roster and, at the very least, Trey’s big debut has all but guaranteed another couple of starts before the end of the regular season.

It’s always nice to see a top prospect deliver on the promise of excellence. But many of us already know this was inevitable because, well, you know what always rises to the top.

I had one last clip all queued up to run with Yesavage’s dad having a tearful moment watching his kid start in the big leagues last Monday, but this one bumps it out for the sheer excitement the kid must have had yesterday, thinking of just how far he’s come this year.

“Words can’t describe what I’m feeling right now.”

Trey Yesavage speaks with @ArdenZwelling after pitching in the Blue Jays’ post-season clincher. pic.twitter.com/YdX01L4zzT

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 21, 2025

Will Trey Yesavage make the list this week? Is it time to start trimming the end-of-season fat off the list and putting some of our ‘hot hand’ names in the Top 100?

Well, before we get to the list, I’ll remind everyone that I’ll be adding our robot icons again for some of our recommended (and not so recommended) starters for this week.

Think of it as an extra helping robot hand, and a bit of a free advertisement of why you should be subscribing to Rudy’s tools for 2026 – because you’ll get all of these little robo-secrets each week to help you dominate your competition.

Wherever you see the little robot emoji, it means the Streamonator is down with that start for the week. 

And, to help out even more, if you see the Terminator skull, it’s the Streamonator’s way of saying GTFO before you get zapped.

And now, on to the list.

The Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2025

 

SP RANK	Name	Team	UP/DOWN	STREAMO	Notes
1	Tarik Skubal	DET			6 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 9 Ks. After he left his start with what looked like an oblique injury two weeks ago, I said to be careful last week and monitor the news. Well, he didn’t throw a CG SO, but that kind of line is enough to show the caution tape can be removed now.
2	Paul Skenes	PIT			3 2/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 2.03. Wait, what? I thought the kids were yapping about 6/7 and not 2/3.
3	Garrett Crochet	BOS			This one was from my Friday night round-up on Saturday morning: “6 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 9 Ks, and his 17th win. ERA at 2.69. Two homers tarnished the line a bit, but this guy is one of just two SPs who can have a sliver of a chance to steal a tally or two away from Tarik Skubal in the Cy Young voting.”
4	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD			5 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 7 baserunners (6 BBs), 7 Ks, ERA at 2.58. 6 walks and 7 Ks? Ah, man. There’s that fn six-seven again.
5	Freddy Peralta	MLW			6 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 2.65. So who’s going to argue if he stays in the Top 5 today? Anyone?
6	Hunter Brown	HOU			“6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 9 Ks. ERA at 2.30. Brown was a tough-luck loser Friday night because the Astros could only muster 3 hits against Bryan Woo.”
7	Bryan Woo	SEA			“5 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks. ERA at 2.94. I watched this one last night, and both Woo and Brown looked every bit the aces that they’ve proven to be this year. Woo cruised through 5 innings and was at just 67 pitches when he came out to start the 6th, soft-tossed three warmup pitches, and immediately left with the trainer.” Not to worry, though. Dan Wilson said they sent Woo out to see if he could loosen up the tight pectoral muscle he reported after finishing the 5th inning. He was scheduled for an MRI on Saturday.
8	Blake Snell	LAD			7 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 12 Ks, ERA at 2.44. “I’m just here to dominate some Call of Duty noobs and some MLB hitters. And I’m almost out of Call of Duty time.” That’s what I assume he’s said more than once this year.
9	Max Fried	NYY			7 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 13 Ks, ERA at 2.92. Oh man. He’s been nothing short of dominant lately with 6 wins in his last 7 starts. 18 wins, 182 Ks in 188.1 IP, and some pristine ratios all add up to a guy you don’t want your team to match up against in a wild card game.
10	Trevor Rogers	BAL			“6 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks, and his 9th win. ERA at 1.35. WHIP at 0.87. Remember when I said this guy is one of the best SPs in the second half? It’s true. And it’s not even close. He’s given up 10 ER in 65.1 IP (since July 20th), with 61 Ks, 14 BBs, and just 2 HR allowed. The 2.32 FIP over that span is just filthy. It would be tough to name anyone else the second-half SP MVP.” FWIW, the Streamonator hates him at NYY this week.
11	Logan Gilbert	SEA			5.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks, and his 5th win. Hopefully, everyone in my draft rooms looks at that win total next year and forgets just how dominant this guy can be.
12	Chris Sale	ATL			8 IP, 0 ER, 3 hits, zero walks, 9 Ks, ERA at 2.35. If you roster this guy, you don’t need me to tell you how unbelievable he’s been since his return on August 30th, but for those who don’t have him: 4 GS, 25.2 IP, 5 ER, 2 BB, 36 Ks. Insert eye-popping emoji here.
13	George Kirby	SEA			6 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks, and his 10th win. Back-to-back victories for Kirby and 21 strikeouts in his last 12.1 IP. Here’s hoping the other folks in your league have already moved on to football season and look at the 4.24 ERA when it’s time to draft starters next year. A healthy jump today.
14	Carlos Rodon	NYY			7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks, and his 17th win. ERA at 3.04. If he’d recorded just one more out in the August 24th Red Sox game, this would’ve been his 8th consecutive quality start.
15	Logan Webb	SF			7 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.27. Logan spun another sparkling game again last week.
16	Hunter Greene	CIN			9 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 1 walk, 9 Ks, ERA at 2.74, his 7th win, and oh my goodness, if this guy is around in the 5th or 6th round of my drafts in February, I know I’m gonna pull a Cheech and Chong and go get that Greene.
17	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI			7 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks broke his streak of three straight games with just one earned run allowed (in each). But this one was vs LAD, so it wasn’t all that surprising.
18	Jacob deGrom	TEX			5 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 3.01. An earned run burp that barely pushes his ERA above 3.00 means we’ll take a bit of a setback. He gets MIN at home this week.
19	Tyler Glasnow	LAD			It was a bit ugly, but Glasnow won his 3rd straight Saturday night vs SF. 5 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 7 Ks. ERA at 3.30. I’d love to have this guy on every one of my teams, but we need to accept that the odds of him ever throwing 100 innings in a season again are highly unlikely. He’s done it just twice since 2016, and needs to throw a complete game this week at SEA even to come close (He’s sitting at 87.1 IP right now).
20	Nick Pivetta	SD			4 2/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 2.81. It’s kind of funny (not really) when I look at a line like Pivetta’s and think, “If he finished 6 or 7 innings, this wouldn’t have looked so bad”. Ya, and if I had wings and a horn on my forehead, I’d be a Pegasus. (And a pretty hairy one at that).
21	Joe Ryan	MIN			It’s been a Green Day kind of month for Joe Ryan. In his last three starts, he’s matched his innings with his earned runs (11), and allowed double the baserunners (22). Wake him up when September ends.
22	Cade Horton	CHC			5 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.66. His post-All-Star break numbers have been otherworldly: 58 1/3 IP, 52 Ks, 0.93 ERA, 0.79 WHIP. A ridiculous second half that likely will push him way up the 2026 draft boards.
23	Nolan McLean	NYM			5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and another no-decision. He’s winless in his last three games, but it’s not because of any ineptitude. He allowed just 2 ER in those games (16.1 innings). The walks aren’t perfect, but that’s a minor concern if he’s giving us good strikeout totals too. I’d start him at MIA this week, and he’s going to be on a lot of people’s sleeper lists in 2026.
24	Shota Imanaga	CHC			“5 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 3.37. WHIP at 0.96. Spencer Steer (19), Miguel Andujar (10), and Matt McLain (15) took Shota deep in this one and chased him after 5 innings. Porter Hodge gave up Steer’s second dinger and ultimately took the L (his 2nd).”
25	Sonny Gray	STL			“6 IP, 1 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks, and his 14th win. ERA at 4.33. If you’re brave enough to ride the Sonny Gray roller coaster, you’d better have double seatbelts and a reinforced helmet before he hits a wall again. (He’s at SF next week.)”
26	Kyle Bradish	BAL			6 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 9 Ks, and the no-decision. Baltimore ended up losing to the Yankees 7-1, but it wasn’t because of Bradish. He was excellent once again.
27	Quinn Priester	MLW			5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 3.25. It’s Jeopardy time! The clue: An excellent starter for the Brewers and a Catholic clergyman who is better than his peers. *buzz* What is a Priester?
28	Kevin Gausman	TOR			6 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks, and the no-decision. This was Gausman’s 4th straight QS, and a great sign that the goose is firing on all cylinders as we head into the playoffs.
29	Ranger Suarez	PHI			4 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks at ARI. Ouch. This one snapped a modest three-game quality start streak for Ranger.
30	Framber Valdez	HOU			More below.
31	Drew Rasmussen	TB			“3 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks. ERA at 2.80. He went 5+ innings in his last 10 GS. And NOW they’re going to manage his innings? He was pulled after getting 9 outs on 76 pitches.”
32	Shohei Ohtani	LAD			5 IP, 0 ER, 0 hits, 1 walk, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.29 for Start #1! EDIT: There was no second start. Emmett Sheehan threw yesterday instead (more below).
33	Gavin Williams	CLE			More below.
34	Jonah Tong	NYM			5 IP, 0 ER, 4 hits, 8 Ks, ERA at 5.94. Jonah had a whale of a start against SD last week. It was a tiny whale (only 5 innings), but we’ll take the oxymoron.
35	Shane Bieber	TOR			6.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks. The Jays couldn’t do much against Noah Cameron, so Bieber came up short in a 2-1 loss. He gets TB at home this week for one last tune-up before the playoffs.
36	Noah Cameron	KC			6.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks, and his 9th win. Back-to-back wins and 3 QS in his last three starts. He finishes up the season at Bing Bong this week, but I’d still run him out there.
37	Eury Perez	MIA			5 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, zero walks, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.40. I’ve said it before, but there’s a handful of players out there that fantasy managers like to clutch pearls for. Lucas Giolito is one of them. Sandy Alcantara is another. But the Eury-heads are some of the most loyal (read crazy) of them all. That said, this was an encouraging start after a bit of a rough patch.
38	Jesus Luzardo	PHI			7 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and another one who got roughed up by the Dodgers. The strikeouts are still top tier, though.
39	Luis Castillo	SEA			6 IP, 0 ER, 3 hits, zero walks, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.63. The Ks aren’t great (he’s averaged 4.5 a game over his last 10 starts), but he’s thrown three straight QS.
40	Ryan Pepiot	TB			1 2/3 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 3.77. I bet you didn’t know that “Pepiot” is French for “Womp Womp”. (Don’t Google translate it, though.)
41	Brady Singer	CIN			5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.86. He was one out away from his 7th consecutive QS.
42	Jacob Misiorowski	MLW			“3.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks. ERA at 4.38. I assumed this was another early hook due to “management”, but The Miz threw 77 pitches, so it wasn’t exactly an easy cruise through the Cards’ lineup.”
43	Merrill Kelly	TEX			Took the loss yesterday, his second in a row. 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks wasn’t as bad as the 3-inning debacle at HOU two weeks ago, but this one stung a bit, too.
44	Robbie Ray	SF			“4.2 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks, 3 HR allowed, and his 11th loss. That’s 10 ER in his last two starts (total) over 8.2 innings against the LA Dodgers, aka The Avengers. The good news is Ray won’t have to worry about starting against that superhero squad again this year. The bad news is that it’s because the Giants are likely missing the playoffs.”
45	Lucas Giolito	BOS			4 1/3 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 3.46. I went from being fully out on Giolito in the preseason to accepting that he’s almost all the way back to an upper-tier status partway through the year. Now? I’d still classify him as a Top 40-50 SP, but I don’t know if he sniffs the ace tier ever again.
46	Brayan Bello	BOS			4 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.34. Three-four? At least it’s not sixxxx-sevennnnn.
47	Nick Lodolo	CIN			“4.2 IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks on 94 pitches. ERA at 3.44. The Cubs made him work last night, and the outcome wasn’t great. The strikeouts are nice, but I felt better about dropping him for a streaming hitter spot a few days ago in the Perts league after I saw this.”
48	Dylan Cease	SD			“6 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 6 Ks, and his 12th loss. ERA at 4.64. WHIP at 1.31. This guy never Ceases to amaze me with how many times he can disappoint fantasy managers in one season. He’s 8-12, and we can’t even start him in what looks like it should’ve been a cookie matchup. I know CWS isn’t as bad as they were last year, but come on. You’re supposed to be a top-tier starter, and this is what you do in a homecoming game?”
49	Cam Schlittler	NYY			4 2/3 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 3.41. I started him last week, but it was either that or Chris Bassitt. Oof.
50	Matthew Boyd	CHC			3 IP, 4 ER, ERA at 3.20. This is similar to what I said about deGrom above. When an ER punch-up over a low inning count pushes the ERA up to a still respectable number, it’s easy to write it off as a hiccup.
51	Will Warren	NYY			“5.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and his 8th loss. ERA at 4.35. The only real mistake he made was on the solo homer to Ryan Mountcastle. You can’t blame him for the loss, especially since he faced one of the top SPs from the second half.”
52	Spencer Strider	ATL			5 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 6 Ks, and FINALLY a bit of a glimpse of his old self. He’s got a nice little streak of 5 games without allowing more than 3 ER in each. Small victories are still victories.
53	Jack Flaherty	DET			5 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.60. I streamed him in Perts for this one! It would’ve been nice to see a few more Ks, but I’ll take a pretty clean outing from him as a streamer.
54	Casey Mize	DET			5.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 5 Ks, and his 6th loss. Don’t tell the Tigers fans, though. They’re still celebrating the Charlie Morton DFA.
55	Emmett Sheehan	LAD			7 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 10 Ks, and the no-decision. Wait, what?! You mean to tell me that Emmett Sheehan pitched his best game EVER, and the DODGERS couldn’t score more than ONE RUN against SF? Wow. That’s almost as irritating as this sticky CAPS LOCK key.
56	Tanner Bibee	CLE			6 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.34. In September, his ERA is 1.24 in 21 2/3 IP with 21 Ks. That last part is from Grey’s Friday morning write-up, but would you look at that magical MarmosDad?! Last week, I called the Yesavage greatness, the Tyler Wells goodness, and highlighted Hit Me Bibee One More Time all in the same Top 100 write-up. Now if only I could foresee other stuff…like where I’m going to put my car keys or my glasses so that I don’t have to search the house for a half hour when I’m leaving for the day…then that would really be something.
57	Justin Verlander	SF			7 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.75. Four of his last five starts have been quality starts, and he’s allowed just 3 ER over those 31 IP. Atta boy, JV. Proving the theory that it just takes a bit of time for us oldies to warm up. (Like, 4-5 months).
58	Zac Gallen	ARI			7 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 9 Ks, and lucky number 13 in the win column. It was a tale of two shitties in this one. Aaron Nola is headed in one direction, and Gallen is in sync. 8 of his last 10 starts have been a QS.
59	Clayton Kershaw	LAD			More below.
60	Ryne Nelson	ARI			“5 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 K. ERA at 3.35. We had a lot of starters who didn’t go a full 6 innings last night, and Nelson was no exception. If he’d gotten 6 more outs, that line would be a lot more palatable.”
61	Max Scherzer	TOR			“0.2 IP, 7 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks, and his 3rd loss. Oh, Max. What a Min start. This was just the beginning of the Royal Crap-kicking that the Jays took on Friday night in a 20-1 debacle. As for Scherzer, he gave up the same number of homers as the number of outs he recorded. Ouch. At least he didn’t get hurt.”
62	Mitch Keller	PIT			“5 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks, and his 15th loss. ERA at 4.22. Mr. Quality Start from the first half has turned into Mr. Crappy Start in the second half. He’s thrown just 2 QS in his last 10 games and has two wins since July 28th.”
63	Jack Leiter	TEX			5.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks. ERA at 3.92. Back-to-back losses, and it looks like we cursed him by highlighting him last week. His 144 IP had already passed his career high (110 IP in 2021), so this might just be a case of him gearing down for the end of the season. He goes to CLE this week.
64	Tyler Wells	BAL			6 IP, 1 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 4 Ks, ERA at 2.04. CONFIRMATION BIAS FOR THE WIN! Tyler makes good on my faith in him from last week’s “All’s Wells That Ends Wells” lede, and makes it a cool 2-for-2 in Marmo-recommendations. (And you know I typed this up, still worried about the Bibee start on Thursday). A big boost today.
65	Luis Morales	ATH			6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and a tough luck loss at PIT. The only damage was two solo homers to Bryan Reynolds (OK) and Nick Yorke (UGH). It wasn’t Morales’ fault that his offense had to face Bubba Chandler.
66	Sandy Alcantara	MIA			6 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 5.48. It took a really long time for him to right the ship, but that should mean a draft day bargain for 2026, so we can’t complain too much (unless you rostered him this year and he sunk your ratios in July).
67	Bubba Chandler	PIT			5 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, and his 3rd win. If this is a sneak peek of what’s to come next year, we should be very excited. He moves way up today now that we know he isn’t sitting in the bullpen.
68	Yusei Kikuchi	LAA			5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 4.05. Looks like we have a new candidate for the Mayor of MehVille election. Co-mayors Sonny Grey and Michael Wacha had better step up their campaigns.
69	Yu Darvish	SD			He’s pitched 6+ innings just three times in his last 10 GS. The 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 K line at CWS on Saturday wasn’t terrible, but he looks tired. He gets tagged with a dump today.
70	Luis Gil	NYY			4.2 IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks. Hey, at least he only walked two? *dodges rotten tomato*
71	Hurston Waldrep	ATL			5 IP, 3 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.04. Waldrep! Not just what you end up with when you put too much paint on your brush for that home improvement project!
72	David Peterson	NYM			5 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 3.98. Oh man. I thought “Petering out” meant that it was losing steam slowly. This guy fully blew up (in a bad way).
73	Zack Littell	CIN			He broke a 7-game streak of no-decisions with his 10th win on Saturday night. 5 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks. ERA at 3.86. Be careful this week, though. He pitches at MLW.
74	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI			More below.
75	Connelly Early	BOS			5 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 0.87. I can’t read his last name without hearing Juliette Lewis’s voice from Natural Born Killers in my head. But that’s likely just a “me” problem.
76	Slade Cecconi	CLE	N/R		He got smoked at Fenway on September 2nd, but has been stellar in three starts since then. He’s allowed just 2 ER and 6 H in his last 20.2 IP with 5 BB and 15 Ks. I’d start him at TEX this week. He deserves to be among the other Top 100 SPs.
77	Colin Rea	CHC	N/R		Last week, I said he was likely overdue to be moved back in. Jose Quintana’s injury solved that problem for me.
78	Luis Severino	ATH			“5 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks, and his 7th win. ERA at 4.72. This was a nice bounce-back for his first win since a ‘short IL stint’ turned into one that cost him almost all of August.”
79	Michael McGreevy	STL			7 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.08. I mentioned last week that I was close to dropping him off the list until I took a closer look at his last three starts. He’s been as good as we could have asked for since the recall. Anything from here on out is McGravy.
80	Tyler Mahle	TEX	N/R		“4.2 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks. ERA at 2.20. Mahle threw 68 pitches in his first game in 3 months (shoulder strain). I’m sure Texas planned on using the bullpen last night, but I’m not so sure they expected to be headed into the bottom of the 12th inning with their 9th pitcher of the night. Oof.”
81	Parker Messick	CLE			“5.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 9 Ks, and the no-decision. I’ve hemmed and hawed about moving Messick up the Top 100 Starting Pitchers list for a couple of weeks now, but this is prime “What have you done for me lately!” time, and last night he came two outs away from posting his 5th quality start (in 6 GS). It’s time to ride the hot hand.”
82	Jason Alexander	HOU			He pitched a clean inning yesterday while I was editing!
83	Andrew Abbott	CIN			4 2/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 2.88. Grey said it best: Abbott is running on fumes and out of gas at this point, and we can’t really be upset about the recent downturn. He threw a career high 156 innings this year (18 more than his highest total), and gave us more than we expected when we drafted/added him.
84	Cole Ragans	KC			3 2/3 IP, 2 ER, ERA at 5.16. If you listen closely near the open windows of Roto-homes, you can hear the faint cry of “I stashed him for 3 months for THIS?!”
85	Cade Cavalli	WSH			More below.
86	Ryan Weathers	MIA			4 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.21. He couldn’t finish 6 innings in Colorado? I guess that thin air and elevation affected more than the climate patterns, Weathers we like it or not.
87	Trey Yesavage	TOR	N/R		More above!
88	MacKenzie Gore	WSH			5 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.00. I  hope he has two good starts at the end of the season with a dozen strikeouts in each, just to dupe the fantasy football folks into drafting him early next year when they see those inflated K numbers.
89	Logan Allen	CLE	N/R		8 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks, and his 8th win. ERA at 4.14. It’s mostly due to the Manhandling in Minnesota that puts him on the list now, but I’d start him vs TEX this week, too.
90	Adrian Houser	TB			6 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 2 Ks. Two straight quality starts and two consecutive no-decisions for the Roto-Realtor (trademark pending).
91	Clay Holmes	NYM			Pitched out of the bullpen yesterday. 3.2 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks is fine, but it isn’t helping those of us looking for wins.
92	Michael King	SD			3 IP, 8 ER, ERA at 3.84. Oh no. The king wears a crown of crap in this one. I’d still start him this week, though (at CWS and vs ARI).
93	Brandon Sproat	NYM	N/R		“4 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks, and the no-decision. ERA at 3.94. The 1.19 WHIP is fine, and the ERA isn’t overly disgusting. I’d be wary about starting him at CHC next week, though.”
94	Aaron Nola	PHI			5.1 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and his 10th loss. ERA at 6.46. The hits are up, the strikeouts are down, and he’s allowed 4+ earned runs in 7 of his last 9 starts. Nola? Ya, throw this guy some beads and banish him to New Orleans already.
95	Cristian Javier	HOU			6 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.45. And OF COURSE he throws a quality start after I question if the Astros’ doctors fixed him up properly.
96	Bryce Miller	SEA			5 IP, 3 ER, 10 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 5.58. It wasn’t excellent, but it didn’t hurt as much as it could have. I started him based on the matchup (at KC), and he gave up all three runs in the first before settling in. That was the encouraging news. It would’ve been nice to squeeze a few more Ks out of him, though. He’s a Streamonator darling this week, though!
97	Zebby Matthews	MIN			3 IP, 9 ER, ERA at 5.97. I didn’t think we could get a worse line than Michael King’s, but Zebby took the cream of the crap title last week.
98	Chase Burns	CIN	N/R		The good news is he’s back. The bad news is he’s pitched out of the bullpen since his return.
99	Bailey Ober	MIN			5 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 1 K. ERA at 5.32. Don’t worry, kids, it’s almost Ober. To be honest, the only reason I kept him here was to use the pun. He pitches at PHI this week, so he’s a great play in those leagues where you get points when your starters get shellacked.
100	Shane Smith	CWS			4 1/3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 4.06. I tell the kids all the time, “If you don’t want to get stung, don’t stick your hand in the beehive.” Shane Smith is the SP100 version of the beehive. Get your honey elsewhere.

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

Gavin Williams – 5 IP, 0 ER, 3 hits, 2 walks, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.06. I’ll go over my preseason predictions at some point after the season is done, but this one worried me for most of the year. I had Gavin Williams as my most valuable fantasy pitcher, and he was “drop-worthy” until turning it around in the second half. He’s allowed more than 3 ER just once in his last 13 starts, but I still won’t want to roster him next year until he can prove that he’s fixed the control problems.

Clayton Kershaw – I had a feeling this was coming, but Kersh made it official last week. He’s officially hanging up the cleats at the end of the season. The guy’s resume speaks for itself, so the only questions left to ask are, “Does he go out with one last World Series win?” And “What year is he eligible for the Hall of Fame?” No matter what, I’ll give the guy even more props for not sticking around another year for a ‘retirement tour’. I found this clip from his mound walk last week, too. Pretty cool stuff.

A standing ovation for Clayton Kershaw before his final regular season start at Dodger Stadium ?

(? @MLB )pic.twitter.com/xlkqP5zBsO

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 20, 2025

Brandon Pfaadt – 9 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 1 walk, 7 Ks, ERA at 5.02. I don’t even know what to say here. If you’re a glutton for punishment, you get to enjoy these beams of light that occasionally sneak through the shadows. And this one was a tractor-trailer blast of high beams. The other baffling stat from this game? Pfaadt pitched a complete game shutout, allowed just two baserunners, got the no decision (!), and somehow the D-Backs lost 5-1. WTpF?

Cade Cavalli – 5 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks. ERA at 4.23. Four straight 5-inning outings, but that’s ok for a rookie pitcher. Building stamina will be the offseason baby steps for this guy. I was going to call him a kid, but I was a bit surprised when I looked him up and saw that he’s 27 years old. Which, of course, made me think of this.

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

Framber Valdez – 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 4 Ks, and his 4th straight loss. We already used the “I wonder if he blamed this one on his catcher, too” joke two weeks ago, and now it’s gotten to the point where I’d be concerned if I were an Astros fan. He’s given up 19 ER in his last 4 starts (20.2 innings), and his 7-inning shutout against Colorado on August 27th sticks out like a good thumb on a hand full of broken digits (that’s how the saying goes, no?). With this tailspin he’s on, I’d even consider sitting him at LAA this week.

Brandon Woodruff –  5 IP, 1 ER, 2 hits, zero walks, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.20. Smoother than a sandpapered baseball bat. Because no one likes that wood rough. EDIT: Removed from the list with the announcement that he’s been placed on the 15-day IL with a lat strain.

Pablo Lopez – “4 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks on 61 pitches before being removed with forearm tightness. Apparently, it was more about him landing on the arm after diving for a ball, so at least it wasn’t from throwing, but I’d monitor him here before starting him next week at TEX.” That was from my Friday night roundup. Then on Sunday morning the Twins announced he was headed to the IL with a “mild right forearm strain”. Oof.

Chris Bassitt – There’s a theme here today! 4 1/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.96. There’s been some hushed chatter that Bassitt will head to the bullpen for the playoffs, Eric Lauer will be left off the roster, and Trey Yesavage will be a middle reliever after a 4-man rotation of Gausman, Scherzer, Bieber, and Berrios. It’s never a bad thing to have starting pitching depth. EDIT: Headed to the IL with lower back inflammation. He should be back for the playoffs, though.

Jeffrey Springs – 4 IP, 0 ER, ERA at 4.17. Guess who didn’t get the win? Again. His last W was July 30th. Buh bye.

Taj Bradley – 4 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 5.20. He’s not in the list to dump down, but it warranted a mention. I would’ve loved to make a joke about how we were gifted with a beautiful start from this mighty soul of mischief, Taj-Eh, but, yet again, he was more Taj-Eff. As in, are you going to draft him in 2026? Taj? Eff that.

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

Dean Kremer

Cade Povich 

Brandon Young

Jake Irvin

Joey Cantillo – 5 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.27. I added him in my AL-Only for a couple of weeks mid-season before he was sent down, and I needed to drop him for an active body. He’ll likely make the long list for 2026 SP sleepers.

Mick Abel

Eduardo Rodriguez

Jameson Taillon

Tyler Anderson

Brad Lord

Tomoyuki Sugano

Landen Roupp

Javier Assad

Michael Wacha

Taj Bradley

Stephen Kolek

Ian Seymour 

Walker Buehler

Bryce Elder 

Kyle Harrison – 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks, and the no-decision. So Boston traded for this guy at the deadline, and his first start for them was September 20th? Good thing the Sox kept running Walker Buehler out in August instead of bringing this kid up. Smh. He’s a Stumper for now, but he’ll crack the Top 100 in 2026 if he can break camp with the team.

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)

Spencer Schwellenbach

Shane McClanahan 

Jared Jones

Gerrit Cole

Justin Steele

John Means

Grant Holmes

Griffin Canning

Reese Olson

Grayson Rodriguez

Jackson Jobe

Andrew Painter

Tylor Megill

Clarke Schmidt

Logan Henderson

Corbin Burnes

Max Meyer

Zack Wheeler 

Edward Cabrera

Kodai Senga 

Spencer Arrighetti

Seth Lugo

WHEE (New arrivals to the list this week)

Tyler Wells

Tyler Mahle 

Brandon Sproat

Slade Cecconi

Trey Yesavage

Logan Allen

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

Pablo Lopez – IL 

Brandon Woodruff – IL

Jose Berrios – moved to the bullpen, but with the Bassitt injury, it might not be for long.

Ryan Bergert – IL

Payton Tolle – shifted to the bullpen

Jose Soriano – IL with a right forearm contusion

Chris Bassitt – IL with lower back tightness

 

That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it!

I’m not sure if this is the last edition of the 2025 Top 100 Starting Pitchers list or not, but if it is, I wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you to Grey, Rudy, and Truss for having me back again this year. It was a blast, and I hope you all had as much fun as I did.

Thanks to all of you who read just once, or kept coming back to check things out every week. I appreciate every single one of you more than you know!

If you miss me too much before we start back up in late January, come see me on the Hockey side here at Razzball. I’ll be writing over there to keep my fingers warm during the inevitable frosty Canadian winter.

Have a great week and good luck if you’re still fighting for that title!

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