Top 20 Starters for 2026 Fantasy Baseball

The royal we already went over all the hitters for 2026 fantasy baseball rankings. That’s not the “royal we” as that term usually implies. It was me writing it alone while wearing a Burger King crown. I refuse to draft a top starter where they are usually drafted. Unlike hitters, you need six starters, depending on your league depth. In most leagues, there’s a ton of pitchers on waivers that can help you — all year. Not just in April. With the help of the Stream-o-Nator, you can get by with, say, three starters while streaming the rest. (By the by, Razzball Subscriptions are now open. Early subscribers get Rudy’s War Room, which I haven’t drafted without in about seven years, and it’s worth the price of a subscription alone.) There’s also the fact that three stats by starters are difficult to predict due to luck. Wins, ERA and WHIP are prone to change, depending on which way the ball bounces and whether or not the guys behind the pitchers can score runs or play defense. Finally, the best starters only give you four categories. The best hitters can give you five categories. Here’s Steamer’s 2026 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2026 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. Anyway, here’s the top 20 starters for 2026 fantasy baseball:

NOTE I: All my rankings are currently available on Patreon for the price of a Starbucks coffee, if you get one of those extra grande frappuccino jobbers. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out over the next month, and get them all now.

NOTE II: Free agents are listed as just that and not yet projected. Once a guy signs, I will write out their blurb and add in projections, or remove them, if they sign in an unfavorable place. They are ranked currently where I think they might be if they sign on for a full-time job.

1. Tarik Skubal –  Went over him in the top 20 for 2026 fantasy baseball.

2. Paul Skenes – Went over him in the top 20 for 2026 fantasy baseball.

3. Garrett Crochet – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Yamamoto. I call this tier, “Hanging out with Neil, Patrick, Harris.” I do the rankings and write-ups in the order you see them: top 10, top 20, then catchers and around the horn. I tell you this to try to properly express how excited I am to finally get to talk about pitchers. Imagine you’re 75 words into a blurb about Jake Meyers and you’re like, “Can I please just write about velocity for, like, ten minutes?” I know I have the best pitcher rankings — ACKSUALLY Fantasy Pros said I had the best Fantasy Baseball rankings in 2024 and 2nd best last year, which I tell ya because my arms are too short to reach my back — and I wonder if it’s not slightly because I’m so eager to dig into pitching after a month of my time writing about hitting. Yes, what you read over the course of two weeks takes me twice as long. Any hoo! Pitching! *breathes in* Smell it up, baby! Smell it up! It smells great, right? It sure does! Okay, now don’t draft any of the guys in this tier. Allow me to explain.

Your buddy tells you to meet him at this place, because Neil Patrick Harris is gonna be there, and you’re like, “Holy crap, Doogie Howser, that’s amazing!” You rush over there with some memorabilia for him to sign that you plan on keeping and not immediately putting on eBay because you are a stan, as the kids say, though the kids would know him from How I Met Your Mother and not Doogie Howser, but alas! So, you get there, and it’s three guys named Neil, Patrick and Harris. That disappointment is what you will have when you draft one of the guys in this tier. (I keep my pitching tier names the same year after year, so I can transfer my pitchers’ pairing tool easily. You’ll get over your outrage.)

So, to continue the diatribe I give every year, if these starters were to fall in drafts to where I’m willing to draft a starter, I will draft any and/or all of them. It’s not about them as much as it’s about their draft slot. Sure, I have actual problems with some starters, which I’ll get to, but if any of the guy in this tier (or Skubal or Skenes) fell to around 50th overall in a draft? Sure, at that point, you have to draft one, because I would be drafting a starter by then. (Thank you for not laughing too loud when I said Skenes or Skubal (or any of these guys) would fall to pick 50.) For unstints, I always draft a starter around 50th overall (give or take ten picks, depending on size of league and rules), so if I’m in a draft with eleven other Greys and we’re sitting there discussing boba and how we’re totally Swifties and just general BS’ing, and all of us forget to draft a starter, I’d draft Skubal at 50th overall, then Skenes, then Crochet, then Yamamoto. So, this is a ranking of my starters, it’s just unrealistic for me to say I’m actually drafting these guys. They’ll be gone before I’m willing to draft a starter. Yes, I love the pitchers in this tier. They are great. There, I said it. But I will never roster them. You’ve read some form of this before from me. The names change, but it’s same general gist. By the way, my high school band, General Gist, was so rocking in the general vicinity of a crowd!

Last year, this tier I told you to avoid was: Skenes, Skubal and Wheeler. Skubal and Skenes were great, Wheeler injured. The year before this tier was Strider and Cole, who were travesties that year. Pitchers are just too fickle.

Last year if you rostered Cristopher Sanchez, Carlos Rodon, Freddy Peralta, Ranger Suarez and Nathan Eovaldi, you would’ve walked away with your league’s pitching categories and not drafted any top starters. Am I cherrypicking? Yes, just like you could’ve cherrypicked last year’s pitchers based on my suggestions!

You could’ve had Cristopher Sanchez, Carlos Rodon, Freddy Peralta, Ranger Suarez and Nathan Eovaldi and not drafted one starter before 50th overall.

Yes, I brought out the repeat in bold to emphasize.

In some leagues, you could do fine NOT drafting ANY starters. Yes, I brought out the caps.

I’m not only talking about H2H leagues where you can carry only relievers. I’m talking 10 or 12-team roto leagues, where you can stream starters. Maybe you roster one starter and stream five spots. Maybe you roster two guys and stream four spots. Maybe you drink seven cups of coffee and stream all day. Even if you want to draft an entire rotation and hold them (or try to), you don’t need a guy from this tier. There’s plenty of options later to fill out your rotation so you’re competitive in leagues where you can’t stream. I’m not suggesting you Reggie Roby starters. I’m telling you to Reggie Roby top starters. Concentrate on your hitting while these guys are being drafted.

It’s like this every year. Without fail. In the preseason, everyone will be telling you that you need a top starter, some people might even tell you that you need two top starters. What they never say, or purposely fail to mention is how every year there’s starters in the “top starters” who weren’t there a year ago, so you could’ve had a top starter without paying for one. I told you to draft Hunter Brown in every league last year; draft Freddy Peralta, I said; Cristopher Sanchez, I drafted, and told you to; I loved Carlos Rodon and Eovaldi, two guys who finished in the top 20 starters last year who you could’ve grabbed everywhere. You could’ve had Matthew Boyd in every single league, if you wanted him. Every year I tell you which starters to draft later, then the following year all of those starters are in the top 20. You think this is an accident? Just luck? Look at my rankings from previous years. You didn’t need Skubal or Skenes or others last year, and you don’t need the guys I tell you to avoid this year.

There’s dozens of starters to roster, and you need at most six. For whatever reason, everyone forgets how many starters are available later. Nathan Eovaldi was barely drafted and he was the 14th best starter last year! 14th best starter overall! (I included him in my starters sleepers last year to grab late, by the way, and natch.) People always tell you that you need a starter in the 1st couple of rounds. You do not.

I’m being 100% serious when I tell you that if someone tells you that you need a top starter, you should question everything they tell you. If they tell you to draft two aces, then you should make an anonymous call for help. They need it.

As for Crochet, I nearly ranked him in the top 20 overall. He’s as good as Skenes and Skubal. Also, I told you to draft Crochet last year, if he fell. Though, I’m not victory lapping that one, because drafting Crochet as late as 45 overall was likely a pipe dream. I ain’t doing pipe dreams, my main homeys. I’m doing realistic triangles. On the top peak of the realistic triangle, it says, “Me.” On the bottom left of the realistic triangle, it says, “Sorry.” On the bottom right of the realistic triangle, it says, “Sucker.” As in, Me on top and Sorry, Sucker. I know what you’re thinking, “Ooh, I can turn the realistic triangle and it will have Me on bottom and “Sorry” on the top and “Sucker” on the other side, and read, “Sorry, Sucker Me.” No, you can’t turn the triangle. These are realistic triangle and are permanently nailed to the ground. They don’t turn! Wait, what the hell was I talking about? Oh, yeah, Crochet, he had a 11.2 K/9, 2 BB/9, and it was in 205 1/3 IP. Yeah, he’s basically Skubal and Skenes. Might even be better than Skenes, but Fenway deducts some points, due to the park, BABIP and what it means for WHIP, and, well, there’s nothing wrong with him, but I’m not drafting him, so let’s move on. 2026 Projections: 15-4/2.49/1.01/264 in 208 IP

4. Yoshinobu Yamamoto – Remember where I wrote:

You could’ve had Cristopher Sanchez, Carlos Rodon, Freddy Peralta, Ranger Suarez and Nathan Eovaldi and not drafted one starter before 50th overall?

I hope so, I just freakin’ wrote it. Anyway, where I wrote:

You could’ve had Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Carlos Rodon, Freddy Peralta, Ranger Suarez and Nathan Eovaldi and not drafted one starter before 50th overall.

I removed Yamamoto because I’m being generous and trying to be as accurate as possible. I don’t remember Yamamoto’s ADP, so maybe he wasn’t available after 50. I drafted him in multiple leagues last year, so it was likely that he was draftable. Remember, he was coming off a kinda meh 2024. That’s the whole point of these early starter rankings. The only thing to take away here in these first four starters is how fickle these guys are. They’re like Derek Turnbow. Not Derek Turnbow, the former Brewers’ closer, but Derek Turnbow on the new season of Stranger Things. He hated them, then he was brought in on the kids’ plan and guess what, he liked them. Fickle, man! ACKSUALLY, the ex-Brewers’ closer, Derek Turnbow, was fickle too. They’re all fickle! Every Derek Turnbow! Just like these starters! Yamamoto could be the 4th best starter or the 40th. Same with all of these guys. That’s not to say my rankings suck; starters are just unpredictable. It’s like this every year.

As for Yamamoto, he might be even more fickle than the first three because I’m giving him a bunch of wins — perhaps the ficklest of categories — and Yamamoto’s peripherals are by far the worst of the top four starters (still good, but not the first three guys). 2026 Projections: 17-5/2.56/0.98/211 in 177 IP

5. Hunter Brown – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Sanchez. I call this tier, “Fill my holes with dry rice to reduce moistness.” I imagine by now you are moist for starters. Well, before you fill your holes with dry rice to reduce moistness, I have a special treat for you:  You can begin to draft starters. See, that wasn’t too long, was it? Great, I didn’t think so either, and I could tell you were overflowing with moistness, so I’m happy to tell you starters are now available. But you might want to chew on a sanitary napkin or rub deodorant on your forehead, because it might actually be longer before you can draft a starter. Here’s the thing, and, yes, there’s always a thing. I will absolutely draft someone in this tier, but I won’t reach for them. If they make it to around 50 overall, or under $30 in auctions, then I’d happily draft one to reduce my moistness, and remove the dry rice from my holes. See, I don’t punt all starters, just the very top ones. Just don’t reach for one of these guys.

As for Brown, it’s worth saying that if he’s drafted at, like, 35 overall, then you will not draft him. You should wait until around pick 45 or so. Do dot dot. So, if you’re in a snake draft and you have pick, say, 43 and don’t draft again until pick 54, it’s fine to wait if very few starters have been drafted, but if a few starters are off the board and you need to draft a starter at pick 43, then by all means. Will Brown be there? I see his max pick is after pick 50, so maybe. It’s impossible to say. I doubt he’s available, but, with caveats, you can draft him if he is.

As for Brown (really this time), his perfs might even be better than Yamamoto. Nearly pushed him up a slot, but Yamamoto’s O-Contact was nearly 10% better and, while a lower Z-Contact% does more for my nethers, their Z-Contact’s were close to a push. Brown threw less pitches in the zone; almost the least amount of pitches in the zone behind FreddyKBB, Cease and Rodon, and had a higher Contact% than Yoshi. It’s splitting hairs. 2026 Projections: 14-7/2.58/1.01/212 in 186 IP

6. Bryan Woo – I love Woo. I am a fan of excitement, and I have excitement for Woo. I am woo for Woo. With this ranking, you Woo’d think it. ERA is goofy, but the top 12 for ERA over the last two years wasn’t goofy:

It’s almost like if a guy has great stuff, that it doesn’t matter how goofy ERA is as a stat. If you’re good, you’ll pitch to a good ERA. (Skenes’s is so hilarious.) I cut it off at two years for two good reasons. One, we’d lose Woo if I pushed it to three years, and more importantly is if you push this list to three years you lose all kinds of guys and gain pitchers like Michael King, Gerrit Cole and Blake Snell. That tells me once again how fickle pitching is. I hope all these guys are healthy and great in 2026, but there’s gonna be at least ten guys from this top 20 that are either not good or hurt. As for Woo, he excels in one of my favorite categories to look at for pitching, the category that I say, if you lose your pitching ranks right before the draft, you can look at this stat and just draft based on it: K-BB%. 2026 Projections: 13-9/2.86/0.96/204 in 194 IP

7. Cristopher Sanchez – Ya know what’s interesting about the graphic above, and how I said a three years sample size starts to get goofy? Sanchez would be 9th best for ERA if you moved it to three years. Sanchez became better last year, thanks to velocity increase, but he wasn’t bad the previous years thanks to elite K-BB, and mostly elite BB/9. As I said back when the pitch clock was first instituted, we’re gonna find that elite walk rates are more important than strikeouts, and, now with hindsight, I think I was right on. When you have The Naylor 27, the pitch clock turned every walk into a double, so keeping guys off base became even more important. Kinda wonder what some elite guys of the past would look like with the pitch clock. You think young Cy Young Scherzer would be a Cy guy every year with the pitch clock? Randy Johnson? I don’t know, maybe. Any hoo! I’d happily draft Sanchez in every league. 2026 Projections: 12-6/2.84/1.04/196 in 192 IP

8. Hunter Greene – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Fried. I call this tier, “Eat your ideal lover’s weight in cookie dough.” The tier name is a self-help tip. Much like any pizza can be a personal pan pizza with some dedication. Or wait until midnight on Valentine’s Day, go to Wal-Mart and buy 50% off candy so you can gorge yourself. Another self-help tip for a person is drafting a starting pitcher. So, stop reading, Who Moved My String Cheese, get off your butt and draft a starter! Now!

Quick check-in on where we are with starters, there’s not a ton of starters to reduce moistness in the previous tier, but there are a lot of cookie doughs. I think that’s because pitchers are so damn fluky right now, that I just can’t get behind pushing them to reduce moistness, but I can see going with one in the cookies, because this tier is more, “Well, ya gotta draft one at some point, so why not now?” The tier of “Sure, what the heck” vs. the tier of “Sure as heck.”

As for Greene, I want to draft him everywhere. I’m about to get stupid and draft him in an AL-Only in case the Reds trade him. Greene has Skenes or Skubal peripherals; he just needs to stay on the field and healthy. Now, you might think, there’s no chance of that happening with Greene. I don’t know. Maybe. That feels like a misnomer. If a guy throws 200 innings last year or throws 107 2/3 IP like Greene, the guy who threw less is more of a risk? I don’t think it works like that. This is anecdotal, but I look at drafting starters like musical chairs. You grab a starter that you like and ride them out, and hope you get out on them before the music stops or you’re stuck with an injured pitcher. Skenes, Skubal, etc. seem indestructible and healthy, until they’re not. See Zack Wheeler, Spencer Strider, Gerrit Cole, as a few examples from the last few years. Or look at the graphic in the top 20 for Skenes. It should send a chill up your spine. 2026 Projections: 10-9/2.81/0.98/203 in 167 IP

9. Logan Gilbert – So, debated where to rank Gilbert for about forty-five minutes. Looked at everything, but it kept coming back to ‘elbow issue in April’ vs. what he did when he came back. Had him as high as 4th starter overall to here. This is as low as I went with him, and decided to stop here. He returned in June, and, while he wasn’t touching 96+ MPH on average like he was the previous year, he was hitting 95.5 MPH and it’s his splitter that puts fear into hitters and that was fine after his return. Think I might actually be the low man on Logan, but I just couldn’t get past the elbow thing to move him up. He is still firmly in a tier where I would draft him. Just has more of the caveat “depends on the price” than some of the guys above him. Everything is gorge, besides the elbow issue. The perfs are some of the best you’re gonna find. 2026 Projections: 12-8/3.19/1.02/197 in 183 IP

10. Logan Webb – This guy is a great example of what I was saying with Greene. Does Webb really have better chance of staying healthy because he has been? I don’t know. We’ll see, I guess. Webb’s also a great example of my Lifetime ADP. Was Webb barely a top 25 starter last year? Is he really a top 10 starter this year? Or is he just always the 20th best starter and our perceptions alter slightly every year? Or am I smoking too much weed? No, if the latter was true, I would’ve said Logan Webb sounds like Wolverine and Spiderman’s adoptive son. In fairness to our constantly changing perceptions on Webb, one year he’s a 8+ K/9, then 7.6 then 9.7. What’s your truth?! Prolly somewhere in the middle. The positive and why he never falls dramatically in value is he has great command. Once again: BB/9. 2026 Projections: 13-9/3.18/1.22/197 in 201 IP

11. Kyle Bradish – I’ll talk a lot about which pitchers I can trust to stay healthy and which I can’t, and how there’s no real rhyme or reason. I’ll say things about how this guy returned from injury, so I trust him a bit more than this guy who didn’t return, but then you won’t see Cole Ragans for a few, who did return from injury before the end of the season. Well, whether this is an accurate reason or not, I trust guys who returned from Tommy John surgery more than anyone else. Tommy John surgery by this point is like grandma getting a hip replacement. She’s back on the links hitting balls into the water trap within six weeks. I don’t know if this makes 100% sense, but it does in my mind: If a guy misses time last year because of a sore shoulder or a sore elbow, then returns, I am cautiously optimistic. If a guy comes back from Tommy John, I’m just optimistic. No caution. I am a lot more worried about guys who have an injury and get no surgery than a guy who goes and gets his injury fixed (in theory, it’s fixed, nothing is 100%). I spent so much time on Bradish’s return from Tommy John, because that’s the only reason I can imagine tapping the brakes. Everything else is gorgeous. He was an ace the year before the surgery (2.83 ERA, 9 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 in 168 2/3 IP) and he returned looking like exactly that again (13.2 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 2.53 ERA in 32 IP). As I keep saying, a guy who pitched less innings last year isn’t a cause for concern, it means he’s gonna be fresher. Give me all the Bradish shares. 2026 Projections: 12-5/3.12/1.05/170 in 158 IP

12. Shohei Ohtani – This is for Shohei Ohtani, the pitcher. The hitter/pitcher Ohtani is in the top 10 overall. His pitching stats are insane. He’s thrown 528 2/3 IP in his MLB career and has a 3.00 ERA and 11.41 K/9 with a 3.1 BB/9. If I thought I was getting 175+IP, I would’ve ranked him in the top three for starters. And he’s a top two bat! I think some of you just like the idea of Babe Ruth being the greatest. It’s cute — “Yay, a guy I never saw play is the best ever!” — but you’re missing out on enjoying the guy you think Babe Ruth was. Ohtani is the greatest GOAT of all-time. He’s better than every other GGOATOAT I’ve ever called a GGOATOAT. He’s the GGOATOATiest. 2026 Projections: 8-4/2.76/1.05/156 in 122 IP

13. George Kirby – His ERAs: 3.39, 3.35, 3.53 then 4.21 last year. Any number stick out to you as weird? The number seven? What are you talking about? Kirby started the year late, due to his shoulder, but don’t let that Kirby your enthusiasm. (See what I did there? How did you miss it?) He showed no lack of velocity after his return; Kirby’s SwStr% and Called Strike% went up, and the command remained elite (2.1 BB/9). He only had 126 IP last year, but if he threw 191, like he did in 2024, I wouldn’t be surprised if his batted ball luck (.315) corrected itself and he ended up around a 3.50 ERA guy as he was in 2024. 2026 Projections: 13-9/3.40/1.08/172 in 177 IP

14. Joe Ryan – It’s silly to think a guy with a 3.42 ERA last year could just become the best pitcher in baseball this year? Ya know, like how Skubal went from a 3.52 ERA pitcher to the best pitcher in baseball. 3.42 ERA? Ryan about to have three straight seasons of a 1.50 ERA. I’m being a little bit facetious, but Ryan could easily be the best pitcher in baseball this year. He needs some help in wins (out of his control), the ability to go from a 171 IP to a 200 IP guy, and a correction to his homers allowed. Those aren’t big asks. Asking someone to drive you to the airport? That’s a big ask. Everything else looks perfect for Ryan. 2026 Projections: 13-7/3.34/1.02/191 in 176 IP

15. Jacob deGrom – Him being a HOFer with roughly 100 wins in his career is going to be so funny. I mean, who the hell knows who is a Hall of Famer anymore now that the whole process has become a joke, but deGrom has a strong case and 96 career wins. El oh el. If this latest arm surgery holds, he could be good for another four to five years. Just because he couldn’t stay healthy from 2020 to 2024 doesn’t mean anything. He did average 183 IP/year for the first six years of his career. By the way, Wilpons and previous Mets’ FO kept deGrom in the minors until age 26, and he didn’t have his first full season until 27. Just egregious shizz. Any hoo! I’m willing to draft deGrom this year for the first time, maybe ever. (It was always about cost, not ability.) 2026 Projections: 10-6/2.84/0.96/186 in 164 IP

16. Chris Sale – To really throw people off their game, I want deGrom and Sale. I’ve lessened on “Guy with insane peripherals who can’t stay healthy.” My thought is simple, we must adapt to the new environs of so many pitchers who throw barely 125 IP. By the way, don’t say “environs” out loud or the person who hears you has the right to punch you in the mouth. Give me Sale’s 125 IP of 2.50 ERA and Daddy can dance. This also is coupled with my new feeling that just because a pitcher is old doesn’t make him bad. Would I prefer a 2.50 ERA pitcher in 180 IP? Yeah, homey, that’s why those guys are above Sale. At the end of the day, Sale has some of the best peripherals of anyone every year. Did I just write “end of the day Sale” to try to subconsciously get you to buy a subscription? No, c’mon. I’m no hypnotist. But you are getting sleepy, very sleepy… 2026 Projections: 8-6/2.61/1.04/187 in 154 IP

17. Max Fried – I’m about to draft deGrom, Sale and Fried and have people stop drafts to be like, “Grey hit his head yesterday and thought he was fine to participate in this draft, but unfortunately is he not fine. He’s severely concussed. We’re going to check him for brain leakage and once we can rule out his brain hasn’t dripped into his ass, we will resume the draft. Sorry to everyone out there who made arrangements to be here for the draft. We will not be reimbursing you for your time.” I hear ya. The thing is we have to continue the draft! I meant to draft deGrom, Sale or Fried! I know, it’s goofy, but what do you want? I’m a goofy-ass guy! Fried’s career ERA is 3.03 in 1079 2/3 IP and, like, five hundred of those innings came while his elbow was dangling by a thread. I don’t know how, but I’m sick of shaking my fists at him, screaming, “He can’t keep getting away with this!” There’s as much a chance as Fried gets through this year healthy yet again as someone like, say, Joe Ryan. Arm injuries are not as predictable as we think. Cole Ragans seemed safer than Fried going into last year, how’d that go? The only guy who predictably won’t stay healthy is Glasnow. 2026 Projections: 14-6/2.92/1.09/172 in 178 IP

18. Freddy Peralta – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until the top 40 starters. I call this tier, “Wearing flip-flops with socks.”  There’s just no excuse for wearing socks with flip-flops unless you are a Polish immigrant or you just took off your shoes and were asked to take out the garbage. Anywhere else with socks and flips-flops is strictly prohibited. That’s this tier, strictly prohibited. To give you some context, last year this tier of guys to avoid was deGrom (34), Sale (104), Burnes (399), Gerrit Cole (DNP, injury), George Kirby (185) and Pablo Lopez (288). The number in parenthesis is their end-of-the-year rank on the Player Rater. DeGrom was a bust for being a bust and Sale was basically a push. Was deGrom’s success worth the risk of drafting Burnes, Cole, Kirby and Pab-Lo? I don’t think so. That’s a situation where I’ll take the whiff on deGrom for the “Whew, thankfully I avoided those other guys.”

As for FreddyKBB, he was traded to the Mets because the Mets have to acquire the player who will most disappoint them. It’s the first credo in the Mets’ Charter of Excellence. Number Two Credo of Mets Excellence: Start off incredibly hot and jump out to a huge early lead in the division, then collapse after June or start awful with no chance for the playoffs by the end of May, then get incredibly hot and still come up short in September. Number Three Credo of Mets Excellence: There’s no Number Three Credo of Excellence. These are the Mets’ credos for excellence. If there was one starter who over-performed last year beyond what anyone thought possible and should crash back to earth it was FreddyKBB, and would you look at that! The Mets got him! Been a fan of FreddyKBB for a long time, but all good things must come to an end, like eating a weiner. The love of FreddyKBB–[taps on shoulder] “Excuse me, sir, did you say all good things must come to an end ‘like eating a weiner?'” Yes [reveals t-shirt that says, “All good things must come to an end, like eating a weiner.”] Any hoo! Putting aside my famous weiner-eating quote, FreddyKBB is okay as a 2nd starter, but this is more about the price than anything. He’s being drafted as a number one. Bless your heart, but he’s not a number one. He’s a 10+ K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 3.80 xFIP pitcher. “Okay, but I’m still trying to understand the weiner-eating quote.” 2026 Projections: 13-9/3.43/1.18/202 in 174 IP

19. Blake Snell – Last year I broke my embargo on Blake for the last few years. Emblakego? Hmm, yeah, that. So, how did it work, me drafting Snell? Meh, fine, I guess. He would’ve made the top ten in that ERA image up above for best ERAs of the last two years. Only thing is, I put the cutoff at 200 IP to avoid relievers! Oops, my bad, Snell, who is Cade Smith but from the 1st inning until the 4th. Snell had five wins in both 2024 and last year? Snell, the King of the No Decision. He’s on one of the best teams for wins of all-time and he wins five games. Hilarious. I know, I’m trying to let 125-inning starters with great peripherals have a pass, but Snell doesn’t even have that great of peripherals and can’t stay on the field. Watch, this will be his once-every-four-year-Cy-Young year. 2026 Projections: 7-6/3.29/1.24/157 in 133 IP

20. Spencer Schwellenbach – You’re right, it’s slightly arbitrary to be fine with a starter, who was injured last year but returned by the end of the year, but not be willing to overlook a starter who was injured, didn’t return, but has been throwing in the offseason with no restrictions. Ya gotta draw the line somewhere, and my line is A) Did the guy return before the end of the season? B) Can you pronounce the guy’s name without a Sean Connery accent? C) There’s no C. There wasn’t really a B, to be fair. I will say this tier of guys always elicit this in the preseason, “Hey, Grey, handsome face, my man! I’d like to commend you on looking like you smell great. Anyway, Spencer is throwing Schwell, er, enbach in the spring. Will you be drafting him?” No. The season is not a random five games in March when a guy is pitching to five not-ready-for-the-majors hitters, then being pulled to rest. Actually, guys aren’t even pitching in March. Most of March they’re just throwing to get loose. UPDATED: Removed from the rankings with news that he would start the year on the 60-day IL with elbow inflammation. 2026 Projections: 8-8/3.16/1.05/121 in 117 IP

CONTINUE ONTO THE TOP 40 STARTERS FOR 2026 FANTASY BASEBALL