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It’s JA here filling in for Hunter, who has been doing an awesome job with this. It’s something we should have been doing all year! But it feels extra important right now as fantasy pitching staffs are breaking down. Studs are getting lit up! We’re searching the waiver wire daily to find some good streamers, and in shallower leagues we have some start/sit decisions to make on the guys on our rosters currently.
Hopefully this post will help!
LEGEND
Anchor Arms - General consensus is they are going to dominate the matchup.
Send it Guys - Expect a solid performance. Thanks to either a favorable matchup or just a hot hand.
Danger Zone - Could be an awesome start with a solid amount of upside, but it’s not a comfortable matchup.
Desperation Station - A super unfavorable matchup, but you are desperate for points, so you start them anyway.
Hard Pass - Dudes I don’t have any interest in starting.
DISCLAIMER - Starters are subject to change; we use the best information available to project who will be starting on a given day.
Thursday, August 27
ANCHOR ARMS
Jacob Misiorowski vs. NYM: Feel like a cheat code having this dude on your teams right now, although the six-man rotation thing is a little bit of a downer.
Chris Sale vs. LAD
Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. ATL
Big showdown in Atlanta! Sale vs. Yamamoto, a possible preview of a big-time postseason series.
Gerrit Cole vs. HOU: Good matchup for Cole, revenge narrative, and he’s pitched his way into anchor arms. I might be a little more liberal with handing out the anchor arm title, nobody should actually be considering benching a guy like Cole right now
SEND IT GUYS
Trevor Rogers vs. STL: Tougher matchup for Rogers. The projections do not like it, but Rogers has been awesome for going on three months now, you’re starting him every time.
Logan Webb vs. ARI: Considered a “danger zone” tag here. But Webb does have four quality starts in his last five. His 3.72 ERA and 1.12 WHIP are fine ratios. He’s not been giving you what you wanted when you drafted him as your SP2 this year, but you’ve gotta roll with him.
DANGER ZONE
Sean Manaea vs. MIL: I don’t hate it. He’s getting deep into games and has a 3.38 ERA with a 1.21 WHIP on a 15% K-BB% in his last six starts. Not a great matchup with a very disciplined Brewers lineup, but they are still dead last in the league in homers.
Noah Cameron vs. TOR: As soon as you start feeling confident, he does something horrible. Don’t expect more than a few strikeouts here, but a pretty good ERA result is likely in this one.
DESPERATION STATION
Jake Irvin vs. COL: Irvin’s bad, he’s been bad for years. He has a 5.70 ERA this year. Hunter Goodman is back. But the Rockies have a .703 OPS with a 24% K% on the road this year. If there’s ever a spot to use Irvin, this is one of the few in consideration.
Hayden Wesneski vs. NYY: The Yankees aren’t scoring runs without Judge. It’s been a brutal summer for the pinstripers offensively. Wesneski has a 4.23 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 10.6% K-BB% this year, but he’s given you 4+ strikeouts every time and is coming off five scoreless against the Athletics as he’s settling back into a regular rotation role.
HARD PASS
Gabriel Hughes vs. WSH
Kohl Drake vs. SF: Matchup is tempting, but he has a 17% K% and 7.8% BB% with 1.6 HR/9. He’s not good enough.
Spencer Arrighetti vs. KC
Cooper Hjerpe vs. BAL: Large-framed Cardinals top 20 prospect. 35% K% in the minors this year, but also a 19.6% BB%. Can’t do it. And this isn’t even confirmed, it’s speculation that he’ll be called up to make this start.