There’s long been a debate about how much a starting pitcher’s matchup(s) any given week should dictate lineup decisions for a fantasy manager. While we subscribe to the adage of never benching your star players, when healthy, matchups still play an important factor for the majority of other pitchers. For those pitchers with two starts in a week, there are often different scores for each matchup but the range is never more than one or two points different on the 1 – 10 rating scale. End of day, a pitcher has their talents and the ballpark or opponent lineup will only impact the potential outcomes to a certain extent. That’s why we provide our start confidence ranking for every pitcher matchup in our weekly starting pitcher rankings below.
Starting Pitcher Rankings for Week 9 (5/20 – 5/26)
Rnk | Pitcher | Team | Opp | Confidence Level |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Freddy Peralta | MIL | @MIA | 9 |
2 | Zac Gallen | ARI | MIA | 8 |
3 | Corbin Burnes | BAL | @STL/@CWS | 8 (STL=7 & @CWS=9) |
4 | Shota Imanaga | CHC | @STL | 8 |
5 | Tarik Skubal | DET | @KCR | 8 |
6 | Framber Valdez | HOU | LAA | 8 |
7 | Justin Verlander | HOU | @OAK | 8 |
8 | Cole Ragans | KCR | DET | 8 |
9 | George Kirby | SEA | @WSH | 8 |
10 | Jordan Montgomery | ARI | MIA | 7 |
11 | Reynaldo Lopez | ATL | @PIT | 7 |
12 | Reese Olson | DET | @KCR/TOR | 7 (both matchups) |
13 | Jack Flaherty | DET | TOR | 7 |
14 | Cristian Javier | HOU | LAA | 7 |
15 | Seth Lugo | KCR | @TBR | 7 |
16 | Tyler Glasnow | LAD | ARI | 7 |
17 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | LAD | @CIN | 7 |
18 | Pablo Lopez | MIN | @WSH/TEX | 7 (@WSH=8 & TEX=6) |
19 | Joe Ryan | MIN | @WSH | 7 |
20 | Carlos Rodon | NYY | @SDP | 7 |
21 | Zack Wheeler | TEX | TEX | 7 |
22 | Jared Jones | SFG | SFG | 7 |
23 | Paul Skenes | SFG | SFG | 7 |
24 | Logan Webb | SFG | @PIT/@NYM | 7 (both matchups) |
25 | Logan Gilbert | SEA | @NYY/@WSH | 7 (@NYY=6 & @WSH=8) |
26 | Ryan Pepiot | TBR | BOS | 7 |
27 | Jose Berrios | TOR | CWS | 7 |
28 | Chris Bassitt | TOR | CWS | 7 |
29 | Kevin Gausman | TOR | @DET | 7 |
30 | Chris Sale | ATL | SDP/@PIT | 6 (SDP=5 & @PIT=7) |
31 | Max Fried | ATL | @CHC | 6 |
32 | John Means | BAL | @CWS | 6 |
33 | Dean Kremer | BAL | @CWS | 6 |
34 | Garrett Crochet | CWS | @TOR/BAL | 6 (@TOR=7 & BAL=5) |
35 | Triston McKenzie | CLE | NYM | 6 |
36 | Tanner Bibee | CLE | @LAA | 6 |
37 | Hunter Brown | HOU | LAA | 6 |
38 | Jose Urquidy | HOU | @OAK | 6 |
39 | Michael Wacha | KCR | DET/@TBR | 6 ((both matchups) |
40 | Brady Singer | KCR | @TBR | 6 |
41 | Simeon Woods Richardson | MIN | @WSH | 6 |
42 | Sean Manaea | NYM | SFG | 6 |
43 | Clarke Schmidt | NYY | SEA/@SDP | 6 (both matchups) |
44 | Aaron Nola | TEX | @COL | 6 |
45 | Sonny Gray | STL | BAL/CHC | 6 (both matchups) |
46 | Dylan Cease | SDP | @ATL/NYY | 6 (both matchups) |
47 | Blake Snell | SFG | @PIT | 6 |
48 | Jordan Hicks | SFG | @NYM | 6 |
49 | Luis Castillo | SEA | @NYY | 6 |
50 | Zack Littell | TBR | BOS | 6 |
51 | Zach Eflin | TBR | KCR | 6 |
52 | Yusei Kikuchi | TOR | CWS | 6 |
53 | Kyle Bradish | BAL | @STL/ @CWS | 5 (both matchups) |
54 | Cole Irvin | BAL | @STL | 5 |
55 | Tanner Houck | BOS | @TBR/MIL | 5 (both matchups) |
56 | Garrett Whitlock | BOS | @TBR | 5 |
57 | Brayan Bello | BOS | @TBR | 5 |
58 | Kutter Crawford | BOS | MIL | 5 |
59 | Nick Pivetta | BOS | MIL | 5 |
60 | Javier Assad | CHC | ATL/@STL | 5 (ATL=4 & @STL=6) |
61 | Erick Fedde | CWS | @TOR/BAL | 5 (@TOR=6 & BAL=4) |
62 | Andrew Abbott | CIN | SDP/LAD | 5 (SDP=6 & LAD=4) |
63 | Logan Allen | CLE | @LAA | 5 |
64 | Casey Mize | DET | @KCR | 5 |
65 | Matt Manning | DET | TOR | 5 |
66 | Ronel Blanco | HOU | @OAK | 5 |
67 | Alec Marsh | KCR | DET | 5 |
68 | Ryan Weathers | MIA | MIL/@ARI | 5 (both matchups) |
69 | Jesus Luzardo | MIA | MIL | 5 |
70 | Braxton Garrett | MIA | @ARI | 5 |
71 | Bryse Wilson | MIL | @BOS | 5 |
72 | Colin Rea | MIL | @BOS | 5 |
73 | Bailey Ober | MIN | TEX | 5 |
74 | Tylor Megill | NYM | @CLE/SFG | 5 (both matchups) |
75 | Christian Scott | NYM | @CLE | 5 |
76 | Luis Severino | NYM | SFG | 5 |
77 | Nestor Cortes | NYY | SEA | 5 |
78 | Luis Gil | NYY | SEA | 5 |
79 | Ranger Suarez | TEX | TEX/@COL | 5 (both matchups) |
80 | Michael King | SDP | @CIN/NYY | 5 (both matchups) |
81 | Yu Darvish | SDP | @CIN | 5 |
82 | Kyle Harrison | SFG | @PIT | 5 |
83 | Keaton Winn | SFG | @NYM | 5 |
84 | Bryan Woo | SEA | @NYY/@WSH | 5 (@NYY=4 & @WSH=6) |
85 | Taj Bradley | TBR | BOS | 5 |
86 | Jon Gray | TEX | @PHI | 5 |
87 | Mitchell Parker | WSH | MIN | 5 |
88 | MacKenzie Gore | WSH | SEA | 5 |
89 | Trevor Williams | WSH | SEA | 5 |
90 | Ryne Nelson | ARI | @LAD | 4 |
91 | Charlie Morton | ATL | @CHC/@PIT | 4 (@CHC= 3 & @PIT=5) |
92 | Justin Steele | CHC | ATL | 4 |
93 | Jameson Taillon | CHC | @STL | 4 |
94 | Nick Martinez | CIN | SDP | 4 |
95 | Frankie Montas | CIN | SDP | 4 |
96 | Hunter Greene | CIN | LAD | 4 |
97 | Ben Lively | CLE | NYM/@LAA | 4 (NYM=3 & @LAA=5) |
98 | Carlos Carrasco | CLE | NYM | 4 |
99 | Ryan Feltner | COL | @OAK | 4 |
100 | Patrick Sandoval | LAA | CLE | 4 |
101 | Jose Soriano | LAA | CLE | 4 |
102 | Gavin Stone | LAD | ARI | 4 |
103 | James Paxton | LAD | @CIN | 4 |
104 | Walker Buehler | LAD | @CIN | 4 |
105 | Trevor Rogers | MIA | MIL | 4 |
106 | Robert Gasser | MIL | @MIA | 4 |
107 | Chris Paddack | MIN | TEX | 4 |
108 | Jose Quintana | NYM | @CLE | 4 |
109 | Marcus Stroman | NYY | SEA/@SDP | 4 (both matchups) |
110 | Cristopher Sanchez | TEX | @COL | 4 |
111 | Bailey Falter | SFG | ATL | 4 |
112 | Mitch Keller | SFG | ATL | 4 |
113 | Lance Lynn | STL | BAL | 4 |
114 | Miles Mikolas | STL | CHC | 4 |
115 | Matt Waldron | SDP | @CIN | 4 |
116 | Joe Musgrove | SDP | NYY | 4 |
117 | Bryce Miller | SEA | @NYY | 4 |
118 | Aaron Civale | TBR | KCR | 4 |
119 | Michael Lorenzen | TEX | @MIN | 4 |
120 | Alek Manoah | TOR | @DET | 4 |
121 | Jake Irvin | WSH | MIN | 4 |
122 | Slade Cecconi | ARI | @LAD/MIA | 3 (@LAD=2 & MIA=4) |
123 | Brandon Pfaadt | ARI | @LAD | 3 |
124 | Bryce Elder | ATL | @CHC | 3 |
125 | Kyle Hendricks | CHC | ATL | 3 |
126 | Mike Clevinger | CWS | @TOR | 3 |
127 | Brad Keller | CWS | BAL | 3 |
128 | Chris Flexen | CWS | BAL | 3 |
129 | Graham Ashcraft | CIN | LAD | 3 |
130 | Cal Quantrill | COL | @OAK/PHI | 3 (@OAK=4 & PHI=2) |
131 | Austin Gomber | COL | @OAK | 3 |
132 | Reid Detmers | LAA | @HOU/CLE | 3 (@HOU=2 & CLE=4) |
133 | Griffin Canning | LAA | @HOU | 3 |
134 | Tyler Anderson | LAA | @HOU | 3 |
135 | Sixto Sanchez | MIA | @ARI | 3 |
136 | Joe Ross | MIL | @MIA/@BOS | 3 (@MIA=4 & @BOS=2) |
137 | Kyle Muller | OAK | COL | 3 |
138 | Taijuan Walker | TEX | TEX | 3 |
139 | Martin Perez | SFG | SFG/ATL | 3 (SFG=4 & ATL=2) |
140 | Kyle Gibson | STL | BAL | 3 |
141 | Matthew Liberatore | STL | CHC | 3 |
142 | Andrew Heaney | TEX | @PHI | 3 |
143 | Jose Urena | TEX | @PHI | 3 |
144 | Patrick Corbin | WSH | MIN | 3 |
145 | Ty Blach | COL | PHI | 2 |
146 | Aaron Brooks | OAK | COL/HOU | 2 (COL=3 & HOU=1) |
147 | Joey Estes | OAK | COL | 2 |
148 | JP Sears | OAK | HOU | 2 |
149 | Dakota Hudson | COL | PHI | 1 |
150 | Ross Stripling | OAK | HOU | 1 |