(Photo by Patrick Gorski/Icon Sportswire)
What. Is. Happening. The floodgates are open as we begin our coverage of 2018 and beyond. As with every season, we launch with the Top 20 Starting Pitchers for fantasy baseballl for 2018. Strap in, I'll be covering over 150 pitchers this week.
Tier 1: Four Score
1. Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers) - He's the best pitcher on the planet. You know this, your father knows this, your battery mate from high school knows this, your barber knows it. His career ERA has gone down every year as it currently sits at 2.36. If someone tells you there is a better starter in baseball, it's just wrong. However, you're going to read your fair share of articles claiming Kershaw should be dethroned as the #1 SP in fantasy land and it all hinges on one point: Kershaw's back forced him to the DL in two straight seasons, reducing him to 21 in '16 and 27 starts last year. That's not a bad argument, and I don't entirely disagree with it. The point that is often left out is that none of Scherzer/Sale/Kluber made more than 32 starts last season. Injuries are commonplace, and outside of a few arms here and there and those part of the "Hertz Tier" where you'll be thrilled to get 25 starts out of them (you'll see it in the Top 40), I'm going to be lenient on docking points for "injury risks." Everyone is an injury risk. If you take Scherzer over Kershaw, you're not only banking that Kershaw gets hurt, but also that Scherzer doesn't. That's also ignoring the much better chance of Kershaw outperforming Scherzer across the innings he does pitch. I won't own him - I'm taking hitters in the first three rounds because I believe I can get value later and through the year - but if your thing is to grab a starter early, then the first off the board should be TATIAGA: The Ace That Is Always Gonna Ace.
