First things first this week, I apologize for the color coding confusion last week. That was my mistake. However, it’s good to be back with more SP schedules for the coming weeks. The unfortunate plethora of early season arm injuries haven’t stopped so these rotations are looking as weird as ever.
One new change this week is that teams are grouped by division instead of alphabetically. Everything else should remain pretty consistent, starting with a reminder of some terms scattered throughout this article. Here’s a key for a few terms you may encounter below:
(OFF) means the team has an off-day before they play that team.
(DH) indicates a doubleheader that day.
SPOT is used when that game might is projected to be someone different than the mainstay in the rotation. Notes will explain.
??? represents an unclear rotational spot, and the notes will explain options.
Before getting to the pitching, here are Nick’s most recent hitting ranks from the SP Streamer article.
Nick’s Loose Team Offense Rankings (Updated 4/8)
AL East
Orioles’ Expected Starters
- A nice draw of games this week with Baltimore taking on two AL Central teams, then two of the weaker NL West offenses.
Red Sox Expected Starters
- This group has a lot of question marks right now. This next stretch of games against Cleveland and Pittsburgh will be a good barometer for a few of these guys.
- Whitlock is showing shades of his old self with his extension. That hasn’t led to a full resurgence yet, but it could.
Yankees’ Expected Starters
- One thing that can be said about this group is that they’ve been getting plenty of work, ranking 6th in the MLB in innings thrown. Their 2.69 ERA is good for third in the league.
- Toronto is a strong offense, but after that it’s the Rays and Athletics, which is a point in the Yankee rotation’s favor.
Rays’ Expected Starters
- In what should surprise no one, a player that went from the Dodgers to the Rays is interesting. Ryan Pepiot is posting very good strikeout and walk rates, but is also being snake bitten by the long ball.
- The Rays rotation is top 10 so far in both walks and strikeouts. One trend to note is that they are a bottom 10 group in homeruns in the early going.
Blue Jays’ Expected Starters
- Yariel Rodríguez had a solid debut, all things considered. Only 3.2 innings, but struck out six and walked two while giving up a run on a solo shot. That’s not enough to start him against the Padres, but if he does well again then that Royals matchup becomes a lot more interesting.
- This staff is top 10 so far in strikeouts, but bottom 5 in walks this season.
AL Central
White Sox Expected Starters
- That’s MLB strikeout leader Garret Crochet to you!
- Despite having the strikeout leader, the White Sox rotation is middle of the road in that stat as a whole. Outside of Crochet this rotation of Toby’s remains very matchup based.
Guardians’ Expected Starters
- Projections have Ben Lively and Wes Parsons taking the spots of Logan Allen and Gavin Williams the first time through. Then I’m not sure how the rotation is going to work, but for flow purposes Gavin Williams has an N/A start.
- This group is not off to a great start, being in the bottom 5 in innings pitched, bottom 3 in BB/9, and middle of the road in K/9 and ERA.
Tigers’ Expected Starters
- Skubal remains Skubal, but he did experience a velocity dip, which might be concerning. Mize and Flaherty are still interesting.
Royals’ Expected Starters
- The Royals starting group is the leader in rotation fWAR right now at 2.1, which is a huge reason for their hot start.
Twins’ Expected Starters
- This is a pretty solid group overall, especially Ober so far this year. He’s striking out a lot of batters.
- This group is really good at producing whiffs, sitting at fourth in the K/9 rankings.
AL West
Astros’ Expected Starters
- So, uh, Hunter Brown didn’t have the best day ever. Some might call it a bad day. I want to believe but when an outing is that rough it warrants some change. He’s not someone to drop, but his upcoming matchups become that much scarier.
Angels’ Expected Starters
- Detmers continues to strike out a lot of people and that continues to be really cool. At the time of writing this, he’s tied for third in strikeouts leaguewide.
Athletics’ Expected Starters
- Is Paul Blackburn the new best pitcher in baseball? I guess we’ll see with some unfavorable matchups coming up.
Rangers’ Expected Starters
- This rotation sits just outside the top 10 in strikeouts, with Nathan Eovaldi leading the way for the group.
NL East
Atlanta Expected Starters
- Fried’s slow start is nothing to worry about quite yet, he does this every year. Sale has been better than anticipated, too, which is good. I’m starting to think this Atlanta organization knows what they’re doing.
Marlins’ Expected Starters
- Ryan Weathers and Trevor Rogers are the pair slated to take those spot starts before Edward Cabrera and Braxton Garrett return from injury.
- Also after injuries made people forget, Max Meyer just reminded us what he can do with a 23 whiff outing across six innings.
Mets’ Expected Starters
- José Buttó is going to be taking that last spot start before the return of Tyler Megill. Considering that’s against the Dodgers, I’d say the man known as Tylord is dodging a bullet.
Phillies’ Expected Starters
- It should come with little surprise that this group is having success this season. They’re top five in innings thrown and they’re taking advantage of it, tying for fifth in strikeouts.
Nationals’ Expected Starters
- With Josiah Gray out due to injury, that means Jackson Rutledge is in. Based on his frist go round in the majors last year, he’s safe to not trust in his first MLB outing this season against the Dodgers.
NL Central
Cubs’ Expected Starters
- Ben Brown is in Javier Assad’s spot against Arizona. With Jameson Taillon returning there might be a competition for the last slot. I like Assad, though, and think he’s able to hang on long term, as currently projected.
Reds’ Expected Starters
- Note: Great American Ballpark isn’t great for pitchers, so the Reds are one of the couple teams that will be evaluated differently based on home and away.
- Look, at the rate starting pitchers are dropping it may not be a bad idea to run out a six-man rotation. At least in the short term, but maybe long too.
Brewers’ Expected Starters
- For a team that’s been pretty good with pitchers, this is still a questionable group for fantasy production. Outside of Freddy Peralta, trust is hard to come by. Even DL Hall still isn’t looking like a guy to plug in regardless of matchup. Yet, at least.
Pirates’ Expected Starters
- This won’t only be a Jared Jones fan club message every week, but my goodness is he fun to watch. If you don’t have a share, it may already be too late.
NL West
DBacks’ Expected Starters
- This is another group with some sketchy short-term projected arms. Tommy Henry is still slated to get another start before Jordan Montgomery officially joins the rotation.
Rockies’ Expected Starters
- Note: Coors Field is where balls go to fly a long way. If the Rockies are at home, then their pitchers will bear the brunt of that from a value standpoint.
- There are still some rough matchups for this rotation this week. Especially considering all their home games.
Dodgers’ Expected Starters
- Bobby Miller still may be back very soon, but at the time of writing this there’s no clear answer to who is taking that spot in the rotation. Potentially Kyle Hurt makes a reappearance if they need him to.
Padres’ Expected Starters
- The top of this rotation is very trustworthy, but then things drop off a bit. They’re still a successful group as a whole, ranking in second in strikeouts league wide.
FYI, you’re missing the Giants!
Y’all forget about the Giants?
Now there is no color coding in the team tables!
giants and mariners?
No Cardinals either