The season is rolling right along. Some of these pitchers who’ve started hot are getting to the prove it phase of the season. The cream of the crop will start rising to the top of the pile. Rotations are changing, whether it’s someone returning from injury to make they’re debut, or prospects coming up to try and prove themselves.
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the color coding of charts has been giving me trouble. I regret to inform you that continues this week.
There should be a good stretch of games coming. As a reminder, here are a few key terms for this article:
(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.
And before we jump into the expected schedules, take an updated look at Nick’s loose offense rankings.
Nick’s Loose Team Offense Rankings (Updated 4/17)
AL East
Orioles’ Expected Starters
- Albert Suárez is slated to get the spot start against the Angels.
- The Angels and Athletics are good draws. John Means first start back is slated to be against a tough Yankees lineup.
Red Sox Expected Starters
- This group of starters is staying consistent. They boast the lowest ERA of any rotation through their first 22 games.
Yankees’ Expected Starters
- During the most recent series against the Rays, Luis Gil, Nestor Cortes, and Clarke Schmidt gave up a combined one run. They’ll be taking on the Athletics with some momentum.
Rays’ Expected Starters
- This rotation has remained consistent so far this year. One area they’re excelling in is leaving runners on base. They’re a top 3 unit in that category.
Blue Jays’ Expected Starters
- Yariel Rodriguez had another positive start. He keeps striking out a lot of people, but has yet to surpass 4 innings in a start.
AL Central
White Sox Expected Starters
- Nick Nastrini’s second start was not as good as his first. Garrett Crochet also struggled in his last start.
- This unit has the second lowest fWAR in baseball at the time of writing this at 0.2.
Guardians’ Expected Starters
- The biggest story to follow here is that Gavin Williams is going to return at some point soon.
Tigers’ Expected Starters
- Jack Flaherty continues to get more and more interesting. He struck out 10 batters against Minnesota. Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter might be doing it again.
Royals’ Expected Starters
- So Cole Ragans didn’t have a good outing. He only made 5 outs against the Orioles, but 4 of them were strikeouts.
Twins’ Expected Starters
- Two bouts against the White Sox and one against the Angels is a good draw for a rotation with a lot of talent.
AL West
Astros’ Expected Starters
- A trip to Coors in the near future isn’t the best for this group, who is in the bottom in terms of fWAR.
Angels’ Expected Starters
- Baltimore can swing it. That could spell trouble early in the week with this group.
- This group is top 10 in K/9 at the time of writing.
Athletics’ Expected Starters
- St. Louis got to Paul Blackburn more than anyone else has this year. He also posted the highest game walk and strikeout numbers of his early season. The Yankees and Orioles will really put him to the test.
Mariners’ Expected Starters
- As expected, this young and talented group is performing well. Even then they have sides the last years World Series this week.
Rangers’ Expected Starters
- The Rangers rotation has gotten length this year with starters are top 5 in innings thrown.
NL East
Atlanta Expected Starters
- Miami sets up some good matchups. Particularly for Chris Sale who has been been striking batters out at a good pace this year.
Marlins’ Expected Starters
- There is a lot of depth with these pitchers, which has already been shown off. I imagine this will be one of the more unstable groups of pitchers, especially if they’re poor play continues on all season.
Mets’ Expected Starters
- It’s been fun to see a Luis Severino bounce back. It’s only 21 innings of work, but he’s been a lot of fun so far this season.
- Tylor Megill has been one start since coming back. St. Louis after an off day should be a pretty decent test for him.
Phillies’ Expected Starters
- Philadelphia and Boston’s rotations enter the week tied for first in fWAR among SP. So this group is finding a lot of success in the early going.
Nationals’ Expected Starters
- There may be some streaming options from this group, but only in that four game set against the Marlins. The Dodgers and Rangers are both tough draws, even though Washington SP have been surprisingly good through their first 21 games.
NL Central
Cubs’ Expected Starters
- Shota Imanga has been off to an insane start. A sub-1 ERA with 21 strikeouts through his first 21.1 innings. That’s been a huge boost for the Cubs.
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.
- This is kind of a gauntlet coming up for the Reds pitchers. They’re gonna be running through a hefty portion of last years playoff teams in the coming weeks.
Brewers’ Expected Starters
- The current trend of this pitching staff is that they, as a group, aren’t getting deep into games. They enter the week dead last in innings pitches by SP.
Pirates’ Expected Starters
- Paul Skenes is close, right? Not that this group isn’t fun, because they are, but Paul Skenes has got to be here soon.
Cardinals Expected Starters
NL West
DBacks’ Expected Starters
- Slade Cecconi went through a whirlwind before his season debut against Giants on short notice. He did well though, so he might’ve pitched his way into a regular spot in that 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.
- Noah Davis is set to get a spot start as of right now before the Rockies return to a five man rotation. They’re also going to be at home a lot, so play at your own risk.
Dodgers’ Expected Starters
- Landon Knack is likely to get the early week spot start in place of Walker Buehler. Though it shouldn’t be too much longer before Buehler returns.
Padres’ Expected Starters
- Going to Colorado then seeing Philly is kind of a tough road for this rotation. Start the ones you trust, but the rest might be best kept out of those starting spots.
Giants’ Expected Starters