When it comes to winning the pitching categories in fantasy baseball there definitely needs to be strong consideration for pitching matchups. Even the best pitchers can fall victim to disastrous outings against hot-hitting or heavy-platooned lineups. Our weekly starting pitcher rankings account for these key factors which sometimes can bounce pitchers up and down the ranks. That’s why we go to great lengths to rank pitchers every week to help fantasy managers make the right roster decisions based on upcoming matchups to protect precious pitching ratios.
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Starting Pitcher Rankings for Week 5 (4/22 – 4/28)
A few prefacing notes to help you identify key risers and fallers in the starting pitcher rankings below:
- This features a strong group of two-start pitchers who mostly have even matchups, making them safe plays in weekly leagues. The top tier two-start pitcher group includes Pablo Lopez (CWS, @LAA), Grayson Rodriguez (@LAA, OAK), Tarik Skubal (@TBR, KCR), Carlos Rodon (OAK, @MIL), and Jared Jones (MIL, SFG).
- There are a few teams whose entire rotation benefits from easier matchups this week. These teams include the Twins (CWS, @LAA), the Orioles (@LAA, OAK), and the Rays (DET, @CWS). A likely recurring theme this season will be to encourage starting nearly all pitchers facing the Athletics with confidence until we see any reason to pull back.
- Lastly, there are also teams with strong rotations that are limited in their rankings due to tougher matchups this week. These team rotations include the Reds (PHI, @TEX), the Guardians (BOS, @ATL), and the Athletics (@NYY, @BAL). Several of those team’s frontline starters still have decent start confidence ratings for their matchups this week, but their rankings are far lower than normal.
| Rnk | Pitcher | Team | Opp | Confidence Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corbin Burnes | BAL | OAK | 9 |
| 2 | Zac Gallen | ARI | @SEA | 8 |
| 3 | Max Fried | ATL | MIA | 8 |
| 4 | Chris Sale | ATL | MIA | 8 |
| 5 | Grayson Rodriguez | BAL | @LAA/ OAK | 8 (@LAA=7 & OAK=9) |
| 6 | Tarik Skubal | DET | @TBR/ KCR | 8 (both matchups) |
| 7 | Tyler Glasnow | LAD | @WSH | 8 |
| 8 | Freddy Peralta | MIL | @PIT | 8 |
| 9 | Pablo Lopez | MIN | CWS/ @LAA | 8 (CWS=9 & LAA=7) |
| 10 | Carlos Rodon | NYY | OAK/ @MIL | 8 (OAK=9 & @MIL=7) |
| 11 | Jared Jones | PIT | MIL/ @SFG | 8 (both matchups) |
| 12 | Logan Webb | SFG | NYM | 8 |
| 13 | Luis Castillo | SEA | ARI | 8 |
| 14 | George Kirby | SEA | ARI | 8 |
| 15 | Zach Eflin | TBR | @CWS | 8 |
| 16 | Aaron Civale | TBR | @CWS | 8 |
| 17 | Garrett Crochet | CWS | @MIN | 7 |
| 18 | Merrill Kelly | ARI | @SEA | 7 |
| 19 | Reynaldo Lopez | ATL | MIA/ CLE | 7 |
| 20 | Reese Olson | DET | KCR | 7 |
| 21 | Cole Ragans | KCR | TOR | 7 |
| 22 | Seth Lugo | KCR | @DET | 7 |
| 23 | Reid Detmers | LAA | BAL | 7 |
| 24 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | LAD | @TOR | 7 |
| 25 | Jesus Luzardo | MIA | WSH | 7 |
| 26 | Edward Cabrera | MIA | WSH | 7 |
| 27 | Ryan Weathers | MIA | WSH | 7 |
| 28 | Joe Ryan | MIN | CWS | 7 |
| 29 | Bailey Ober | MIN | CWS | 7 |
| 30 | Nestor Cortes | NYY | OAK | 7 |
| 31 | Zack Wheeler | PHI | @CIN | 7 |
| 32 | Aaron Nola | PHI | @SDP | 7 |
| 33 | Logan Gilbert | SEA | @TEX/ ARI | 7 (both matchups) |
| 34 | Zack Littell | TBR | DET/ @CWS | 7 (DET=6 & @CWS=8) |
| 35 | Ryan Pepiot | TBR | DET | 7 |
| 36 | Jose Berrios | TOR | @KCR | 7 |
| 37 | Jordan Montgomery | ARI | @STL | 6 |
| 38 | Charlie Morton | ATL | CLE | 6 |
| 39 | Cole Irvin | BAL | OAK | 6 |
| 40 | Tanner Houck | BOS | @CLE/ CHC | 6 (@CLE=7 & CHC=5) |
| 41 | Brayan Bello | BOS | @CLE | 6 |
| 42 | Kutter Crawford | BOS | CHC | 6 |
| 43 | Shota Imanaga | CHC | HOU | 6 |
| 44 | Erick Fedde | CWS | @MIN | 6 |
| 45 | Frankie Montas | CIN | @TEX | 6 |
| 46 | Kenta Maeda | DET | @TBR | 6 |
| 47 | Jack Flaherty | DET | @TBR | 6 |
| 48 | Casey Mize | DET | KCR | 6 |
| 49 | Justin Verlander | HOU | @CHC | 6 |
| 50 | Ronel Blanco | HOU | @COL | 6 |
| 51 | Brady Singer | KCR | TOR/ @DET | 6 (TOR=5 & @DET=7) |
| 52 | Michael Wacha | KCR | TOR/ @DET | 6 (TOR=5 & @DET=7) |
| 53 | Walker Buehler | LAD | @WSH | 6 |
| 54 | Louie Varland | MIN | @LAA | 6 |
| 55 | Sean Manaea | NYM | @SF | 6 |
| 56 | Marcus Stroman | NYY | OAK/ @MIL | 6 (OAK=7 & @MIL=5) |
| 57 | Clarke Schmidt | NYY | OAK | 6 |
| 58 | Ranger Suarez | PHI | @CIN/ @SDP | 6 (both matchups) |
| 59 | Cristopher Sanchez | PHI | @CIN | 6 |
| 60 | Mitch Keller | PIT | MIL | 6 |
| 61 | Martin Perez | PIT | @SF | 6 |
| 62 | Sonny Gray | STL | @NYM | 6 |
| 63 | Blake Snell | SFG | NYM | 6 |
| 64 | Andrew Heaney | TEX | CIN | 6 |
| 65 | Kevin Gausman | TOR | @KCR/ LAD | 6 (@KCR= 7 & LAD=5) |
| 66 | Brandon Pfaadt | ARI | @STL/ @SEA | 5 (both matchups) |
| 67 | Jameson Taillon | CHC | HOU | 5 |
| 68 | Taijuan Walker | PHI | @CIN/ @SDP | 5 (both matchups) |
| 69 | Chris Flexen | CWS | @MIN/ TBR | 5 (both matchups) |
| 70 | Nick Nastrini | CWS | TBR | 5 |
| 71 | Nick Lodolo | CIN | PHI | 5 |
| 72 | Triston McKenzie | CLE | BOS | 5 |
| 73 | Hunter Brown | HOU | @CHC | 5 |
| 74 | Cristian Javier | HOU | @COL | 5 |
| 75 | Tyler Anderson | LAA | BAL | 5 |
| 76 | Patrick Sandoval | LAA | MIN | 5 |
| 77 | Jose Soriano | LAA | MIN | 5 |
| 78 | Gavin Stone | LAD | @TOR | 5 |
| 79 | James Paxton | LAD | @TOR | 5 |
| 80 | Joe Ross | MIL | @PIT/ NYY | 5 (@PIT=6 & NYY=4) |
| 81 | Wade Miley | MIL | @PIT | 5 |
| 82 | Chris Paddack | MIN | CWS/ @LAA | 5 (CWS=6 & @LAA=4) |
| 83 | Luis Severino | NYM | @SFG | 5 |
| 84 | Jose Butto | NYM | STL | 5 |
| 85 | Luis Gil | NYY | @MIL | 5 |
| 86 | Bailey Falter | PIT | MIL/ @SFG | 5 (both matchups) |
| 87 | Dylan Cease | SDP | @COL/ PHI | 5 (@COL=6 & PHI=4) |
| 88 | Michael King | SDP | @COL/ PHI | 5 (@COL=6 & PHI=4) |
| 89 | Joe Musgrove | SDP | PHI | 5 |
| 90 | Kyle Harrison | SFG | PIT | 5 |
| 91 | Jordan Hicks | SFG | PIT | 5 |
| 92 | Bryce Miller | SEA | @TEX | 5 |
| 93 | Tyler Alexander | TBR | DET | 5 |
| 94 | Nathan Eovaldi | TEX | CIN | 5 |
| 95 | Yariel Rodriguez | TOR | @KCR | 5 |
| 96 | Chris Bassitt | TOR | LAD | 5 |
| 97 | MacKenzie Gore | WSH | LAD | 5 |
| 98 | Ryne Nelson | ARI | @STL | 4 |
| 99 | Darius Vines | ATL | CLE | 4 |
| 100 | Dean Kremer | BAL | @LAA | 4 |
| 101 | Jordan Wicks | CHC | HOU/ BOS | 4 (HOU=3 & BOS=5) |
| 102 | Javier Assad | CHC | @BOS | 4 |
| 103 | Jonathan Cannon | CWS | @MIN | 4 |
| 104 | Michael Soroka | CWS | TBR | 4 |
| 105 | Hunter Greene | CIN | PHI/ @TEX | 4 (both matchups) |
| 106 | Andrew Abbott | CIN | PHI/ @TEX | 4 (both matchups) |
| 107 | Carlos Carrasco | CLE | BOS | 4 |
| 108 | Tanner Bibee | CLE | @ATL | 4 |
| 109 | Alec Marsh | KCR | TOR | 4 |
| 110 | Griffin Canning | LAA | BAL | 4 |
| 111 | Landon Knack | LAD | @WSH | 4 |
| 112 | Colin Rea | MIL | NYY | 4 |
| 113 | Jose Quintana | NYM | @SFG/ STL | 4 (both matchups) |
| 114 | Adrian Houser | NYM | STL | 4 |
| 115 | Quinn Priester | PIT | MIL | 4 |
| 116 | Lance Lynn | STL | ARI/ @NYM | 4 (both matchups) |
| 117 | Steven Matz | STL | ARI | 4 |
| 118 | Kyle Gibson | STL | ARI | 4 |
| 119 | Miles Mikolas | STL | @NYM | 4 |
| 120 | Keaton Winn | SFG | NYM/ PIT | 4 (NYM=3 & PIT=5) |
| 121 | Emerson Hancock | SEA | @TEX | 4 |
| 122 | Jon Gray | TEX | SEA | 4 |
| 123 | Michael Lorenzen | TEX | CIN | 4 |
| 124 | Yusei Kikuchi | TOR | @KCR/ LAD | 4 (@KCR=5 & LAD=3) |
| 125 | Trevor Williams | WSH | @MIA | 4 |
| 126 | Albert Suarez | BAL | @LAA | 3 |
| 127 | Cooper Criswell | BOS | @CLE | 3 |
| 128 | Graham Ashcraft | CIN | PHI | 3 |
| 129 | Ben Lively | CLE | BOS/ @ATL | 3 (BOS=4 & @ATL=2) |
| 130 | Logan Allen | CLE | @ATL | 3 |
| 131 | Ryan Feltner | COL | SDP | 3 |
| 132 | J.P. France | HOU | @CHC | 3 |
| 133 | Trevor Rogers | MIA | @ATL | 3 |
| 134 | DL Hall | MIL | NYY | 3 |
| 135 | JP Sears | OAK | @NYY/ @BAL | 3 (both matchups) |
| 136 | Paul Blackburn | OAK | @NYY/ @BAL | 3 (both matchups) |
| 137 | Joe Boyle | OAK | @NYY | 3 |
| 138 | Dane Dunning | TEX | SEA | 3 |
| 139 | Jack Leiter | TEX | SEA | 3 |
| 140 | Patrick Corbin | WSH | LAD/ @MIA | 3 (LAD=2 & @MIA=4) |
| 141 | Jake Irvin | WSH | LAD | 3 |
| 142 | Kyle Hendricks | CHC | @BOS | 2 |
| 143 | Austin Gomber | COL | SDP | 2 |
| 144 | Dakota Hudson | COL | SDP | 2 |
| 145 | Kyle Freeland | COL | SDP | 2 |
| 146 | Cal Quantrill | COL | HOU | 2 |
| 147 | A.J. Puk | MIA | @ATL | 2 |
| 148 | Alex Wood | OAK | @NYY | 2 |
| 149 | Ross Stripling | OAK | @BAL | 2 |
| 150 | Matt Waldron | SDP | @COL | 2 |
| 151 | Mitchell Parker | WSH | @MIA | 2 |
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