RADIO
Welcome back, RotoBallers, hopefully all your teams are right in the thick of things as we prepare for the fantasy baseball home stretch! As always, we're here to try and help with your daily/weekly lineups. I'm filling in for the regular @Roto_Dubs this week, as he has "real life" stuff to attend to. For those who aren't familiar, this is our fifth year now writing this weekly column, helping fantasy baseball managers pick the best pitchers weekly.
Below are the projected starting pitching matchups for Week 21 (8/20 through 8/26) as they currently stand, and our recommendations on whether to start or sit each pitcher. We'll be updating these throughout the week as rotations are inevitably tweaked. If you've got any questions about which pitchers can capitalize on a juicy matchup and which ones might be worth putting on the pine against a fierce offense, this is the weekly piece for you.
For every week of the fantasy baseball season, we look to analyze all of the projected starting pitcher matchups and put together our optimal lineups. It's late enough in the season where we need to dig a little deeper -- those looking to make up ground in the standings may need to take some more risks to try and make up ground on their opponents. Those leading the pack need to make sure they don't roll out too many duds, so benching to right dud can be a ratio saver. And as we approach September, more pitchers will be emerging on the waiver wire, so stay stuned! Now let's get those optimal lineups set for the upcoming week!
Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups and weekly lineup resources:- Nick Mariano's fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups (Premium)
- Start/Sit recommendations - All Pitcher Matchups for Week Ahead
- Fantasy baseball waiver wire rankings (top 80 players)
- FAAB fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
- Starting pitcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
- Outfield fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
- 1B/3B fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
- 2B/SS fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
- Hitter streamers - fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
- Two-start pitcher streamers - fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
- Cut List - Players To Consider Dropping for Week 5
SP Matchups & Start/Sit Recommendations
This weekly piece considers the pitcher’s opponents, their career stats against the opponent, some ballpark factors and historical splits. With all of this information, we then provide our start/sit recommendations for each starting pitcher matchup for the approaching week of fantasy baseball.
Last updated: Tuesday, August 21 at 7:20 am ET
| PROBABLE PITCHERS - MONDAY (8/20/18) | ||||
| GAME | START/SIT | VISITING STARTER | START/SIT | HOME STARTER |
| ATL@PIT | SIT | Bryse Wilson SP | ATL | SIT | Chris Archer SP | PIT |
| BAL@TOR | SIT | Andrew Cashner SP | BAL | SIT | Marco Estrada SP | TOR |
| CHW@MIN | START | Lucas Giolito SP | CHW | SIT | Stephen Gonsalves SP | MIN |
| CIN@MIL | SIT | Homer Bailey SP | CIN | SIT | Chase Anderson SP | MIL |
| CLE@BOS | START | Corey Kluber SP | CLE | START | Rick Porcello SP | BOS |
| HOU@SEA | START | Gerrit Cole SP | HOU | SIT | Felix Hernandez SP | SEA |
| KC@TB | SIT | Jorge Lopez RP | KC | SIT | Hunter Wood RP | TB |
| SF@NYM | START | Derek Holland SP | SF | START | Zack Wheeler SP | NYM |
| STL@LAD | SIT | Austin Gomber SP | STL | START | Alex Wood SP | LAD |
| TEX@OAK | SIT | Bartolo Colon SP | TEX | START | Mike Fiers SP | OAK |
| PROBABLE PITCHERS - TUESDAY (8/21/18) | ||||
| GAME | START/SIT | VISITING STARTER | START/SIT | HOME STARTER |
| ATL@PIT | START | Kevin Gausman SP | ATL | START | Ivan Nova SP | PIT |
| BAL@TOR | START | Dylan Bundy SP | BAL | SIT | Sam Gaviglio SP | TOR |
| CHC@DET | START | Kyle Hendricks SP | CHC | SIT | Jordan Zimmermann SP | DET |
| CIN@MIL | SIT | Sal Romano SP | CIN | SIT | Junior Guerra SP | MIL |
| CLE@BOS | SIT | Shane Bieber SP | CLE | START | Nathan Eovaldi SP | BOS |
| HOU@SEA | TBD | TBD | START | Mike Leake SP | SEA |
| KC@TB | SIT | Glenn Sparkman RP | KC | START | Blake Snell SP | TB |
| LAA@ARI | SIT | Felix Pena RP | LAA | START | Patrick Corbin SP | ARI |
| MIN@CHW | START | Jose Berrios SP | MIN | START | Michael Kopech SP | CHW |
| NYY@MIA | START | Masahiro Tanaka SP | NYY | SIT | Pablo Lopez P | MIA |
| PHI@WAS | START | Vince Velasquez SP | PHI | START | Tanner Roark SP | WAS |
| SD@COL | SIT | Robbie Erlin SP | SD | SIT | Tyler Anderson SP | COL |
| SF@NYM | SIT | Chris Stratton SP | SF | SIT | Steven Matz SP | NYM |
| STL@LAD | SIT | Daniel Poncedeleon SP | STL | START | Hyun-Jin Ryu SP | LAD |
| TEX@OAK | SIT | Ariel Jurado SP | TEX | START | Brett Anderson SP | OAK |
| PROBABLE PITCHERS - WEDNESDAY (8/22/18) | ||||
| GAME | START/SIT | VISITING STARTER | START/SIT | HOME STARTER |
| ATL@PIT | START | Julio Teheran SP | ATL | START | Trevor Williams SP | PIT |
| BAL@TOR | SIT | David Hess P | BAL | SIT | Thomas Pannone P | TOR |
| CHC@DET | START | Jon Lester SP | CHC | SIT | Francisco Liriano RP | DET |
| CIN@MIL | SIT | Robert Stephenson RP | CIN | SIT | Freddy Peralta SP | MIL |
| CLE@BOS | START | Carlos Carrasco SP | CLE | SIT | Brian Johnson SP | BOS |
| HOU@SEA | START | Charlie Morton SP | HOU | SIT | Marco Gonzales SP | SEA |
| KC@TB | START | Jake Junis SP | KC | TBD | TBD |
| LAA@ARI | SIT | Odrisamer Despaigne RP | LAA | START | Clay Buchholz SP | ARI |
| MIN@CHW | START | Kyle Gibson SP | MIN | START | Carlos Rodon SP | CHW |
| NYY@MIA | START | Lance Lynn SP | NYY | SIT | Trevor Richards SP | MIA |
| PHI@WAS | START | Zach Eflin SP | PHI | START | Stephen Strasburg SP | WAS |
| SD@COL | SIT | Jacob Nix SP | SD | START | Jon Gray SP | COL |
| SF@NYM | SIT | Casey Kelly RP | SF | START | Noah Syndergaard SP | NYM |
| STL@LAD | START | Jack Flaherty SP | STL | START | Walker Buehler RP | LAD |
| TEX@OAK | START | Mike Minor RP | TEX | START | Edwin Jackson SP | OAK |
| PROBABLE PITCHERS - THURSDAY (8/23/18) | ||||
| GAME | START/SIT | VISITING STARTER | START/SIT | HOME STARTER |
| ATL@MIA | START | Sean Newcomb SP | ATL | SIT | Dan Straily SP | MIA |
| CHW@DET | START | James Shields SP | CHW | START | Matthew Boyd SP | DET |
| CIN@CHC | START | Anthony DeSclafani SP | CIN | START | Cole Hamels SP | CHC |
| CLE@BOS | SIT | Adam Plutko SP | CLE | START | David Price SP | BOS |
| KC@TB | SIT | Danny Duffy SP | KC | START | Tyler Glasnow SP | TB |
| OAK@MIN | START | Trevor Cahill SP | OAK | SIT | Kohl Stewart SP | MIN |
| PHI@WAS | START | Aaron Nola SP | PHI | START | Max Scherzer SP | WAS |
| SD@COL | SIT | Joey Lucchesi SP | SD | START | Kyle Freeland SP | COL |
| SF@NYM | START | Madison Bumgarner SP | SF | START | Jacob deGrom SP | NYM |
| PROBABLE PITCHERS - FRIDAY (8/24/18) | ||||
| GAME | START/SIT | VISITING STARTER | START/SIT | HOME STARTER |
| ATL@MIA | START | Mike Foltynewicz SP | ATL | SIT | Wei-Yin Chen SP | MIA |
| BOS@TB | SIT | Hector Velazquez RP | BOS | TBD | TBD |
| CHW@DET | SIT | Dylan Covey SP | CHW | SIT | Ryan Carpenter RP | DET |
| CIN@CHC | SIT | Matt Harvey SP | CIN | SIT | Jose Quintana SP | CHC |
| CLE@KC | START | Mike Clevinger SP | CLE | SIT | Heath Fillmyer SP | KC |
| HOU@LAA | START | Dallas Keuchel SP | HOU | TBD | TBD |
| NYY@BAL | START | Luis Severino SP | NYY | START | Alex Cobb SP | BAL |
| OAK@MIN | START | Sean Manaea SP | OAK | SIT | Jake Odorizzi SP | MIN |
| PHI@TOR | START | Jake Arrieta SP | PHI | SIT | Sean Reid-Foley SP | TOR |
| PIT@MIL | SIT | Joe Musgrove RP | PIT | START | Wade Miley SP | MIL |
| SD@LAD | SIT | Clayton Richard SP | SD | START | Rich Hill SP | LAD |
| SEA@ARI | SIT | Erasmo Ramirez SP | SEA | START | Robbie Ray SP | ARI |
| STL@COL | START | Miles Mikolas SP | STL | SIT | Antonio Senzatela SP | COL |
| TEX@SF | TBD | TBD | START | Dereck Rodriguez SP | SF |
| WAS@NYM | SIT | Tommy Milone SP | WAS | SIT | Jason Vargas SP | NYM |
| PROBABLE PITCHERS - SATURDAY (8/25/18) | ||||
| GAME | START/SIT | VISITING STARTER | START/SIT | HOME STARTER |
| ATL@MIA | START | Anibal Sanchez SP | ATL | SIT | Elieser Hernandez RP | MIA |
| BOS@TB | START | Rick Porcello SP | BOS | TBD | TBD |
| CHW@DET | SIT | Reynaldo Lopez SP | CHW | SIT | Jacob Turner RP | DET |
| CIN@CHC | SIT | Luis Castillo SP | CIN | SIT | Tyler Chatwood SP | CHC |
| CLE@KC | START | Corey Kluber SP | CLE | SIT | Jorge Lopez RP | KC |
| HOU@LAA | START | Justin Verlander SP | HOU | SIT | Andrew Heaney SP | LAA |
| NYY@BAL | START | CC Sabathia SP | NYY | TBD | TBD |
| OAK@MIN | START | Mike Fiers SP | OAK | SIT | Stephen Gonsalves SP | MIN |
| PHI@TOR | START | Nick Pivetta SP | PHI | SIT | Ryan Borucki RP | TOR |
| PIT@MIL | START | Jameson Taillon SP | PIT | START | Jhoulys Chacin SP | MIL |
| SD@LAD | SIT | Brett Kennedy SP | SD | START | Clayton Kershaw SP | LAD |
| SEA@ARI | SIT | Roenis Elias RP | SEA | START | Zack Godley SP | ARI |
| STL@COL | SIT | John Gant RP | STL | START | German Marquez SP | COL |
| TEX@SF | START | Yovani Gallardo SP | TEX | SIT | Derek Holland SP | SF |
| WAS@NYM | SIT | Gio Gonzalez SP | WAS | START | Zack Wheeler SP | NYM |
| PROBABLE PITCHERS - SUNDAY (8/26/18) | ||||
| GAME | START/SIT | VISITING STARTER | START/SIT | HOME STARTER |
| ATL@MIA | START | Kevin Gausman SP | ATL | SIT | Pablo Lopez P | MIA |
| BOS@TB | START | Nathan Eovaldi SP | BOS | START | Blake Snell SP | TB |
| CHW@DET | START | Lucas Giolito SP | CHW | SIT | Jordan Zimmermann SP | DET |
| CIN@CHC | SIT | Homer Bailey SP | CIN | START | Kyle Hendricks SP | CHC |
| CLE@KC | START | Shane Bieber SP | CLE | SIT | Glenn Sparkman RP | KC |
| HOU@LAA | START | Gerrit Cole SP | HOU | START | Jaime Barria SP | LAA |
| NYY@BAL | START | Masahiro Tanaka SP | NYY | SIT | Dylan Bundy SP | BAL |
| OAK@MIN | START | Brett Anderson SP | OAK | START | Jose Berrios SP | MIN |
| PHI@TOR | START | Vince Velasquez SP | PHI | SIT | Marco Estrada SP | TOR |
| PIT@MIL | SIT | Chris Archer SP | PIT | SIT | Chase Anderson SP | MIL |
| SD@LAD | TBD | TBD | START | Alex Wood SP | LAD |
| SEA@ARI | SIT | Felix Hernandez SP | SEA | START | Zack Greinke SP | ARI |
| STL@COL | SIT | Austin Gomber SP | STL | SIT | Tyler Anderson SP | COL |
| TEX@SF | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| WAS@NYM | SIT | Tanner Roark SP | WAS | SIT | Steven Matz SP | NYM |
