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Ready your one-start pitchers, folks.
If you're looking to go quantity route in Fantasy Week 21 (Aug. 22-28), be prepared to sacrifice some quality.
The two-start roster looks less impressive than usual, featuring only seven pitchers that I'd be completely comfortable using in a one-start week. Stephen Strasburg's recent struggles and Danny Salazar's uninspiring return from the DL don't help in that regard, though both still rank fairly high just by process of elimination.
Homer Bailey and Anibal Sanchez both stand out as sleepers because of recent performance, and at least in the latter's case, the matchups certainly help. Underdogs looking to up their scoring potential at the expense of reliability could look to young guns Reynaldo Lopez, Blake Snell and Mike Foltynewicz, who are always capable of delivering something special amid their growing pains. None of the three have particularly favorable matchups, though.
And those three are pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel, at least as far as mixed leagues go, which means nearly half of this list isn't even usable this week. In other words, no need to get cute with your high-end one-start pitchers.
Note: *denotes RP eligibility in CBSSports.com leagues.
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Rank | Pitcher | Start 1 | Start 2 | |||||
1 | Madison Bumgarner, SF | at LAD | vs. ATL | |||||
2 | Jon Lester, CHC | at SD | at LAD | |||||
3 | David Price, BOS | at TB | vs. KC | |||||
4 | Carlos Carrasco, CLE | at OAK | at TEX | |||||
5 | Chris Archer, TB | vs. BOS | at HOU | |||||
6 | Dylan Bundy, BAL* | vs. WAS | at NYY | |||||
7 | Jameson Taillon, PIT | vs. HOU | at MIL | |||||
8 | Stephen Strasburg, WAS | at BAL | vs. COL | |||||
9 | Kenta Maeda, LAD | vs. SF | vs. CHC | |||||
10 | Homer Bailey, CIN | vs. LAD | at ARI | |||||
11 | Hisashi Iwakuma, SEA | vs. NYY | at CHW | |||||
12 | Jaime Garcia, STL | vs. NYM | vs. OAK | |||||
13 | Danny Salazar, CLE | at OAK | at TEX | |||||
14 | Anibal Sanchez, DET | at MIN | vs. LAA | |||||
15 | R.A. Dickey, TOR | vs. LAA | vs. MIN | |||||
16 | Doug Fister, HOU* | at PIT | vs. TB | |||||
17 | Yordano Ventura, KC | at MIA | at BOS | |||||
18 | Kevin Gausman, BAL | vs. WAS | at NYY | |||||
19 | Andrew Cashner, MIA | vs. KC | vs. SD | |||||
20 | Michael Pineda, NYY | at SEA | vs. BAL | |||||
21 | Reynaldo Lopez, WAS | at BAL | vs. COL | |||||
22 | Blake Snell, TB | vs. BOS | at HOU | |||||
23 | Mike Foltynewicz, ATL | at ARI | at SF | |||||
24 | Scott Kazmir, LAD | at CIN | vs. CHC | |||||
25 | Tyler Skaggs, LAA | at TOR | at DET | |||||
26 | Derek Holland, TEX | at CIN | vs. CLE | |||||
27 | Zack Godley, ARI | vs. ATL | vs. CIN | |||||
28 | Archie Bradley, ARI | vs. ATL | vs. CIN | |||||
29 | Clay Buchholz, BOS | at TB | vs. KC | |||||
30 | Chad Bettis, COL | at MIL | at WAS | |||||
31 | Ivan Nova, PIT | vs. HOU | at MIL | |||||
32 | Kyle Gibson, MIN | vs. DET | at TOR | |||||
33 | Andrew Triggs, OAK* | vs. CLE | at STL | |||||
34 | Jimmy Nelson, MIL | vs. COL | vs. PIT | |||||
35 | Edwin Jackson, SD* | vs. CHC | at MIA | |||||
36 | Rob Whalen, ATL | at ARI | at SF | |||||
37 | Chase Anderson, MIL | vs. COL | vs. PIT | |||||
38 | Anthony Ranaudo, CHW | vs. PHI | vs. SEA | |||||
39 | Jonathon Niese, PIT | at STL | vs. PHI | |||||
40 | Cody Martin, SEA* | vs. NYY | at CHW |