This exercise gets to be more fun with each passing week.
With rosters having expanded, innings beginning to pile up for so many young arms and managers no longer beholden to the sacred five-man rotation, predicting who gets to start for each team two days in advance is difficult enough. A week? Forget it.
And with Hurricane Irma barreling down on my little corner of the U.S., I have to lock it in even earlier this time.
I'll just level with you: I've gone the conservative route for Week 24 (Sept. 11-17). It's the smart play this time of year, especially given my extenuating circumstances. If this list compels you to start a pitcher you otherwise wouldn't, well, he better be making two starts.
Granted, there hasn't been a week yet where every single pitcher ranked in this space has followed through and made two starts, but we're talking a much larger scale now.
I've gone ahead and excluded Justin Verlander, not knowing if the Astros plan to stick with a six-man rotation moving forward. Of course, you're probably starting him anyway, but maybe not the Tigers or Giants pitchers currently in line for two starts. Those particular rotations have so many outside variables to consider, I don't trust anyone to take his normal turn right now.
Marco Estrada at No. 18 represents the cutoff for the pitchers I would start vs. the ones I wouldn't. The line is probably right before him in categories leagues and right after him in points leagues.
| Two-start pitchers for Week 24 | ||||||||
| Rank | Pitcher | Start 1 | Start 2 | |||||
| 1 | Corey Kluber, CLE | vs. DET | vs. KC | |||||
| 2 | Zack Greinke, ARI | vs. COL | at SF | |||||
| 3 | Carlos Carrasco, CLE | vs. DET | vs. KC | |||||
| 4 | Jose Quintana, CHC | vs. NYM | vs. STL | |||||
| 5 | Sonny Gray, NYY | at TB | vs. BAL | |||||
| 6 | Gerrit Cole, PIT | at MIL | at CIN | |||||
| 7 | Gio Gonzalez, WAS | vs. ATL | vs. LAD | |||||
| 8 | Cole Hamels, TEX | vs. SEA | at LAA | |||||
| 9 | Jon Gray, COL | at ARI | vs. SD | |||||
| 10 | Reynaldo Lopez, CHW | at KC | at DET | |||||
| 11 | Eduardo Rodriguez, BOS | vs. OAK | at TB | |||||
| 12 | Sean Manaea, OAK | at BOS | at PHI | |||||
| 13 | Taijuan Walker, ARI | vs. COL | at SF | |||||
| 14 | Brandon Woodruff, MIL | vs. PIT | at MIA | |||||
| 15 | CC Sabathia, NYY | at TB | vs. BAL | |||||
| 16 | Dillon Peters, MIA | at PHI | vs. MIL | |||||
| 17 | Garrett Richards, LAA | vs. HOU | vs. TEX | |||||
| 18 | Marco Estrada, TOR | vs. BAL | at MIN | |||||
| 19 | Robert Stephenson, CIN* | at STL | vs. PIT | |||||
| 20 | Matt Harvey, NYM | at CHC | at ATL | |||||
| 21 | Miguel Gonzalez, TEX | vs. SEA | at LAA | |||||
| 22 | Joe Biagini, TOR* | vs. BAL | at MIN | |||||
| 23 | Jake Odorizzi, TB | vs. NYY | vs. BOS | |||||
| 24 | Jason Hammel, KC | vs. CHW | at CLE | |||||
| 25 | Ariel Miranda, SEA | at TEX | at HOU | |||||
| 26 | Andrew Moore, SEA | at TEX | at HOU | |||||
| 27 | Kyle Freeland, COL | at ARI | vs. SD | |||||
| 28 | Nick Pivetta, PHI | vs. MIA | vs. OAK | |||||
| 29 | Sam Gaviglio, KC* | vs. CHW | at CLE | |||||
| 30 | Matthew Boyd, DET | at CLE | vs. CHW | |||||
| 31 | Ubaldo Jimenez, BAL | at TOR | at NYY | |||||
*RP-eligible
