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SP RANK Name Team UP / DOWN Notes 1 Tarik Skubal DET He came one out short of his 5th straight quality start, but otherwise it’s the same old same old for Skubie-Doobie-Doo. 2 Garrett Crochet BOS Another gem last week in Seattle puts his June 7th drubbing at NYY even farther in the rearview mirror. This was an interesting quote from Grey last week, too: “ERAs of 2.20 or lower with 125+ Ks for the Red Sox through 16 starts: Crochet and Pedro. That’s it.” 3 Zack Wheeler PHI There are more than a few quotes from my Saturday round-up article (link in Fried’s note). Here’s Wheeler’s: “5 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 8 Ks and the no-decision. I don’t know what’s worse, having a great name like Blade Tidwell (3.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks) and getting excited to get called up to the bigs…only to find out you’re facing Zack Wheeler… OR, throwing a 4-hit shutout over 5 innings and not getting the win.” 4 Hunter Brown  HOU “5 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks. It was a solid start for Brown, whose only blemish was when he was victimized by a certain blossoming superstar Jo Adell.” Adell hype aside, Brown is not going down anytime soon. 5 Max Fried NYY I mentioned it in my Saturday Daily News article, but the only disappointment with Fried’s Friday start was the no-decision. That cost him his league-leading 10th win, but the ratios are still *chef’s kiss*. 6 Paul Skenes PIT Another quality start and another no-decision for Un-Skenes-y Bop. That offense behind him (in front of him?) is Poison. Here’s what I wrote earlier in the week for my notes: “6 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 5 BB, 9 Ks, ERA at 1.85. Skenes had more walkers than an old folks’ home. The better news is the Pirates gave him 4 runs of support. The least surprising news? A middle reliever gave up 2 ER in 0.2 innings to cost him a shot at his 5th win. Ugh.” 7 Yoshinobu Yamamoto LAD He’s lost 3 of his last 4, but bounced back nicely last week vs SD. Here’s what I wrote up earlier this week: “6 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 7 hits, zero walks, 5 Ks, ERA at 2.76. I just thank the Roto-Gods that I managed to land this guy as my SP2 in TGFBI behind Cole “My No-No Square Hurts” Ragans.” 8 Jacob deGrom TEX “6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks, and his 7th win. ERA at 2.24. WHIP at 0.92. That’s three wins in his last four (no-decision vs CWS June 10), and a cool dozen consecutive starts with two or fewer earned runs allowed.” 9 Bryan Woo SEA The SP9 through SP12 can go in whichever order you prefer. Woo gets the nod over the others this week. 10 Logan Webb SF 7 IP, 1 ER, 7 hits, zero walks, 9 Ks, ERA at 2.49. Radiant. Terrific. Humble. That is Some Pitcher. 11 Framber Valdez HOU He won his 6th (!) straight start last week, albeit with 5 BBs in 6 IP. His 3 Ks was a long way from the previous two games (12 and 11), but it’s tough to argue anyone in the game is hotter than Framber right now. He’s always been a quality start league darling, and his 11 QS in 15 GS this season backs that up. 12 Carlos Rodon NYY 6 IP, 3 ER, 5 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.10. I nearly ranked him SP9 today, but the others in this group are on fire too.. 13 Spencer Schwellenbach ATL 7 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.26. He was slated for the double dip last week, but the Braves started Bryce Elder yesterday. 14 Joe Ryan MIN More below. 15 MacKenzie Gore WSH “5.2 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 4 BB, 4 Ks. It just goes to show you that no matter how excellent your season is going, facing the Avengers in LA can bring it all crashing down around you.” 16 Robbie Ray SFG 6 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 2.68. He looked good to start the BOS at SF game yesterday afternoon, too. Pretty tight. Just like his…well, you know. 17 Kris Bubic KC 5 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 10 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.12. They say the only way to slow a Bubic is to stop putting hay and ants down your shirt. 18 Freddy Peralta MLW 5 IP, 3 ER, 4 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.76. I legit had to double-check his status because he felt like one of the hundred IL guys I had to remove or push down from last week. Hopefully that’s not a premonition. 19 Drew Rasmussen TB 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 2.61. 20 Spencer Strider ATL If he throws more games like his last two (12 IP, 1 ER, 2 BB, 21 Ks), he’ll crack the Top 10 sooner rather than later. Here’s my note from earlier this week: “6 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.89. He must’ve been mad about being ranked behind Griffin Canning last week. One more stride towards the Top 25 today.” 21 Logan Gilbert SEA 5 IP, 2 ER, 4 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 2.55. If the M’s can get both Gilbert and Kirby back to their optimal zones, they’ll be tough to stop this summer. EDIT: Yesterday’s 4 ER in 5 IP with 6 Ks was less encouraging, but even with the 3 HR allowed, he didn’t walk anyone. 22 George Kirby SEA “5 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, (2 HR), 1 BB, 3 Ks. Well, I guess that’s it. I’m pretty sure the rule is that if an ace pitcher loses a head-to-head matchup with Matt Boyd and/or Michael Wacha in one season, they have to retire. Happy trails, George.” One of MANY “Marmo quoting Marmo” clips from Saturday’s Daily Notes article. 23 Sonny Gray STL Eh? What’s that, Sonny? You gave up one earned run in 5 innings and allowed just 7 baserunners? And you didn’t get the dub? Inconceivable. 24 Cristopher Sanchez PHI 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks, ERA at 2.87. Wheels, Sweet Baby Jesus Luzardo, Ranger Suarez, Mick (is certainly) Abel, and the Sanchise? That makes me think of a healthy Mariners’ rotation. 25 Ranger Suarez PHI 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.20. The ascension may be a bit extreme, but it’s warranted! Last week, he won his 6th game (in 9 starts), and the ratios are exquisite. The next two matchups (at HOU and ATL)? Not so exquisite.  26 Dylan Cease SD I wrote this after his first start last week: 5 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 4.69. And last week it was an 11K shutout. The bad after the good never ceases to amaze me. Then, after his start on Friday night, he proved it again. 6.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks. Jeckyll and Hyde indeed. 27 Ryan Pepiot TB His two-start week last week was fantastic: 13 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 4 BB, 18 Ks. You could make a case that he should be a dozen spots higher than this, too. 28 Andrew Abbott CIN 5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 8 hits, zero walks, 5 Ks, ERA at 1.84. And he was even better yesterday at STL (7 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks). Two A’s, two B’s? Someone has an impressive report card! (Ignore the D!) 29 Jack Flaherty DET “2.1 IP, 8 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks. ERA at 4.83. Giving up home runs to famed burner of worms, Yandy Diaz, and hard-hit doubles to Matt Thaiss isn’t the best recipe for success. Yikes.” 30 Nick Lodolo CIN 6 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.71. His numbers are very similar to Luis Castillo’s (below), but I’m banking on the promise here. 31 Seth Lugo KC 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.05. You say Lugo, check your libugo, and go to the church in your new tuxugo. I think that’s how Seth busts a move. EDIT: Yesterday at SD was smooth through 2 innings! 32 Luis Castillo SEA 6 IP, 3 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.38. It was his second loss in 3 GS. His last win was May 19th (6 starts ago). The ratios are fine, his strikeout rate is down too, but it feels like a weak Seattle offense has more to do with this 4-5 record than anything else.  33 David Peterson NYM 7 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 2.60. He threw his second start (in a week) last night in Philly vs Jesus Luzardo. That was enough to scare me off the two-start week. 34 Jesus Luzardo PHI He’s better than this ranking, but we can’t push him up much more than SP35 until he gets back to his early-season domination-type outings. 35 Clay Holmes NYM 4 2/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.04. The reliever-to-starter plan has one caveat. Be very gentle. It’s tough to reshape Clay in late Spring. 36 Will Warren NYY 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 11 Ks, ERA at 4.83. “W.W.? Who do you figure that is, Woodrow Wilson? Willy Wonka? Walter White? Maybe Will Warren?” You’re god damn right! 37 Merrill Kelly ARI Rolled into COL last week, threw a quality start, and walked out with his 7th win. Smooth. 38 Matthew Boyd CHC “5 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 Ks. 76 pitches. It’s not a quality start, but it’s pretty darn close. And he caught a 104.7 MPH comebacker from J.P. Crawford like it was no big deal. Yeah, Boyd!” 39 Casey Mize DET 6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks, ERA at 2.96. Then yesterday he went 5 solid innings after being removed with a leg cramp. “These Mize…oh, they’ve cried!” And I’ll cry even more if there’s something wrong with that leg.  40 Chris Bassitt TOR I watched his start yesterday, and he had the White Sox off balance all afternoon. He was in line to record his 8th win until Jeff Hoffman biffed a comebacker and CWS tied the game at 2-2. He’s quietly been the Jays’ best SP this season. 41 Clarke Schmidt NYY 7 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.16. He’s won two of his last three games and hasn’t allowed an earned run in 20.2 innings. 42 Nick Pivetta SD “4.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks, 2 HRs. The ratios aren’t bad…yet. But outside of a nice start last week in Arizona, Pivetta has given up 4+ ER in three of his last four starts.” 43 Jacob Misiorowski MLW Way up today! This might be wishful thinking, but he’s been fantastic since his MLB debut.  44 Tanner Bibee CLE “8 IP, 4 ER, 11 H, 0 BB, 10 Ks. Sure, the hits allowed aren’t great, but the zero walks and double-digit strikeouts are pretty sweet. That doesn’t help that he dropped to 4-7 last night, though.” 45 Kevin Gausman TOR 4 1/3 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 4.60. Back-to-back losses and his “goose is cooked”. 46 Chris Paddack MIN I mistyped his name as “Padsack” when filling the list out and wondered if that’s what he’d need to avoid a 5 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 3 K outing at CIN last week. Regardless, he avoided the full kick to the junk and recorded his 3rd win of the year.  47 Matthew Liberatore STL 6 IP, 2 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 4 Ks, ERA at 4.08. He broke a three-game (personal) losing streak with this one. Streamonator doesn’t hate this upcoming two-start week ($10.5). 48 Michael Wacha KC 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.24. Grey mentioned seeing him on waivers and leaving him alone, and it made me think. Which free agent pitchers would we take before rostering him as a streamer? I say we because I’m right there too. (But I’d like to think I’d add him before taking a shot on EdRod or EdCab). 49 Jameson Taillon CHC 4 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 3.84. He wasn’t supposed to tie one on like this until August. Blech. 50 Bailey Ober MIN 5 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.54. That’s 3 straight losses and a lot of people saying they’re finally Ober it as they send him out to the free agent pile. He hasn’t won in 9 GS (since May 3rd). Barf emoji. 51 Griffin Canning NYM Yes, Canning is usually reserved for tomato harvest season, but as long as he’s still racking up wins, we’ll take it. (He won his 7th game of the year, this one at PHI last week) 52 Gavin Williams CLE 6 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 3.58. Do you remember the Austin Powers shark tank? Where the sharks had lasers on their heads? Good. Now put them in a lava pit and make them sneeze live grenades at you every time they breach the surface, and you’ve got a comparable answer to the question: “How ‘safe’ is it to start Gavin Williams this week?” 53 Shane Baz TB “5.1 IP, 5 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 6 Ks. An all-expense-paid trip to the I-Victory coast for Baz last night, courtesy of Captain Jack Flaherty. Can yar guess how many wins he’s got under that thar belt? If you said seven, (a) you cheated, (b) you are like me, a sucker who still rosters him in multiple leagues, or (c)…” 54 Cade Horton CHC 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks. That’s now 7 out of 8 starts that Horton hasn’t managed to get through 6 innings. I don’t want it to happen, but I think I know who gets optioned when Imanaga is ready to return. 55 Landen Roupp SFG Friday night is for the Rouppers! 6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 7 Ks and his 5th win of the year (vs BOS). That’s a nice line to record after the debacle at LAD two weeks ago. 56 Yusei Kikuchi LAA More below. 57 Tomoyuki Sugano BAL 3.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and a co-lede from my Daily Notes on Saturday. 58 Brady Singer CIN More below. 59 Grant Holmes ATL The real-life Kenny Powers went Five Alive Saturday night at MIA. 5.2 IP, 5 H, 5 BB, 5 Ks. At least he didn’t give up five earned runs! 60 Shane Smith CWS 4 1/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 2.85. Ah man. Welcome to the list, Shane. Oof. 61 Jose Soriano LAA More above! 62 Zack Littell TB 6 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks in Game 1. 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks in yesterday’s second start of the week. One could argue he deserves to be a dozen spots higher, but I would not listen to one. 63 Noah Cameron KC With the Cole Ragans news being none too promising, Noah Cameron not only stays in the rotation, but he moves up the list today, too. 64 Lucas Giolito BOS 6 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 4.73. I’ll go with Gio while he’s got this mojo. EDIT: 6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks in San Francisco yesterday shaved his ERA down to 4.53 and his WHIP to 1.37. 65 Jack Leiter TEX 5 2/3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 4.40. Oh boy. Almost literally. Maybe he can borrow a blister from his dad and hit the IL with the other 200 SPs. EDIT: Yesterday’s loss at PIT wasn’t as bad as his first start last week, but it still wasn’t good. He’s 0-3 in June. 66 Jose Berrios TOR 7.2 shutout innings with just 2 H, 3 BB,  and 5 Ks. I’d say don’t mention that it was against CWS, but the White Sox went crazy on Spencer Turnbull Friday night, so I expected Berrios to wipe them out the next day. 67 Eury Perez MIA His talent alone would merit a big jump, but he needs to show that he can go more than 5 innings in a start if we’re going to push him ahead of a lot of the others here. 68 Brandon Walter HOU N/R More below. 69 Mick Abel PHI It was a two-start week last week. 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 3 Ks in Game 1 last week. 3 IP, 4 ER, 6 baserunners, 1 K, (4 HR allowed) in Game 2. If he’s Abel to give us more of the former and less of the latter, he’s worth rostering everywhere. 70 Dustin May LAD Fun fact: This guy is also the answer to the question, “Hey Peter Parker, what’s your favorite Aunt’s name?” 71 Zach Eflin TB I had him much higher than this, then took a look at his two-start week last week. 8 IP, 13 ER, 22 H, 4 BB, 6 Ks. More like Zach Woof-lin. Ugh. 72 Hayden Birdsong SF “4.1 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 4 Ks. He had a better night than Dobbins did, but we need to see more consistency if he’s going to be more than a streamer in your 12-team leagues.” 73 Shohei Ohtani LAD N/R He won’t move up much higher than this until he starts working more innings in each start, but he did hit 100 MPH in his one inning of work last week. The unicorn is back! 74 Edward Cabrera MIA 6 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.81. So good so far. No Cab. I mean, cap. 75 Quinn Priester MLW More below. 76 David Festa MIN 3 2/3 IP, 2 ER, ERA at 4.78, then he piggybacked Danny Coulombe yesterday and was destroyed for 12 H and 8 ER in 4.2 innings. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt that the ‘follower’ role the him off. 77 Taj Bradley TB 1 1/3 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 4.95. More like Taj Badly. Hashtag nailed it? Almost? Hashtag Crazy-Glued it? (Poor Taj was so bad that I almost left out the arrow and just wrote DOWN in the up/down column. Ouch.) 78 Luis Severino ATH Last 2 GS: 12.2 IP, 3 ER, 15 H, 3 BB, 6 Ks. Those starts were in KC and vs HOU (respectively), so it’s not like he was facing COL and CWS. The absence of a strong strikeout rate hurts, though. 79 Andrew Heaney PIT 4 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 3.94. Eww. This gag reflex brought to you by the “Thank Goodness I didn’t have an option to stream him anywhere.” 80 Brayan Bello BOS I had Bello at SP84 this week before I decided that I couldn’t rank him and Springs below the stiffs in the early 80s. Although, eeking out someone for an SP80 spot is kind of like finding a box of stale donuts on a park bench. Is it really that exciting? 81 Jeffrey Springs ATH “7.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks. He’s been slipping in the Top 100 SPs for a few weeks now, so this is a welcome sight. The fact that it happened in Bing Bing Stadium is even more surprising.” 82 Jose Quintana MLW Take what I said about Severino and his strikeouts, sprinkle in better ratios, and you’ve got yourself a streamer with 5 wins. 83 Tyler Anderson LAA It’s never a good sign when you have to click the “more” tab to see when the last time was that an SP won a game. For the record, it was 12 starts ago. On April 18th. Yeesh. 84 Mitch Keller PIT Take what I said about Tyler Anderson, copy, and paste. Except he hasn’t won in 15 starts. And he’s only pitched in 16 games. Yep, you guessed it. He won his first (and only) on March 28th. What’s the word for worse than Yeesh? Yeeshier? Blech. 85 Clayton Kershaw LAD “5 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks. The only real blemish was two solo homers. Other than that, Kershaw looked pretty good. The bullpen managed to hold the lead for him, too (barely).” 86 Brandon Pfaadt ARI 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 3 Ks in his first game of the week. 4.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks in yesterday’s start at COL. I guess it could’ve been worse, but you’ve most likely already moved on as well. 87 Zac Gallen ARI It’s been so ugly, and last week was no exception. 5 IP, 7 ER, 10 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks. He did win his 5th of the year. He gets CWS this week, but after that, if you don’t have a ton of other arms with pristine ratios, I wouldn’t be activating him. 88 Sawyer-Gipson Long DET He’s been working in relief since his first MLB start of the year (June 4th). That should be enough to bounce him from the list, but he’s been a bulk follower and getting some innings behind the opener. It looks like DET is managing the workload. He’s averaged fewer than 60 pitches in his last 3 appearances. 89 Mike Soroka WSH 6 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 9 Ks, ERA at 5.06. EDIT: I finished this list up before the Nats game was even half finished. 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, and 10 Ks (!) with zero HR allowed AT LAD?! I’d move him up more than 10 spots if I could, but he’s on track for a big jump next week if he does this again at LAA. 90 Justin Verlander SF N/R 4 2/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 4.45. He’s back! Word is they activated him just so there was another guy in the clubhouse who could tell Rafael Devers that he wasn’t going to be the only one not playing third base. 91 Erick Fedde STL 5 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.54. 92 Ryne Nelson ARI 5 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 1 hit, 2 walks, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.88. 93 Slade Cecconi CLE 5 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.15. We’re headed to Grey for a quote on this one: “His stats look outstanding. Like Robbie Ray’s pants could be out standing by themselves. Cecconi’s got 10.1 K/9 (hello!), 3.3 BB/9 (not bad!) and 3.88 xFIP with a penchant for homers allowed.”  94 Michael Lorenzen KC “5.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks. I joke a lot about these 5-and-change starts robbing our Roto-players on leagues with a quality start category, but at least Lorenzen was on his way to a win before Lucas Erceg coughed up a couple (2 ER) in his inning of work.” 95 Bailey Falter ATL N/R I nearly went with Bryce Elder here, but the spot goes to Falter after putting their last 3 GS side-by-side. 5 IP, 3 ER, 6 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.49. What do we do when there are 74 open spots in the Top 100 Starting Pitchers list because everyone else is hurt? Falter? I hardly even know…nah.  96 Charlie Morton BAL 6 IP, 1 ER, 6 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 5.64. “And that, kids, is how I met your great-grandmother…and kept pitching until I was 50.” 97 Nick Martinez CIN 2 2/3 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 4.55. Touchdown! And the extra point! (But it’s not good!) 98 Bubba Chandler PIT N/R More below. 99 Sandy Alcantara MIA N/R Hear me out! I still wouldn’t touch him with a 10-metre pole, but Sandy has thrown 3 QS in his last 4 games. He’s at ARI this week, though, so I’d understand if you want to watch that one with him on your bench. 100 Tyler Glasnow LAD N/R It’s a bit of a cheat here adding an injured arm, but the news is that Glasnow will start rehab games this week. That means he’s trending in the right direction and should be back in a couple of weeks, barring any setbacks.