As we head into the fifth week of the baseball season, we’re in the midst of arguably the worst offensive environment in Major League Baseball history. In April, teams averaged more than a strikeout per inning (36.5 K% to be exact). Teams were also averaging fewer than eight hits per game for only the fifth time in MLB history, and home runs were down the most they’ve been in years.
Is it the ball? Maybe. Is it the weather still being cold? Potentially. However, there’s no doubting this has been one of the weirdest starts to the season we’ve ever seen. However, while this offensive environment is as bad as it’s been, we’re going to capitalize by continuing to smash pitching every week as we’ve been doing.
One of the best ways to make sure to do this is to look at a pitcher’s matchups for the following week. You can find who has weaker matchups to potentially stream, bench certain pitchers with difficult matchups, and take advantage of two-start pitchers for that week.
I’m here to try and help you figure out those tough pitcher decisions for your daily or weekly lineups by ranking my top 50 pitchers ahead of each week this season. This will not be a pitcher’s ranking for the season but rather how I rank them for that particular week. For example, a pitcher with two starts or who faces a team with a horrible offense will usually get a bump compared to pitchers with bad matchups.
As we head into the fifth week of the baseball season, we’re in the midst of arguably the worst offensive environment in Major League Baseball history. In April, teams averaged more than a strikeout per inning (36.5 K% to be exact). Teams were also averaging fewer than eight hits per game for only the fifth time in MLB history, and home runs were down the most they’ve been in years.
Is it the ball? Maybe. Is it the weather still being cold? Potentially. However, there’s no doubting this has been one of the weirdest starts to the season we’ve ever seen. However, while this offensive environment is as bad as it’s been, we’re going to capitalize by continuing to smash pitching every week as we’ve been doing.
One of the best ways to make sure to do this is to look at a pitcher’s matchups for the following week. You can find who has weaker matchups to potentially stream, bench certain pitchers with difficult matchups, and take advantage of two-start pitchers for that week.
I’m here to try and help you figure out those tough pitcher decisions for your daily or weekly lineups by ranking my top 50 pitchers ahead of each week this season. This will not be a pitcher’s ranking for the season but rather how I rank them for that particular week. For example, a pitcher with two starts or who faces a team with a horrible offense will usually get a bump compared to pitchers with bad matchups.
The projected matchups and two-start starting pitchers are from the MLB Probable Pitchers tool on FantasyPros. Make sure to look for this article every weekend and make the necessary adjustments throughout the week with injury list (IL) stints, postponements, and everything in between. Remember, the most active manager is usually the one who gets the best free agents and dramatically increases their chances to win their league!
Let’s take a look at my top 50 starting pitchers starting today (5/6) and for the next seven days total.
Top 50 Starting Pitchers for Week 5
- Max Scherzer (2 starts) @PHI & @WAS
- Gerrit Cole (2 starts) vs. TEX & @CHW
- Logan Gilbert (2 starts) vs. TB & PHI
- Logan Webb (2 starts) vs. STL & COL
- Sandy Alcantara (2 starts) @SD & @ARI
- Eric Lauer (2 starts) @ATL & vs CIN
- Clayton Kershaw (2 starts) @CHC & vs PHI
- Corbin Burnes @ATL
- Walker Buehler @CHC
- Brandon Woodruff @ATL
- Kevin Gausman @CLE
- Joe Musgrove vs MIA
- Freddy Peralta @CIN
- Julio Urias @PIT
- Carlos Rodon vs STL
- Alek Manoah @CLE
- Justin Verlander @MIN
- Shane McClanahan @LAA
- Zack Wheeler @SEA
- Lucas Giolito vs CLE
- Shane Bieber vs TOR
- Frankie Montas vs DET
- Sean Manaea vs PIT
- Dylan Cease @BOS
- Max Fried vs MIL
- Aaron Nola @SEA
- Yu Darvish vs PIT
- Joe Ryan vs OAK
- Tylor Megill @WAS
- Kyle Wright vs BOS
- Chris Bassitt @PHI
- Zac Gallen vs COL
- Jesus Luzardo @ARI
- Shohei Ohtani vs TB
- Adam Wainwright vs BAL
- Robbie Ray vs PHI
- Luis Garcia vs DET
- Patrick Sandoval vs WAS
- Merrill Kelly (2 starts) vs COL & @MIA
- Pablo Lopez @SD
- Mitch Keller (2 starts) @CIN & vs CIN
- Nathan Eovaldi vs CHW
- MacKenzie Gore vs CHC
- Jose Berrios @NYY
- Eduardo Rodriguez (2 starts) @HOU & vs OAK
- Michael Kopech vs CLE
- Trevor Rogers @SD
- Chad Kuhl (2 starts) @ARI & vs SF
- Tyler Anderson (2 starts) @CHC & @PIT
- Kyle Gibson (2 starts) vs NYM & @SEA
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David Mendelson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from David, check out his archive and follow him on Twitter at @DMendy02.
