You should be grinding two-start pitchers to give you an advantage over your competition during the season.

Each week, I will give you a breakdown of the two-start options for your fantasy leagues broken up into the following tiers:

• Must Start: Pitchers you have to start because of their talent/matchups.
• Should Start: Pitchers rostered in most formats and who should probably be in your lineup.
• Here We Go: Pitchers you are probably starting in most formats but who come with some level of risk.
• Feeling Lucky: Pitchers available in less than 25% of leagues that are risky but viable in deeper formats.
• Desperate Measures: Pitchers you shouldn’t use unless you have no choice.

These projected two-start pitchers are subject to change and will with the season just beginning. For whatever it’s worth, I’m a little more conservative earlier in the season as I don’t love getting my ratios trashed early on.

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Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers: Week 9

Must Start

• Chris Sale (SP – ATL) vs. SD, at PIT
• Kyle Bradish (SP – BAL) at STL, at CHW
• Tanner Houck (SP – BOS) at TB, vs. MIL
• Javier Assad (SP, RP – CHC) vs. ATL, at STL
• Garrett Crochet (SP, RP – CWS) at TOR, vs. BAL
• Reese Olson (SP – DET) at KC, vs. TOR
• Ranger Suarez (SP – PHI) vs. TEX, at COL
• Dylan Cease (SP – SD) at ATL, vs. NYY
• Logan Gilbert (SP – SEA) at NYY, at WAS
• Sonny Gray (SP – STL) vs. BAL, vs. CHC
• Logan Webb (SP – SF) at PIT, at NYM
• Pablo Lopez (SP – MIN) at WAS, vs. TEX
• Jose Berrios (SP – TOR) vs. CWS, at DET
• Yusei Kikuchi (SP – TOR) vs. CHW, at DET
• Bryan Woo (SP – SEA) at NYY, at WAS
• Marcus Stroman (SP – NYY) vs. SEA, at SD

Should Start

Gavin Stone (SP – LAD) vs. ARI, at CIN

Gavin Stone has been fantastic this year, throwing 44 innings with a 3.27 ERA. However, he has struggled with allowing a lot of contact leading to a 1.27 WHIP and a small strikeout rate. That said, he has been so good and is a lock for a win this week with the Dodgers’ offense behind him.

Erick Fedde (SP – CWS) at TOR, vs. BAL

Erick Fedde has a couple of tougher matchups this week. Being on the White Sox means he has a low win potential, but he has been fantastic from a results standpoint. He only has one bad start this season, so you are probably rolling with him in every format despite the poor win potential.

Charlie Morton (SP – ATL) at CHC, at PIT

Charlie Morton has been great this season, throwing 46 innings with a 3.52 ERA and 44 strikeouts. While the underlying numbers are saying he will regress some, he has a lot of win potential in Atlanta. These are decent enough matchups to exploit.

Jon Gray (SP – TEX) at PHI, at MIN

Jon Gray has been fantastic this season, throwing 52 innings with a 2.08 ERA and 52 strikeouts. He will regress some as the season continues, but he should still be a pretty good pitcher as the underlying numbers support a fair amount of what he is doing.

Clarke Schmidt (SP – NYY) vs. SEA, at SD

Clarke Schmidt has been really good as of late, throwing 50.2 innings with a 2.49 ERA and 55 strikeouts. He is coming off of an eight-inning shutout in Minnesota. While San Diego’s start hasn’t been great, Seattle’s offense has struggled this season. I would roll him out there in most formats.

Here We Go

Taj Bradley (SP – TB) vs. BOS, vs. KC

Taj Bradley has looked superb since his debut, throwing his cutter with added velocity. He has a tough two-start this week versus the Red Sox and Royals, otherwise, he would be higher on this list. I am starting to buy in on him, though.

Ben Lively (SP – CLE) vs. NYM, at LAA

Ben Lively is a mediocre pitcher, at best, but he has pitched well so far and has a pretty great set of matchups versus a mediocre Mets lineup and a bad Angels lineup without Mike Trout.

Casey Mize (SP – DET) at KC, vs. TOR

Similar to Stone, Casey Mize has pitched well but also lacks strikeout. Unlike Stone, Mize doesn’t have a dynamic offense supporting him, which means when he has tough matchups like he does this week, he becomes reliant on his ratios being good. This play may be better suited for deeper leagues because of the limited upside despite having a decent floor.

Michael Wacha (SP – KC) vs. DET, at TB

Michael Wacha has been up and down this season, but a lot of the damage done to his ratios came from two starts. He is coming off consecutive quality starts and has two good matchups this week, so you are playing him in most league formats.

Feeling Lucky

Andrew Abbott (SP – CIN) vs. SD, vs. LAD

I don’t know how Andrew Abbott keeps pitching so well despite mediocre stuff. However, this feels like a risky week with the Padres and Dodgers coming to the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park.

Mitchell Parker (SP -WAS) vs. MIN, vs. SEA

Mitchell Parker has pitched well this season, but he has a low win potential on the Nationals, and he doesn’t get a lot of strikeouts. Add in the fact that while the Minnesota offense has been mediocre this season and the Mariners have struggled, both have been good versus left-handed pitching.

Joe Ross (SP – MIL) at MIA, at BOS

Joe Ross isn’t a great pitcher at this point in his career, but his underlying numbers are better than the surface stats say he has been. He has a great matchup versus the Marlins in Miami and then a mediocre matchup in Boston. This is a better play for win-seeking managers in deeper formats.

Ryan Weathers (SP – MIA) vs. MIL, at ARI

Ryan Weathers has been up and down this season, but he is coming off a great start last week. While the Brewers aren’t a great matchup, you aren’t afraid of the Diamondbacks right now. This is a bit scary and I would reserve it for deeper formats.

Desperate Measures

• Cal Quantrill (SP – COL) at OAK, vs. PHI
• Slade Cecconi (SP – ARI) at LAD, vs. MIA
• Reid Detmers (SP – LAA) at HOU, vs. CLE
• Tylor Megill (SP – NYM) at CLE, vs. SF
• Aaron Brooks (RP, SP – OAK) vs. COL, vs. HOU
• Martin Perez (SP, RP – PIT) vs. SF, vs. ATL
• Michael King (SP, RP – SD) at CIN, NYY

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