Checking in with two starts this week are none other than Masahiro Tanaka and Jose Quintana.

Bad timing, right?

Tanaka is coming off three miserable starts with one 13-strikeout gem layered in between. Quintana has given up 15 earned runs in his past two starts after throwing eight one-hit innings the start before that. Both players' overall numbers are terrible.

And yet, I'm inclined to start both.

Notice each is only a start or two removed from the type of dominant effort we expected from them all along? Yeah, I think they're more or less OK.

Not locating their pitches properly, it goes without saying, but the stuff is good and the necessary correction a minor one. It'll be like flipping a switch, suddenly they're back to form one day, and if you miss out on only one good start as a result, oh well, it's still good news. But if you miss out on two? That's shake-your-fist-at-the-sky type stuff. Really, if either of the two starts is favorable, starting them will have been worth your while.

My start-'em-if-you-got-'em tier runs 15 deep this week and includes Tanaka and Quintana as well as rookie Dinelson Lamet, who faces the strikeout-prone Diamondbacks in his first start and the anemic Royals in his second. Any of Nos. 16-22 figure to do more good than harm, though, particularly in a points league where you don't have to protect ratios.

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Two-start pitchers for Week 10
Rank Pitcher Start 1 Start 2
1 Max Scherzer, WAS at LAD vs. TEX
2 Chris Archer, TB vs. CHW vs. OAK
3 Carlos Martinez, STL at CIN vs. PHI
4 James Paxton, SEA vs. MIN vs. TOR
5 Robbie Ray, ARI vs. SD vs. MIL
6 Jake Arrieta, CHC vs. MIA vs. COL
7 Sean Manaea, OAK vs. TOR at TB
8 Ivan Nova, PIT at BAL vs. MIA
9 Jose Quintana, CHW at TB at CLE
10 Jeff Samardzija, SF at MIL vs. MIN
11 Drew Pomeranz, BOS at NYY vs. DET
12 Masahiro Tanaka, NYY vs. BOS vs. BAL
13 Dinelson Lamet, SD at ARI vs. KC
14 J.A. Happ, TOR at OAK at SEA
15 Dan Straily, MIA at CHC at PIT
16 Chase Anderson, MIL vs. SF at ARI
17 Ian Kennedy, KC vs. HOU at SD
18 Adam Wainwright, STL at CIN vs. PHI
19 Aaron Nola, PHI at ATL at STL
20 Gio Gonzalez, WAS at LAD vs. TEX
21 Jaime Garcia, ATL vs. PHI vs. NYM
22 Junior Guerra, MIL vs. SF at ARI
23 Antonio Senzatela, COL vs. CLE at CHC
24 Hyun-Jin Ryu, LAD vs. WAS vs. CIN
25 Kevin Gausman, BAL vs. PIT at NYY
26 David Paulino, HOU* at KC vs. LAA
27 Hector Santiago, MIN at SEA at SF
28 Mike Fiers, HOU at KC vs. LAA
29 Nick Pivetta, PHI at ATL at STL
30 Tim Adleman, CIN vs. STL at LAD
31 Matt Cain, SF at MIL vs. MIN
32 Jesse Chavez, LAA* at DET at HOU
33 Daniel Norris, DET vs. LAA at BOS
34 Eddie Butler, CHC vs. MIA vs. COL
35 Jeff Locke, MIA at CHC at PIT
36 Bartolo Colon, ATL vs. PHI vs. NYM
37 Asher Wojciechowski, CIN vs. STL at LAD

*RP-eligible