The waiver wire offers some surprisingly useful two-start options for Week 26 (Sept. 17-23) as we continue with the week-to-week crapshoot that is forecasting pitching matchups during September roster expansion.
They won't all end up being two-start options, of course. Already, several lost that status over the weekend, and several more will as Week 26 unfolds.
Case in point: I already have it on good authority that Felix Pena won't be making two starts in Week 26, despite what you may have seen, so I haven't included him here (as much as I'd like to). Who have I included? Joe Musgrove, Tyler Glasnow and Brad Keller. Those are the big three, the ones who are both highly available and performing well enough that you won't hate yourself for starting them if they end up making only one start. That's an important consideration this time of year.
So how cautiously do you want to play it? I feel pretty good about using any of the top 16 on this list, going by the what-if-he-makes-only-one-start standard, but if you're playing from behind and have to make your own luck, each of the next four — Wade Miley, Aaron Sanchez, Andrew Suarez and Ryan Borucki — has special matchups and enough upside to make the most of them even if it's a lower-probability play.
Two-start pitchers for Week 26 | ||||||||
Rank | Pitcher | Start 1 | Start 2 | |||||
1 | Aaron Nola, PHI | vs. NYM | at ATL | |||||
2 | Blake Snell, TB | at TEX | at TOR | |||||
3 | Patrick Corbin, ARI | vs. CHC | vs. COL | |||||
4 | Corey Kluber, CLE | vs. CHW | vs. BOS | |||||
5 | Zack Wheeler, NYM | at PHI | at WAS | |||||
6 | Mike Foltynewicz, ATL | vs. STL | vs. PHI | |||||
7 | Miles Mikolas, STL | at ATL | vs. SF | |||||
8 | J.A. Happ, NYY | vs. BOS | vs. BAL | |||||
9 | Jon Gray, COL | at LAD | at ARI | |||||
10 | Joe Musgrove, PIT* | vs. KC | vs. MIL | |||||
11 | Jake Arrieta, PHI | vs. NYM | at ATL | |||||
12 | Hyun-Jin Ryu, LAD | vs. COL | vs. SD | |||||
13 | Tyler Glasnow, TB* | at TEX | at TOR | |||||
14 | Kyle Hendricks, CHC | at ARI | at CHW | |||||
15 | Brad Keller, KC* | at PIT | at DET | |||||
16 | Anibal Sanchez, ATL* | vs. STL | vs. PHI | |||||
17 | Wade Miley, MIL | vs. CIN | at PIT | |||||
18 | Aaron Sanchez, TOR | at BAL | vs. TB | |||||
19 | Andrew Suarez, SF | at SD | at STL | |||||
20 | Ryan Borucki, TOR* | at BAL | vs. TB | |||||
21 | Wade LeBlanc, SEA* | at HOU | at TEX | |||||
22 | Anthony DeSclafani, CIN | at MIL | at MIA | |||||
23 | Nathan Eovaldi, BOS | at NYY | at CLE | |||||
24 | Framber Valdez, HOU* | vs. SEA | vs. LAA | |||||
25 | Jordan Zimmermann, DET | vs. MIN | vs. KC | |||||
26 | Erick Fedde, WAS | at MIA | vs. NYM | |||||
27 | Jason Vargas, NYM | at PHI | at WAS | |||||
28 | Trevor Richards, MIA | vs. WAS | vs. CIN | |||||
29 | Daniel Norris, DET | vs. MIN | vs. KC | |||||
30 | Bryan Mitchell, SD* | vs. SF | at LAD | |||||
31 | Adrian Sampson, TEX | vs. TB | vs. SEA | |||||
32 | Dylan Covey, CHW | at CLE | vs. CHC |
*RP-eligible