How confident can you be that any pitcher will make two starts this week?
• 1 min read
We need to talk about Week 27. As you well know, it’s the final week of the regular season, which means that teams have no incentive to keep their pitchers on turn. In fact, their incentives are precisely the reverse if they’re playoff-bound and looking to realign their rotation for the postseason.
So who can you really trust to make two starts? The short answer is no one. Yeah, the teams that have to fight to the bitter end for a playoff spot will give it everything they’ve got, but if they clinch with just a game or two remaining, they may roll with some spot starter instead. Meanwhile, a non-contender may abruptly decide that a particular pitcher has had enough and shut him down mid-week, eliminating his second start. It really is anything-goes.
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For high-end two-start pitchers like Kevin Gausman, Luis Castillo, Justin Steele and George Kirby — all of whom could miss out on their second start for postseason optimization purposes — it doesn’t really change the way you make out your lineup. They’re must-start whether making one start or two. But with iffier choices like Braxton Garrett or Bryce Elder, you need to weigh whether that first start on its own is enough to justify starting them. Because it’s likely that first start is all they get.
Below are the two-start pitchers for Fantasy Week 27 (Sept. 25-Oct. 1). All information is up to date as of Sunday evening.
Better left for points leagues
