Latest fantasy baseball forecaster espn 2026 mlb starting pitcher hitter ranks week 16 july 20 26

Todd ZolaJul 17, 2026, 12:19 PM ET
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We're back to regular programming for Week 16 after Week 15 featured an extended scoring period that included the weekend immediately following the All-Star break (Thursday, July 16 through Sunday, July 19).

The Week 16 schedule, covering Monday, July 20 through Sunday, July 26, features a full Monday slate, since teams will have only played three or four games since the break. However, Thursday is quiet with only five contests.

Several teams opted to give their aces extra rest, either because they worked in the Midsummer Classic or to manage workloads. As such, Cy Young Award contenders Cristopher Sanchez, Jacob Misiorowski, Joe Ryan and Dylan Cease come out of the second-half gate with a two-start week.

It also has become common for pitchers recovering from injuries to target just after the break to return, and this year is no exception. Examples are Michael Soroka, Jameson Taillon, Randy Vasquez, Lance McCullers Jr., Ronel Blanco, Martin Perez and Max Scherzer. Soroka and Vasquez merit the most attention, as they both enjoyed extended periods of success before the break.

The Miami Marlins and San Francisco Giants both have just six games, split home and away, but they face a lot of vulnerable pitching. The Marlins visit the Houston Astros, then host the San Diego Padres, with each opponent using the back end of their suspect rotations. The Giants are on the road against the Kansas City Royals, then they return home to square off with the Los Angeles Angels, another pair of clubs without daunting pitching this period.

Lineup lock times

Week 16

Date	Total games	First game time	Day games
Monday, July 20	15	6:40 PM	0
Tuesday, July 21	15	6:40 PM	0
Wednesday, July 22	15	1:35 PM	7
Thursday, July 23	5	12:15 PM	4
Friday, July 24	15	4:10 PM	1
Saturday, July 25	15	1:10 PM	5
Sunday, July 26	15	12:15 PM	14

Scheduling quirks

Week 16: Teams with the most games

Total		Home		vs. LHSP		vs. RHSP
10 tied with	7	Red Sox	6	Diamondbacks	4	9 tied with	6
		Brewers	6	Twins	4
		Phillies	6	Orioles	3
		Rangers	6	Phillies	3
		5 tied with	4	Blue Jays	3
				Nationals	3

Starting pitcher ranks

Week 16: July 20-26

Rk	Pitcher	Team	1st Start	2nd Start
1	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI	Mon 7/20-LAD (Lauer)	Sun 7/26-NYY (Warren)
2	Jacob Misiorowski	MIL	Mon 7/20-NYM (Peralta)	Sun 7/26-COL (Freeland)
3	Joe Ryan	MIN	Mon 7/20-@CLE (Messick)	Sat 7/25-ATH (Lopez)
4	Dylan Cease	TOR	Mon 7/20-TB (Rasmussen)	Sat 7/25-@BOS (Gray)
5	Parker Messick	CLE	Mon 7/20-MIN (Ryan)	Sat 7/25-@TB (Rasmussen)
6	Drew Rasmussen	TB	Mon 7/20-@TOR (Cease)	Sat 7/25-CLE (Messick)
7	Nathan Eovaldi	TEX	Mon 7/20-CWS (Fedde)	Sun 7/26-SEA (Gilbert)
8	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD	Sun 7/26-@NYM (Peralta)
9	Framber Valdez	DET	Tue 7/21-@CHC (Peterson)	Sun 7/26-KC (Avila)
10	Jesus Luzardo	PHI	Fri 7/24-NYY (Weathers)
11	Freddy Peralta	NYM	Mon 7/20-@MIL (Misiorowski)	Sun 7/26-LAD (Yamamoto)
12	Michael Wacha	KC	Mon 7/20-SF (Mahle)	Sat 7/25-@DET (Flaherty)
13	Kevin Gausman	TOR	Tue 7/21-TB (Martinez)	Sun 7/26-@BOS (Tolle)
14	Zack Wheeler	PHI	Tue 7/21-LAD (Wrobleski)
15	Shane Baz	BAL	Mon 7/20-@BOS (Tolle)	Sun 7/26-ATL (Lopez)
16	Andrew Abbott	CIN	Mon 7/20-@SEA (Kirby)	Sun 7/26-@STL (Leahy)
17	Mitch Keller	PIT	Mon 7/20-@NYY (Warren)	Sun 7/26-CHC (Taillon)
18	Peter Lambert	HOU	Fri 7/24-@CWS (Martin)
19	Tarik Skubal	DET	Thu 7/23-KC (Kolek)
20	Janson Junk	MIA	Mon 7/20-@HOU (Imai)	Sun 7/26-SD (Buehler)
21	Nick Martinez	TB	Tue 7/21-@TOR (Gausman)	Sun 7/26-CLE (Cecconi)
22	Sean Manaea	NYM	Fri 7/24-LAD (Sasaki)
23	Jameson Taillon	CHC	Mon 7/20-DET (Flaherty)	Sun 7/26-@PIT (Keller)
24	Jack Flaherty	DET	Mon 7/20-@CHC (Taillon)	Sat 7/25-KC (Wacha)
25	Nolan McLean	NYM	Sat 7/25-LAD (Sheehan)
26	Hunter Greene	CIN	Sat 7/25-@STL (Liberatore)
27	Bryan Woo	SEA	Sat 7/25-@TEX (deGrom)
28	Hunter Brown	HOU	Sun 7/26-@CWS (Fedde)
29	Emmet Sheehan	LAD	Sat 7/25-@NYM (McLean)
30	Will Warren	NYY	Mon 7/20-PIT (Keller)	Sun 7/26-@PHI (Sanchez)
31	Shohei Ohtani	LAD	Wed 7/22-@PHI (Nola)
32	Logan Gilbert	SEA	Sun 7/26-@TEX (Eovaldi)
33	Chase Burns	CIN	Tue 7/21-@SEA (Hancock)
34	Payton Tolle	BOS	Mon 7/20-BAL (Baz)	Sun 7/26-TOR (Gausman)
35	Jose Soriano	LAA	Mon 7/20-STL (Liberatore)	Sun 7/26-@SF (Mahle)
36	Paul Skenes	PIT	Sat 7/25-CHC (Imanaga)
37	Slade Cecconi	CLE	Tue 7/21-MIN (Paredes)	Sun 7/26-@TB (Martinez)
38	Luis Castillo	SEA	Wed 7/22-CIN (Singer)
39	Cam Schlittler	NYY	Sat 7/25-@PHI (Rangel)
40	Logan Webb	SF	Fri 7/24-LAA (Rodriguez)
41	Foster Griffin	WSH	Sat 7/25-ARI (Bratt)
42	Gerrit Cole	NYY	Wed 7/22-PIT (Jones)
43	Eury Perez	MIA	Sat 7/25-SD (Vasquez)
44	Chris Sale	ATL	Thu 7/23-SD (Canning)
45	George Kirby	SEA	Mon 7/20-CIN (Abbott)
46	Justin Wrobleski	LAD	Tue 7/21-@PHI (Wheeler)
47	Braxton Ashcraft	PIT	Fri 7/24-CHC (Boyd)
48	Shane McClanahan	TB	Fri 7/24-CLE (Bibee)
49	Sandy Alcantara	MIA	Wed 7/22-@HOU (Blanco)
50	Jacob deGrom	TEX	Sat 7/25-SEA (Woo)
51	Tyler Mahle	SF	Mon 7/20-@KC (Wacha)	Sun 7/26-LAA (Soriano)
52	Shota Imanaga	CHC	Sat 7/25-@PIT (Skenes)
53	Ian Seymour	TB	Thu 7/23-@TOR (Bieber)
54	Luinder Avila	KC	Tue 7/21-SF (McDonald)	Sun 7/26-@DET (Valdez)
55	Jeffrey Springs	ATH	Mon 7/20-@ARI (Bratt)	Sun 7/26-@MIN (Prielipp)
56	Troy Melton	DET	Wed 7/22-@CHC (Rea)
57	Taj Bradley	MIN	Thu 7/23-@CLE (Cantillo)
58	Kyle Bradish	BAL	Sat 7/25-ATL (Elder)
59	Reynaldo Lopez	ATL	Tue 7/21-SD (Buehler)	Sun 7/26-@BAL (Baz)
60	Robbie Ray	SF	Sat 7/25-LAA (Johnson)
61	Trevor Rogers	BAL	Fri 7/24-ATL (Holmes)
62	Matthew Boyd	CHC	Fri 7/24-@PIT (Ashcraft)
63	Tanner Bibee	CLE	Fri 7/24-@TB (McClanahan)
64	Sean Burke	CWS	Sat 7/25-HOU (Arrighetti)
65	Elmer Rodriguez	NYY	Tue 7/21-PIT (Chandler)
66	Bryce Miller	SEA	Fri 7/24-@TEX (Gore)
67	Emerson Hancock	SEA	Tue 7/21-CIN (Burns)
68	Bubba Chandler	PIT	Tue 7/21-@NYY (Rodriguez)
69	Kyle Leahy	STL	Tue 7/21-@LAA (Urena)	Sun 7/26-CIN (Abbott)
70	Erick Fedde	CWS	Mon 7/20-@TEX (Eovaldi)	Sun 7/26-HOU (Brown)
71	Max Meyer	MIA	Fri 7/24-SD (Marquez)
72	Shane Drohan	MIL	Fri 7/24-COL (Sugano)
73	Andre Pallante	STL	Fri 7/24-CIN (Lowder)
74	Ryan Weathers	NYY	Fri 7/24-@PHI (Luzardo)
75	Gavin Williams	CLE	Wed 7/22-MIN (Ober)
76	Brady Singer	CIN	Wed 7/22-@SEA (Castillo)
77	Matthew Liberatore	STL	Mon 7/20-@LAA (Soriano)	Sat 7/25-CIN (Greene)
78	Casey Mize	DET	Fri 7/24-KC (Cameron)
79	Bailey Ober	MIN	Wed 7/22-@CLE (Williams)
80	Mitch Bratt	ARI	Mon 7/20-ATH (Springs)	Sat 7/25-@WSH (Griffin)
81	Noah Cameron	KC	Fri 7/24-@DET (Mize)
82	Michael McGreevy	STL	Wed 7/22-@LAA (Detmers)
83	Eric Lauer	LAD	Mon 7/20-@PHI (Sanchez)
84	Jack Perkins	ATH	Tue 7/21-@ARI (Cabrera)
85	Dustin May	STL	Thu 7/23-ARI (Pfaadt)
86	Jared Jones	PIT	Wed 7/22-@NYY (Cole)
87	Merrill Kelly	ARI	Wed 7/22-ATH (Jump)
88	Spencer Arrighetti	HOU	Sat 7/25-@CWS (Burke)
89	Ryan Johnson	LAA	Sat 7/25-@SF (Ray)
90	Roki Sasaki	LAD	Fri 7/24-@NYM (Manaea)
91	Jake Bennett	BOS	Wed 7/22-BAL (Kremer)
92	Brandon Sproat	MIL	Tue 7/21-NYM (Thornton)
93	Tatsuya Imai	HOU	Mon 7/20-MIA (Junk)
94	Griffin Jax	TB	Wed 7/22-@TOR (Scherzer)
95	Walbert Urena	LAA	Tue 7/21-STL (Leahy)
96	Michael King	SD	Wed 7/22-@ATL (Perez)
97	Sonny Gray	BOS	Sat 7/25-TOR (Cease)
98	Trey Yesavage	TOR	Fri 7/24-@BOS (Sandoval)
99	Jacob Lopez	ATH	Sat 7/25-@MIN (Ryan)
100	Zebby Matthews	MIN	Fri 7/24-ATH (Ginn)
101	Christian Scott	NYM	Wed 7/22-@MIL (Henderson)
102	Ronel Blanco	HOU	Wed 7/22-MIA (Alcantara)
103	Brandon Young	BAL	Tue 7/21-@BOS (Suarez)
104	Joey Cantillo	CLE	Thu 7/23-MIN (Bradley)
105	J.T. Ginn	ATH	Fri 7/24-@MIN (Matthews)
106	Davis Martin	CWS	Fri 7/24-HOU (Lambert)
107	Reid Detmers	LAA	Wed 7/22-STL (McGreevy)
108	Logan Henderson	MIL	Wed 7/22-NYM (Scott)
109	David Peterson	CHC	Tue 7/21-DET (Valdez)
110	Michael Soroka	ARI	Sun 7/26-@WSH (Alvarez)
111	Andrew Alvarez	WSH	Mon 7/20-@COL (Freeland)	Sun 7/26-ARI (Soroka)
112	Alan Rangel	PHI	Sat 7/25-NYY (Schlittler)
113	Eduardo Rodriguez	ARI	Fri 7/24-@WSH (Littell)
114	Walker Buehler	SD	Tue 7/21-@ATL (Lopez)	Sun 7/26-@MIA (Junk)
115	Grant Holmes	ATL	Fri 7/24-@BAL (Rogers)
116	Randy Vasquez	SD	Mon 7/20-@ATL (Elder)	Sat 7/25-@MIA (Perez)
117	Aaron Nola	PHI	Wed 7/22-LAD (Ohtani)
118	Dean Kremer	BAL	Wed 7/22-@BOS (Bennett)
119	Rhett Lowder	CIN	Fri 7/24-@STL (Pallante)
120	Noah Schultz	CWS	Tue 7/21-@TEX (Rocker)
121	Bryce Elder	ATL	Mon 7/20-SD (Vasquez)	Sat 7/25-@BAL (Bradish)
122	Colin Rea	CHC	Wed 7/22-DET (Melton)
123	Shane Bieber	TOR	Thu 7/23-TB (Seymour)
124	Connor Prielipp	MIN	Sun 7/26-ATH (Springs)
125	Kumar Rocker	TEX	Tue 7/21-CWS (Schultz)
126	Landen Roupp	SF	Wed 7/22-@KC (Lugo)
127	Gage Jump	ATH	Wed 7/22-@ARI (Kelly)
128	Zack Littell	WSH	Fri 7/24-ARI (Rodriguez)
129	Zach Thornton	NYM	Tue 7/21-@MIL (Sproat)
130	Ranger Suarez	BOS	Tue 7/21-BAL (Young)
131	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI	Thu 7/23-@STL (May)
132	MacKenzie Gore	TEX	Fri 7/24-SEA (Miller)
133	Lance McCullers Jr.	MIL	Sat 7/25-COL (Feltner)
134	Grayson Rodriguez	LAA	Fri 7/24-@SF (Webb)
135	Stephen Kolek	KC	Thu 7/23-@DET (Skubal)
136	Anthony Kay	CWS	Wed 7/22-@TEX (Quantrill)
137	Martin Perez	ATL	Wed 7/22-SD (King)
138	Ryan Feltner	COL	Sat 7/25-@MIL (McCullers)
139	Tyler Phillips	MIA	Tue 7/21-@HOU (Javier)
140	Seth Lugo	KC	Wed 7/22-SF (Roupp)
141	Max Scherzer	TOR	Wed 7/22-TB (Jax)
142	Jose Cabrera	ARI	Tue 7/21-ATH (Perkins)
143	Patrick Sandoval	BOS	Fri 7/24-TOR (Yesavage)
144	Cristian Javier	HOU	Tue 7/21-MIA (Phillips)
145	German Marquez	SD	Fri 7/24-@MIA (Meyer)
146	Michael Paredes	MIN	Tue 7/21-@CLE (Cecconi)
147	Trevor McDonald	SF	Tue 7/21-@KC (Avila)
148	Tomoyuki Sugano	COL	Fri 7/24-@MIL (Drohan)
149	Griffin Canning	SD	Thu 7/23-@ATL (Sale)
150	Cal Quantrill	TEX	Wed 7/22-CWS (Kay)
151	Kyle Freeland	COL	Mon 7/20-WSH (Alvarez)	Sun 7/26-@MIL (Misiorowski)
152	Cade Cavalli	WSH	Wed 7/22-@COL (Hughes)
153	Gabriel Hughes	COL	Wed 7/22-WSH (Cavalli)
154	Michael Lorenzen	COL	Tue 7/21-WSH (Mikolas)
155	Miles Mikolas	WSH	Tue 7/21-@COL (Lorenzen)

Hitter ratings

Week 16: July 20-26

Overall		LHB		RHB		SB
Nationals	10.0	Athletics	10.0	Nationals	9.8	Guardians	10.0
Brewers	8.4	Nationals	10.0	Rockies	9.7	Astros	10.0
Tigers	8.1	Brewers	8.6	Diamondbacks	8.7	Padres	10.0
Diamondbacks	8.0	Marlins	8.5	Braves	8.5	Blue Jays	10.0
Rockies	7.9	Astros	8.2	Brewers	8.3	Rangers	9.1
Braves	7.5	Tigers	8.1	Tigers	8.1	Orioles	8.4
Marlins	6.9	Giants	7.5	Twins	7.6	Marlins	7.9
Athletics	6.8	Braves	7.2	Royals	7.6	Diamondbacks	6.7
Astros	6.7	Diamondbacks	7.2	Rays	7.0	Athletics	6.7
Twins	6.4	White Sox	6.5	Cardinals	6.7	Phillies	6.6