Latest fantasy baseball forecaster espn 2026 mlb starting pitcher hitter ranks week 17 july 27 august 2

Tristan H. CockcroftJul 24, 2026, 10:15 AM ET
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A busy week lies head for fantasy baseball managers. Half of the 30 teams are scheduled for seven games during Week 17, although one team, the Colorado Rockies, draws the short end of the stick with only five.

The New York Yankees take a seven-game trip to the city of Chicago, where they'll face a pair of current playoff teams. The Yankees first face the Chicago White Sox, the AL Central leaders, for four games at Rate Field before playing the Chicago Cubs, the NL's top Wild Card team, for three games at Wrigley Field. Max Fried, the Yankees' Opening Day starter, is aligned for two starts, his second and third since returning from a more than two-month stay on the IL for an elbow injury. Incidentally, Fried is a perfect 4-for-4 winning his career starts at Wrigley with a 1.38 ERA in those outings.

Yankees-Cubs isn't the only interleague matchup among the weekend's highlights. The red-hot Boston Red Sox, back in the AL Wild Card race (if not the AL East race as well) pay a three-game visit to Dodger Stadium to play the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball's winningest team. The Dodgers have Justin Wrobleski, an NL All-Star who improved his once-modest strikeout rate to 33.8% across his most-recent three starts, aligned as their two-start pitcher.

MLB's annual trade deadline won't arrive until the near-beginning of fantasy's Week 18 (at 6 p.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 3), but deals are likely to begin trickling in during the week ahead. Prepare for significant roster changes, with such notable names as Tarik Skubal, Mason Miller, Luis Arraez, Hunter Goodman and Freddy Peralta on the list of those most rumored to be traded.

Lineup lock times

Week 17

Date	Total games	First game time	Day games
Monday, July 27	12	2:35 PM	1
Tuesday, July 28	15	6:40 PM	0
Wednesday, July 29	15	12:10 PM	7
Thursday, July 30	10	12:10 PM	4
Friday, July 31	15	2:20 PM	1
Saturday, Aug. 1	15	3:07 PM	4
Sunday, Aug. 2	15	1:35 PM	14

Scheduling quirks

Week 17: Teams with the most games

Total		Home		vs. LHSP		vs. RHSP
15 tied with	7	Athletics	7	Athletics	4	Reds	6
		Reds	7	Braves	4	Marlins	6
		Mets	7	Mariners	4	Brewers	6
		4 tied with	6	6 tied with	3	Phillies	6
						13 tied with	5

Starting pitcher ranks

Week 17: July 27-Aug. 2

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

Hitter ratings

Week 17: July 27-Aug. 2

Overall		LHB		RHB		SB
Royals	10.0	Royals	10.0	Yankees	9.2	White Sox	10.0
Yankees	8.5	Blue Jays	8.2	Royals	9.1	Mets	10.0
Red Sox	7.7	Guardians	8.1	Braves	9.0	Phillies	10.0
Giants	7.5	Mariners	7.7	Red Sox	8.9	Mariners	10.0
Pirates	7.3	Reds	7.5	Giants	8.1	Rangers	10.0
Blue Jays	7.3	Pirates	7.3	Nationals	8.1	Nationals	10.0
Mariners	7.3	Giants	7.0	Mariners	7.9	Tigers	8.8
Braves	7.0	Phillies	6.9	Blue Jays	7.4	Yankees	8.3
Rockies	6.8	Red Sox	6.8	Rockies	7.4	Red Sox	7.5
Guardians	6.7	Yankees	6.7	Padres	7.4	Blue Jays	7.1