Latest fantasy baseball forecaster espn 2026 mlb starting pitcher hitter ranks week 25 sept 21 27

Tristan H. CockcroftSep 18, 2026, 09:20 AM ET
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This is it! The final week of the 2026 fantasy baseball season has arrived. If you've made it this far, congratulations! The final seven days should be a wild race to the finish line, both in the real game and in our own leagues.

Week 25 is one of the more balanced weeks on the schedule, with one exception: The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees begin their week-opening series with a Tuesday doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. One of those games makes up their May 23 postponement. The extra game gives both teams a seven-game final week.

All of the other 28 teams play exactly six games -- and 14 of those 28 split those six games evenly between home and the road. This is a "quality over quantity" week when it comes to matchups analysis. Additionally, most teams begin their weeks on Tuesday, as there are only three games scheduled for Monday.

Remember that MLB schedules all games on its final day, Sunday, Sept. 27, to start within a 15 minute window of one another (between 3:05 p.m. and 3:20 p.m. ET). This is by design to try and heighten the drama of real-life playoff races, but it also creates many mad, 3-4 hour dashes to the finish line in fantasy baseball leagues.

Get your popcorn -- I mean, your peanuts and Cracker Jack -- ready!

Lineup lock times

Week 25

Date	Total games	First game time	Day games
Monday, Sept. 21	3	6:35 PM	0
Tuesday, Sept. 22	16	1:05 PM	1
Wednesday, Sept. 23	15	1:10 PM	2
Thursday, Sept. 24	12	12:35 PM	5
Friday, Sept. 25	15	6:40 PM	0
Saturday, Sept. 26	15	1:10 PM	6
Sunday, Sept. 27	15	3:05 PM	15

Scheduling quirks

Starting pitcher ranks

Week 25: Sept. 21-27

Rk	Pitcher	Team	1st Start	2nd Start
1	Zack Wheeler	PHI	Tue 9/22-MIL (Henderson)	Sun 9/27-TB (TBD)
2	Logan Gilbert	SEA	Tue 9/22-HOU (Javier)	Sun 9/27-LAA (Kikuchi)
3	Max Fried	NYY	Tue 9/22-TBGm. 1 (Rasmussen)	Sun 9/27-BAL (Baz)
4	Logan Henderson	MIL	Tue 9/22-@PHI (Wheeler)	Sun 9/27-STL (Pallante)
5	Bryan Woo	SEA	Thu 9/24-LAA (Rodriguez)
6	Tarik Skubal	LAD	Sat 9/26-@SF (Roupp)
7	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI	Sat 9/26-TB (Jax)
8	JR Ritchie	ATL	Tue 9/22-CIN (Abbott)	Sun 9/27-@MIA (Junk)
9	Jared Jones	PIT	Tue 9/22-STL (Pallante)	Sun 9/27-@DET (Montero)
10	Kevin Gausman	CHC	Tue 9/22-MIA (Junk)	Sun 9/27-@BOS (Bennett)
11	Cam Schlittler	NYY	Fri 9/25-BAL (Rogers)
12	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD	Tue 9/22-SD (Ray)
13	Blade Tidwell	SF	Mon 9/21-MIN (Ober)	Sun 9/27-LAD (TBD)
14	Jacob Misiorowski	MIL	Sat 9/26-STL (Mathews)
15	Anthony Kay	CWS	Tue 9/22-@KC (Lynch)	Sun 9/27-COL (Sugano)
16	Shane Baz	BAL	Mon 9/21-TOR (Scherzer)	Sun 9/27-@NYY (Fried)
17	Reid Detmers	LAA	Fri 9/25-@SEA (Miller)
18	Max Scherzer	TOR	Mon 9/21-@BAL (Baz)	Sun 9/27-CIN (Abbott)
19	Tyler Glasnow	LAD	Fri 9/25-@SF (Webb)
20	Chris Sale	ATL	Wed 9/23-CIN (Singer)
21	Paul Skenes	PIT	Thu 9/24-STL (Leahy)
22	Carlos Rodon	NYY	Wed 9/23-TB (Martinez)
23	Dylan Cease	TOR	Wed 9/23-@BAL (Povich)
24	Taj Bradley	MIN	Wed 9/23-@SF (Perdomo)
25	Jacob deGrom	TEX	Sat 9/26-@MIN (Ryan)
26	MacKenzie Gore	TEX	Tue 9/22-NYM (Manaea)	Sun 9/27-@MIN (Kremer)
27	Drew Rasmussen	TB	Tue 9/22-@NYYGm. 1 (Fried)
28	Nolan McLean	NYM	Wed 9/23-@TEX (Bradford)
29	Trevor Rogers	BAL	Fri 9/25-@NYY (Schlittler)
30	Kade Anderson	SEA	Sat 9/26-LAA (Johnson)
31	Keider Montero	DET	Mon 9/21-WSH (Kent)	Sun 9/27-PIT (Jones)
32	Will Warren	NYY	Sat 9/26-BAL (Young)
33	Jose Soriano	TOR	Fri 9/25-CIN (Lodolo)
34	Foster Griffin	CLE	Tue 9/22-@BOS (Bennett)	Sun 9/27-@KC (Lynch)
35	Jake Bennett	BOS	Tue 9/22-CLE (Griffin)	Sun 9/27-CHC (Gausman)
36	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI	Fri 9/25-@SD (Mize)
37	Shota Imanaga	CHC	Wed 9/23-MIA (Gusto)
38	George Kirby	SEA	Wed 9/23-HOU (Pecko)
39	Janson Junk	MIA	Tue 9/22-@CHC (Gausman)	Sun 9/27-ATL (Ritchie)
40	Michael Soroka	ARI	Tue 9/22-@COL (Freeland)	Sun 9/27-@SD (Buehler)
41	Joe Ryan	MIN	Sat 9/26-TEX (deGrom)
42	Nick Pivetta	SD	Thu 9/24-@LAD (Sasaki)
43	Ian Seymour	TB	Thu 9/24-@NYY (Cole)
44	Michael King	SD	Wed 9/23-@LAD (Snell)
45	Elmer Rodriguez	NYY	Tue 9/22-TBGm. 2 (TBD)
46	Blake Snell	LAD	Wed 9/23-SD (King)
47	Gerrit Cole	NYY	Thu 9/24-TB (Seymour)
48	Andrew Abbott	CIN	Tue 9/22-@ATL (Ritchie)	Sun 9/27-@TOR (Scherzer)
49	Zebby Matthews	MIN	Tue 9/22-@SF (Molina)
50	Bryce Miller	SEA	Fri 9/25-LAA (Detmers)
51	Freddy Peralta	TB	Fri 9/25-@PHI (Painter)
52	Connelly Early	WSH	Sat 9/26-NYM (Tong)
53	Eury Perez	MIA	Fri 9/25-ATL (Holmes)
54	Ryan Johnson	LAA	Sat 9/26-@SEA (Anderson)
55	Sandy Alcantara	MIA	Sat 9/26-ATL (Perez)
56	Andre Pallante	STL	Tue 9/22-@PIT (Jones)	Sun 9/27-@MIL (Henderson)
57	Jonah Tong	NYM	Sat 9/26-@WSH (Early)
58	Bailey Ober	MIN	Mon 9/21-@SF (Tidwell)
59	Trey Yesavage	TOR	Sat 9/26-CIN (Lowder)
60	Aaron Nola	PHI	Wed 9/23-MIL (Harrison)
61	Gavin Williams	CLE	Sat 9/26-@KC (Wacha)
62	Sean Manaea	NYM	Tue 9/22-@TEX (Gore)	Sun 9/27-@WSH (Irvin)
63	Framber Valdez	DET	Wed 9/23-WSH (Cavalli)
64	Brandon Young	BAL	Sat 9/26-@NYY (Warren)
65	Andrew Alvarez	WSH	Fri 9/25-NYM (Scott)
66	Robbie Ray	SD	Tue 9/22-@LAD (Yamamoto)
67	Corbin Burnes	ARI	Sat 9/26-@SD (Musgrove)
68	Cade Cavalli	WSH	Wed 9/23-@DET (Valdez)
69	Logan Webb	SF	Fri 9/25-LAD (Glasnow)
70	Parker Messick	CLE	Wed 9/23-@BOS (Gray)
71	Nick Martinez	TB	Wed 9/23-@NYY (Rodon)
72	Casey Mize	SD	Fri 9/25-ARI (Pfaadt)
73	Clay Holmes	CHC	Thu 9/24-MIA (Phillips)
74	Martin Perez	ATL	Sat 9/26-@MIA (Alcantara)
75	Daniel Lynch IV	KC	Tue 9/22-CWS (Kay)	Sun 9/27-CLE (Griffin)
76	Christian Scott	NYM	Fri 9/25-@WSH (Alvarez)
77	Nick Lodolo	CIN	Fri 9/25-@TOR (Soriano)
78	Jack Flaherty	DET	Tue 9/22-WSH (Dion)
79	Quinn Mathews	STL	Sat 9/26-@MIL (Misiorowski)
80	Yusei Kikuchi	LAA	Tue 9/22-@ATH (Basso)	Sun 9/27-@SEA (Gilbert)
81	Ranger Suarez	BOS	Thu 9/24-CLE (Cantillo)
82	Troy Melton	DET	Sat 9/26-PIT (Kelly)
83	Bubba Chandler	PIT	Fri 9/25-@DET (Jobe)
84	Dean Kremer	MIN	Sun 9/27-TEX (Gore)
85	Sean Burke	CWS	Fri 9/25-COL (Feltner)
86	Michael Wacha	KC	Sat 9/26-CLE (Williams)
87	Payton Tolle	BOS	Fri 9/25-CHC (Boyd)
88	Roki Sasaki	LAD	Thu 9/24-SD (Pivetta)
89	Kyle Harrison	MIL	Wed 9/23-@PHI (Nola)
90	Noah Cameron	KC	Fri 9/25-CLE (Bibee)
91	Robert Gasser	MIL	Fri 9/25-STL (McGreevy)
92	Cristian Javier	HOU	Tue 9/22-@SEA (Gilbert)	Sun 9/27-@ATH (Basso)
93	Sonny Gray	BOS	Wed 9/23-CLE (Messick)
94	Davis Martin	CWS	Sat 9/26-COL (Hughes)
95	Chase Burns	CIN	Thu 9/24-@ATL (Mahle)
96	Tyler Mahle	ATL	Thu 9/24-CIN (Burns)
97	Spencer Arrighetti	TOR	Tue 9/22-@BAL (Bassitt)
98	Jackson Jobe	DET	Fri 9/25-PIT (Chandler)
99	Hunter Brown	HOU	Sat 9/26-@ATH (Perkins)
100	Gabriel Hughes	COL	Sat 9/26-@CWS (Martin)
101	Chris Bassitt	BAL	Tue 9/22-TOR (Arrighetti)
102	Zac Thornton	NYM	Thu 9/24-@TEX (Rocker)
103	Ethan Pecko	HOU	Wed 9/23-@SEA (Kirby)
104	Cal Quantrill	TEX	Fri 9/25-@MIN (Prielipp)
105	Andrew Painter	PHI	Fri 9/25-TB (Peralta)
106	Landen Roupp	SF	Sat 9/26-LAD (Skubal)
107	Joe Musgrove	SD	Sat 9/26-ARI (Burnes)
108	Michael McGreevy	STL	Fri 9/25-@MIL (Gasser)
109	Dustin May	MIL	Thu 9/24-@PHI (Urquidy)
110	Matthew Boyd	CHC	Fri 9/25-@BOS (Tolle)
111	Grant Holmes	ATL	Fri 9/25-@MIA (Perez)
112	Grayson Rodriguez	LAA	Thu 9/24-@SEA (Woo)
113	Matthew Liberatore	STL	Wed 9/23-@PIT (Curtis)
114	Tomoyuki Sugano	COL	Sun 9/27-@CWS (Kay)
115	Cesar Perdomo	SF	Wed 9/23-MIN (Bradley)
116	Anthony Molina	SF	Tue 9/22-MIN (Matthews)
117	Tanner Bibee	CLE	Fri 9/25-@KC (Cameron)
118	Walker Buehler	SD	Sun 9/27-ARI (Soroka)
119	Jackson Kent	WSH	Mon 9/21-@DET (Montero)
120	Ryan Gusto	MIA	Wed 9/23-@CHC (Imanaga)
121	Griffin Jax	TB	Sat 9/26-@PHI (Sanchez)
122	Khristian Curtis	PIT	Wed 9/23-STL (Liberatore)
123	Ryan Feltner	COL	Fri 9/25-@CWS (Burke)
124	Jose Urquidy	PHI	Thu 9/24-MIL (May)
125	David Peterson	CHC	Sat 9/26-@BOS (Sandoval)
126	Tyler Phillips	MIA	Thu 9/24-@CHC (Holmes)
127	David Sandlin	CWS	Thu 9/24-@KC (Dobnak)
128	Cade Povich	BAL	Wed 9/23-TOR (Cease)
129	Rhett Lowder	CIN	Sat 9/26-@TOR (Yesavage)
130	Walbert Urena	LAA	Wed 9/23-@ATH (Springs)
131	Peter Lambert	HOU	Thu 9/24-@ATH (Barnett)
132	Antwone Kelly	PIT	Sat 9/26-@DET (Melton)
133	Jake Irvin	WSH	Sun 9/27-NYM (Manaea)
134	Seth Lugo	KC	Wed 9/23-CWS (Fedde)
135	Connor Prielipp	MIN	Fri 9/25-TEX (Quantrill)
136	Brady Singer	CIN	Wed 9/23-@ATL (Sale)
137	Will Dion	WSH	Tue 9/22-@DET (Flaherty)
138	Kumar Rocker	TEX	Thu 9/24-NYM (Thornton)
139	Randy Dobnak	KC	Thu 9/24-CWS (Sandlin)
140	Kyle Leahy	STL	Thu 9/24-@PIT (Skenes)
141	Joey Cantillo	CLE	Thu 9/24-@BOS (Suarez)
142	Hayden Wesneski	HOU	Fri 9/25-@ATH (Lopez)
143	Jacob Lopez	ATH	Fri 9/25-HOU (Wesneski)
144	Erick Fedde	CWS	Wed 9/23-@KC (Lugo)
145	Cody Bradford	TEX	Wed 9/23-NYM (McLean)
146	Patrick Sandoval	BOS	Sat 9/26-CHC (Peterson)
147	Jack Perkins	ATH	Sat 9/26-HOU (Brown)
148	Brady Basso	ATH	Tue 9/22-LAA (Kikuchi)	Sun 9/27-HOU (Javier)
149	Jeffrey Springs	ATH	Wed 9/23-LAA (Urena)
150	Merrill Kelly	ARI	Wed 9/23-@COL (Adams)
151	Mason Barnett	ATH	Thu 9/24-HOU (Lambert)
152	Eduardo Rodriguez	ARI	Thu 9/24-@COL (Gordon)
153	Mason Adams	COL	Wed 9/23-ARI (Kelly)
154	Kyle Freeland	COL	Tue 9/22-ARI (Soroka)
155	Tanner Gordon	COL	Thu 9/24-ARI (Rodriguez)

Hitter ratings

Week 25: Sept. 21-27

Overall		LHB		RHB		SB
Diamondbacks	10.0	White Sox	10.0	Red Sox	9.8	Athletics	10.0
White Sox	9.8	Rangers	10.0	Astros	9.8	Braves	10.0
Astros	9.4	Diamondbacks	9.9	Diamondbacks	9.6	Tigers	10.0
Rockies	9.3	Blue Jays	9.6	Rockies	9.4	Yankees	10.0
Mets	8.2	Astros	8.4	Royals	8.8	Mariners	10.0
Blue Jays	8.2	Braves	8.3	Mets	8.1	Giants	9.1
Pirates	6.9	Rockies	8.0	Athletics	7.4	Cubs	7.3
Red Sox	6.8	Mets	7.3	White Sox	7.2	Astros	7.2
Braves	6.7	Tigers	6.8	Blue Jays	7.2	Dodgers	7.2
Royals	6.4	Nationals	6.7	Pirates	7.0	Padres	6.5

Total		Home		vs. LHSP		vs. RHSP
Yankees	7	Yankees	7	Red Sox	5	11 tied with	5
Rays	7	7 tied with	6	Guardians	4
28 tied with	6			Mets	4
				5 tied with	3