Fantasy Baseball Week 27 Preview: Two-start pitcher rankings feature Kevin Gausman, Robbie Ray — SkimNews
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- Fantasy Baseball Week 27 two-start pitcher rankings (Sept. 21-27) close the season, but the author urges managers not to count on any listed pitcher actually making two starts.
- Zack Wheeler, Max Fried, and Kevin Gausman are the pitchers most at risk of losing their second start, per the author, with teams likely to protect them for the postseason.
- Cristian Javier, Nick Martinez, and Robbie Ray are also flagged as second-start risks, with the author listing them alongside the top-tier concern group.
- Payton Tolle was deliberately excluded from the rankings despite showing two baseball indicators on lineup pages, because the author is confident he will not make his second start — though he remains worth starting for one.
- Teams with nothing to play for on the final day of the season can use bullpen games or spot starters freely, while teams that have clinched playoff spots will reset their rotations and skip starters already penciled in.
- The author's litmus test for the slate: if a fantasy manager wouldn't be comfortable getting just one start from a pitcher, they should bench him entirely.
Why it matters: For fantasy managers streaming pitchers in championship or consolation matchups, the practical takeaway is that the final week's two-start designations are largely cosmetic. Starting a pitcher expected to get two starts only to watch him get scratched on the regular season's last day could cost a fantasy manager counting on counting-stat volume — making one-start aces like Gausman safer plays than deeper two-start fliers.
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