Now that the season has really gotten going, it is time to start grinding the two-start pitchers to give you an advantage over your competition.

Each week, I will be giving you a breakdown of the two-start options for your fantasy leagues broken up into the following tiers:

• Must Start: The guys that you have to start because of their talent and/or matchups.
• Should Start: These are the guys that are rostered in most formats and probably should be in your lineup.
• Here We Go: Pitchers that you are probably starting in most formats but have some level of risk to them.
• Feeling Lucky: Pitchers available in less than 25% of leagues that are risky, but viable in deeper formats.
• Desperate Measures: Pitchers you shouldn’t use unless you have no other choice.

Two Start Pitchers for June 5 – 11

These are projected two-start pitchers and are subject to change.

Must Start

• Shane McClanahan vs MIN, vs TEX
• Kevin Gausman vs HOU, vs MIN
• Lucas Giolito at NYY, vs MIA
• Shane Bieber vs BOS, vs HOU
• Hunter Brown at TOR, at CLE
• Aaron Nola vs DET, vs LAD
• Freddy Peralta vs BAL, at OAK
• Bryce Elder vs NYM, vs WAS
• Tony Gonsolin at CIN, at PHI

Should Start

James Paxton at CLE, at NYY

Paxton has been pretty good outside of one bad start at the Angels, which is forgivable considering how potent their offense can be. He is getting a ton of strikeouts and doing well enough that he can be a pretty easy start versus a Guardians team that has struggled offensively and a Yankees team that is mediocre against left handed pitching.

Miles Mikolas at TEX, vs CIN

After a rough start to the season, Mikolas has been pretty great, throwing 55.1 innings of a 2.11 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP in nine starts since 4/16. You won’t get a ton of strikeouts with him and the first of the two starts is a bit scary, but his ability to help you in the ratios and get wins makes him a start in most formats.

Hunter Greene vs LAD, at STL

Greene has been up and down this season, but he has been fantastic in his last two starts, throwing 12 innings with only one earned run and getting 19 strikeouts. That being said, this is a difficult two step versus two top 10 offenses versus left handed pitching this season, there is a good amount of risk for a volatile pitcher. I just don’t know that most people would sit him based on his upside in spite of the risk.

Braxton Garrett vs KC, at CHW

Some people are going to question Garrett being so high in the tiers, but a lot of the damage done against him was an 11 earned run outing against the Braves at the beginning of May. Since then, he has a 2.67 ERA in 27 innings with 32 strikeouts and a .96 WHIP. He has two good matchups here and is closer to a “Must Start” than a risky one.

Here We Go

JP Sears at PIT, at MIL

Sears is one of my favorite two-start streams of the week. He has been very good in his last four starts, throwing 22.1 innings with a 2.42 ERA and 16 strikeouts. While he doesn’t get a lot of opportunities for wins because he is on the A’s, he does line up against the worst team in baseball against lefties in the Brewers and another team that has struggled versus lefties over the last 30 days. This is worth taking advantage of.

Johan Oviedo vs OAK, vs NYM

Oviedo was a guy that was on my Buy Low list recently because while his surface numbers have been bad, his underlying numbers have been better. If you look at his last four starts, he has a 2.57 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 21 innings. He gets an atrocious Oakland team and a mediocre Mets offense this week.

Mike Mayers at MIA, at BAL

Mayers has quickly been fantastic since debuting for the Royals, throwing 13.1 innings with a 1.35 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, and 14 strikeouts in three outings. He has a pretty nice two-step with a bad Marlins offense and a struggling offense in the Orioles. He is widely available and should be a popular pickup this week.

Nestor Cortes vs CWS, vs BOS

It might be surprising to see Cortes this low in the article, but it is so hard to know what to expect from him at this point. I thought we had turned a corner with him in his starts versus the Orioles and Blue Jays because the slider was so much better in spite of mediocre results and then in the outing versus the Mariners who have been bad versus left handed pitching this season, it was back to being poor. I want to believe he will be better, but the White Sox and Red Sox are top 10 against left handers over the last month, so I can understand sitting him.

Feeling Lucky

Julio Teheran at CIN, vs OAK

No one is more surprised than me that I am writing up Julio Teheran, but he has been really good since being called up to the Brewer rotation, throwing 11 innings over two starts with an .82 ERA and an .82 WHIP. Now, no one thinks this will stay like this, but with the Reds and the Athletics on deck for this week, there is some gamble worth taking here.

Blake Snell vs CHC, at COL

Snell has looked better in his last few starts, but he is still struggling with command and control. Whether you start or sit him has become an anxiety inducing exercise each week and while I am pretty anti-Coors, I can understand that this may be a tempting stream against the Cubs and Rockies who have been mediocre to poor against left-handed pitching over the last 30 days.

Brandon Bielak at TOR, at CLE

This is a tough two-step to parse out for Bielak managers. He has been good, but homer prone and you have a start against the Blue Jays who can crush right handed pitching and one against the Guardians who are truly terrible offensively this year against righties. I tend to want to risk it, but this could end pretty poorly.

Kyle Gibson at MIL, vs KC

Gibson has been so hard to read recently. He was fantastic against Tampa, Toronto and the Yankees, but awful versus the Royals and Pirates and then mediocre in his most recent start versus the terrible Guardians offense. What will he do against the Brewers and Royals this week? I don’t know, but I am not really that scared of their offenses.

Desperate Measure

• Tommy Henry at WAS, at DET
• Kyle Hendricks at SD, at SF
• Alek Manoah vs HOU, vs MIN
• Louie Varland at TB, at TOR
• Hayden Wesneski at LAA, at SF
• Alex Wood at COL, vs CHC
• Martin Perez vs STL, at TB
• Carlos Carrasco at ATL, at PIT
• Jake Irvin vs ARI, at ATL
• Luke Weaver vs MIL, at STL
• Dinelson Lamet vs SF, vs SD
• Alex Faedo at PHI, vs ARI

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