Two-Start Pitchers Lookahead: Week 17 (2026 Fantasy Baseball)

Each week during the fantasy baseball season, I take a look at two-start pitchers for the week ahead. This week, we’ll focus on pitchers tentatively lined up to make multiple starts in Week 17 (July 27-August 2).

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Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers Lookahead: Week 17

Scheduling Notes

• Teams With Five Games: COL
• Teams With Six Games: BAL, TBR, TOR, CLE, DET, KCR, MIN, HOU, LAA, PHI, MIL, ARI, LAD, SDP
• Teams With Seven Games: BOS, NYY, CWS, ATH, SEA, TEX, ATL, MIA, NYM, WSH, CHC, CIN, PIT, STL, SFG

Targeting pitchers who face teams with high strikeout rates and who don’t generate a lot of quality contact can be valuable. Here are the current bottom-five teams in strikeout rate against right- and left-handed pitchers.

The current bottom-five teams in wOBA against right- and left-handed pitchers.

Two-Start Pitchers

These are the pitchers lined up for two starts and their roster rates:

• Zack Wheeler (SP – PHI): 99% | @ MIA; @ BAL
• Chris Sale (SP – ATL): 99% | @ NYM; vs. WSH
• Chase Burns (SP – CIN): 98% | vs. CLE; vs. PIT
• Gavin Williams (SP – CLE): 96% | @ CIN; vs. ARI
• George Kirby (SP – SEA): 92% | @ TEX; vs. MIN
• Gerrit Cole (SP – NYY): 86% | @ CWS; @ CHC
• Sandy Alcantara (SP – MIA): 86% | vs. PHI; @ NYM
• Michael King (SP – SDP): 84% | vs. COL; vs. SFG
• Ranger Suarez (SP – BOS): 75% | @ ATH; @ LAD
• Troy Melton (SP – DET): 57% | vs. BAL; @ ATH
• Griffin Jax (SP – TBR): 51% | vs. TEX; vs. CWS
• Jake Bennett (SP – BOS): 39% | @ ATH; @ LAD
• Jared Jones (SP – PIT): 36% | vs. ARI; @ CIN
• Landen Roupp (SP – SFG): 29% | vs. MIL; @ SDP
• Seth Lugo (SP – KCR): 24% | @ MIN; @ COL
• Michael McGreevy (SP – STL): 22% | vs. CHC; @ TOR
• Merrill Kelly (SP – ARI): 21% | @ PIT; @ CLE
• Bubba Chandler (SP – PIT): 20% | vs. ARI; @ CIN
• Gage Jump (SP – ATH): 18% | vs. BOS; vs. DET
• Cade Cavalli (SP – WSH): 18% | vs. TOR; @ ATL
• Brandon Young (SP – BAL): 17% | @ DET; vs. PHI
• Bailey Ober (SP – MIN): 17% | vs. KCR; @ SEA
• Dustin May (SP – STL): 16% | vs. CHC; @ TOR
• Zach Thornton (SP – NYM): 15% | vs. ATL; vs. MIA
• Walbert Urena (SP – LAA): 13% | vs. HOU; vs. MIL
• Noah Schultz (SP – CWS): 11% | vs. NYY; @ TBR
• David Peterson (SP – CHC): 10% | @ STL; vs. NYY
• Christian Scott (SP – NYM): 9% | vs. ATL; vs. MIA
• Brady Singer (SP – CIN): 8% | vs. CLE; vs. PIT
• Martin Perez (SP – ATL): 7% | @ NYM; vs. WSH
• Brandon Sproat (SP – MIL): 7% | @ SFG; @ LAA
• Anthony Kay (SP – CWS): 5% | vs. NYY; @ TBR
• Kumar Rocker (SP – TEX): 5% | vs. SEA; @ HOU
• Colin Rea (SP – CHC): 5% | @ STL; vs. NYY
• Jack Perkins (SP – ATH): 4% | vs. BOS; vs. DET
• Max Scherzer (SP – TOR): 3% | @ WSH; vs. STL
• Tyler Phillips (SP – MIA): 3% | vs. PHI; @ NYM
• Trevor McDonald (SP – SFG): 3% | vs. MIL; @ SDP
• Elmer Rodriguez (SP – NYY): 2% | @ CWS; @ CHC
• Cal Quantrill (SP – TEX): 1% | @ TBR; @ HOU
• Miles Mikolas (SP – WSH): 1% | vs. TOR; @ ATL

Takeaways

• Zack Wheeler ended the first half on a tear. He piled up 34 strikeouts in 17.2 innings over his final three starts heading into the break, while allowing only three walks. The Marlins don’t strike out much, but the Orioles are in the bottom five in strikeout rate against righties. He was upset that he was initially left off the All-Star team roster and is poised for a big second half. With all the question marks at starting pitcher in the National League, it wouldn’t be surprising for Wheeler to compete for his first Cy Young award.
• Brandon Young gets the Tigers and Phillies, who are both in the bottom seven in strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers. He put up only a 7.2 K/9 in the first half, but ended with a 9.4 K/9 over his last four starts. He’s not very exciting, but Young’s 3.42 ERA and seven first-half wins were plenty usable.
• Christian Scott was impressive in the first game post-All-Star break. He pitched 5.2 shutout innings against the Phillies with seven strikeouts and zero walks. His double start in week 18 comes against two other division rivals, at home against the Braves and Marlins. While he pitched well against the Phillies, they have the seventh-most strikeouts against righties. The Braves and Marlins have the ninth- and sixth-lowest strikeout rates against righties and are in the top half of the league in runs scored.

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