Two-Start Pitchers Lookahead: Week 22 (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 for the week of August 24-August 30.

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Fantasy Baseball Two-Start Pitchers Lookahead: Week 22

Scheduling Notes

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

Targeting pitchers who face teams with high strikeout rates and who don’t generate much 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:

• Chris Sale (SP – ATL): 99% | vs. LAD; vs. COL
• Zack Wheeler (SP – PHI): 99% | @ SEA; @ LAA
• Logan Gilbert (SP – SEA): 99% | vs. PHI; @ TOR
• Chase Burns (SP – CIN): 98% | @ SFG; @ CHC
• Max Fried (SP – NYY): 98% | vs. HOU; vs. BOS
• Jacob deGrom (SP – TEX): 96% | @ CWS; @ MIL
• Parker Messick (SP – CLE): 94% | @ LAA; vs. KCR
• Kevin Gausman (SP – CHC): 86% | @ ARI; vs. CIN
• Braxton Ashcraft (SP – PIT): 85% | @ SDP; @ STL
• Payton Tolle (SP – BOS): 70% | @ MIA; @ NYY
• Robbie Ray (SP – SDP): 67% | vs. PIT; @ TBR
• Shane McClanahan (SP – TBR): 45% | @ DET; vs. SDP
• Cade Cavalli (SP – WSH): 43% | vs. COL; vs. MIA
• Landen Roupp (SP – SFG): 27% | vs. CIN; vs. ARI
• Seth Lugo (SP – KCR): 25% | @ TOR; @ CLE
• Brandon Pfaadt (SP – ARI): 22% | vs. CHC; @ SFG
• Merrill Kelly (SP – ARI): 21% | vs. CHC; @ SFG
• Walbert Urena (SP – LAA): 20% | vs. CLE; vs. PHI
• Keider Montero (SP – DET): 18% | vs. TBR; vs. LAD
• Bailey Ober (SP – MIN): 15% | @ ATH; vs. CWS
• Zac Thornton (SP – NYM): 13% | vs. MIL; vs. HOU
• Gage Jump (SP – ATH): 9% | vs. MIN; vs. BAL
• Matthew Liberatore (SP – STL): 4% | vs. BAL; vs. PIT
• Chris Bassitt (SP – BAL): 3% | @ STL; @ ATH
• Max Scherzer (SP – TOR): 3% | vs. KCR; vs. SEA
• Tyler Phillips (SP – MIA): 2% | vs. BOS; @ WSH
• Andrew Alvarez (SP – PHI): 2% | vs. COL; vs. MIA
• Ryan Feltner (SP – COL): 1% | @ WSH; @ ATL
• Adrian Houser (SP – SFG): 1% | vs. CIN; vs. ARI
• Kyle Freeland (SP – COL): 1% | @ WSH; @ ATL
• Ronel Blanco (SP – HOU): 1% | @ NYY; @ NYM
• Jose Urquidy (SP – CWS): 0% | vs. TEX; @ MIN

Two-Start Pitcher Notes

• Braxton Ashcraft was absolutely dominant in his last start against the Marlins. He threw a complete game while allowing one run and picking up 10 strikeouts on 85 pitches. It was his first quality start since June 24th, which was also the last time he reached double-digit strikeouts. He’s struggled in the second half with home runs, but he used his sinker more in his last start, which seems to have helped. He faces the Padres and the Cardinals on the road in his two-start week. In the second half, the Padres have the best wOBA (.354) in the league, but the Cardinals have the fourth-worst (.286).
• Robbie Ray has disappointed for his new team. He has yet to complete six innings, with six strikeouts and eight walks in nine innings. He faces two bottom-10 teams in wOBA against lefties, but he’s hard to trust when he’s pitching this poorly.
• Cade Cavalli has broken out this season with a 3.36 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 9.9 K/9. He has four starts with double-digit strikeouts and another five starts with eight or more. He’s added a new sweeper/slider this year, and it’s been a great weapon for him. Next to his knuckle curve, it has the highest whiff rate of his six most-used pitches, and it’s actually better than the knuckle curve in terms of expected stats. He gets the Rockies and Marlins at home, which aren’t terribly scary matchups.

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