Fantasy Baseball – Starting Pitcher Weekly Positional Forecast

Jose Fernandez
Jose Fernandez
Steve Mitchell USA TODAY Sports

After 150 days of waiting, Major League Baseball is back.

With that, fantasy baseball returns as well. Each and every week, we will break down the pitching forecast for the upcoming week. Here, you’ll find starting pitchers with good matchups, bad matchups, those who will pitch twice in a week, and some picks for your streaming convenience.

Without further ado, this week’s Starting Pitcher Positional Forecast:

Two Starts

[Player, Team, (Opponents)]

Note: There are a lot, but only because it is opening week.

A.J. Burnett, Philadelphia Phillies (Texas and Chicago)

C.C. Sabathia, New York Yankees (Houston and Toronto)

R.A. Dickey, Toronto Blue Jays (Tampa Bay and New York Yankees)

Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies (Texas and Chicago)

Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals (Cincinnati and Pittsburgh)

Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers (San Diego and San Francisco)

Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners (Los Angeles Angels and Oakland)

Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants (Arizona and Los Angeles Dodgers)

Francisco Liriano, Pittsburgh Pirates (Chicago Cubs and St. Louis)

Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers (Kansas City and Baltimore)

Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels (Seattle and Houston)

James Shields, Kansas City Royals (Detroit and Chicago White Sox)

Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox (Baltimore and Milwaukee)

David Price, Tampa Bay Rays (Toronto and Texas)

Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds (Cardinals and Mets)

Justin Masterson, Cleveland Indians (Oakland and Minnesota)

Jeff Samardzija, Chicago Cubs (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia)

Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants (Arizona and Los Angeles Dodgers)

Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals (New York Mets and Atlanta)

Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox (Minnesota and Kansas City)

Alex Cobb, Tampa Bay Rays (Toronto and Texas)

Julio Teheran, Atlanta Braves (Milwaukee and Washington)

Sonny Gray, Oakland Athletics (Cleveland and Seattle)

Jose Fernandez, Miami Marlins (Colorado and San Diego)

Chris Tillman, Baltimore Orioles (Boston and Detroit)

Yovani Gallardo, Milwaukee Brewers (Atlanta and Boston)

Alex Wood, Atlanta Braves (Milwaukee and Washington)

Dillon Gee, New York Mets (Washington and Cincinnati)

Wade Miley, Arizona Diamondbacks (San Francisco and Colorado)

Ian Kennedy, San Diego Padres (Los Angeles Dodgers and Miami)

Scott Kazmir, Oakland Athletics (Cleveland and Seattle)

Ricky Nolasco, Minnesota Twins (Chicago White Sox and Cleveland)

Jorge De La Rosa, Colorado Rockies (Miami and Arizona)

Erasmo Ramirez, Seattle Mariners (Los Angeles Angels and Oakland)

Drew Hutchison, Toronto Blue Jays (Tampa Bay and New York Yankees)

Brandon McCarthy, Arizona Diamondbacks (San Francisco and Colorado)

Nathan Eovaldi, Miami Marlins (Colorado and San Diego)

Scott Feldman, Houston Astros (New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels)

Good Matchups

[Player, Team, (Opponent)]

A.J. Burnett, Philadelphia Phillies (Chicago)

C.C. Sabathia, New York Yankees (Houston)

Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies (Chicago)

Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers (San Diego and San Francisco)

Francisco Liriano, Pittsburgh Pirates (Chicago Cubs)

Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels (Seattle and Houston)

Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds (Mets)

Justin Masterson, Cleveland Indians (Minnesota)

Jeff Samardzija, Chicago Cubs (Philadelphia)

Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals (New York Mets)

Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox (Minnesota)

Sonny Gray, Oakland Athletics (Seattle)

Jose Fernandez, Miami Marlins (San Diego)

Ian Kennedy, San Diego Padres (Miami)

Scott Kazmir, Oakland Athletics (Seattle)

Jorge De La Rosa, Colorado Rockies (Miami)

Nate Eovaldi, Miami Marlins (San Diego)

Dan Haren, Los Angeles Dodgers (San Diego)

Hiroki Kuroda, New York Yankees (Houston)

Gio Gonzalez, Washington Nationals (New York Mets)

Jordan Zimmermann, Washington Nationals (New York Mets)

Danny Salazar, Cleveland Indians (Seattle)

Ivan Nova, New York Yankees (Houston)

Dan Straily, Oakland Athletics (Seattle)

Travis Wood, Chicago Cubs (Philadelphia)

Jose Quintana, Chicago White Sox (Minnesota)

Bad Matchups

[Player, Team, (Opponent)]

Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners (Los Angeles Angels)

Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Francisco Liriano, Pittsburgh Pirates (St. Louis)

James Shields, Kansas City Royals (Detroit)

Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds (St. Louis)

Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Alex Cobb, Tampa Bay Rays (Texas)

Sonny Gray, Oakland Athletics (Cleveland)

Jose Fernandez, Miami Marlins (Colorado)

Chris Tillman, Baltimore Orioles (Boston and Detroit)

Yovani Gallardo, Milwaukee Brewers (Boston)

Dillon Gee, New York Mets (Washington and Cincinnati)

Wade Miley, Arizona Diamondbacks (Colorado)

Ian Kennedy, San Diego Padres (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Scott Kazmir, Oakland Athletics (Cleveland)

Ricky Nolasco, Minnesota Twins (Cleveland)

Brandon McCarthy, Arizona Diamondbacks (Colorado)

Nate Eovaldi, Miami Marlins (Colorado)

Scott Feldman, Houston Astros (New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels)

Streamers

[Player, Team, Opponent, (Probable Start Date)]

Tyler Skaggs, Los Angeles Angels vs. Houston (Saturday April 5th)

Charlie Morton, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Chicago Cubs (Wednesday April 2nd)

Wandy Rodriguez, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Chicago Cubs (Thursday April 3rd)

Tyler Chatwood, Colorado Rockies vs. Miami Marlins (Wednesday April 2nd)

Juan Nicasio, Colorado Rockies vs. Miami Marlins (Thursday April 3rd)

Felipe Paulino, Chicago White Sox vs. Minnesota Twins (Wednesday April 2nd)

Eric Stults, San Diego Padres vs. Miami Marlins (Friday April 4th)

Stay tuned for this week’s relief pitcher forecast. Remember, find these forecasts each and every week first on XNSports.com

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Josh Collacchi
In addition to writing here at XNSports, my fantasy content can be seen at Pro Football Focus Fantasy, eDraft, and Project Roto. Member of the FSWA and the FWAA and can be reached on Twitter @JoshCollacchi