Fantasy Baseball Week 27: Gausman, Martinez Highlight Final Two-Start Pitcher Rankings

What, no italics? That's right, I'm abandoning the usual boilerplate intro for this final edition of the two-start pitcher rankings to issue a grave warning ...

Don't count on any of these guys actually making two starts.

They appear to be in line to -- and some indeed will -- but the second start would come on the final day of the season. With no tomorrow, a team can throw caution to the wind and pretty much use whomever it wants. I'm not saying it'll start someone on short rest, but a bullpen game or a spot starter? Why not?

And actually, I think the pitchers most in danger of losing their second start are the ones on the teams with a tomorrow -- i.e., the ones resetting their rotation for the playoffs. If they've already secured their spot prior to the final day of the season and one of their top hurlers is scheduled to go, they'll almost assuredly opt for someone else.

To reiterate, you should be skeptical of any pitcher listed here actually making two starts, but especially Zack Wheeler , Max Fried , Michael King and Kevin Gausman . Maybe Cristian Javier and  Nick Martinez as well. You're probably going to ask about Payton Tolle because you're likely to see two baseball indicators next to his name on your lineup page, signaling two starts, but I'm so confident he won't actually make that second start that I've left him out of these rankings altogether. Of course, you'll probably still want to use him with one start because he's that good.

That should the litmus test. If you wouldn't be comfortable getting just one start from any of these pitchers, you're better off not using him at all. For now, though, here's how the two-start pitcher slate stacks up for Fantasy Week 27 (Sept. 21-27). All information is up to date as of Monday afternoon.

Must-start, all formats 1

Z. Wheeler

SP PHI

Zack Wheeler

SP PHI

vs MIL Milwaukee

vs TB Tampa Bay 2

P. Messick

SP CLE

Parker Messick

SP CLE

@ BOS Boston

@ KC Kansas City 3

L. Gilbert

SP SEA

Logan Gilbert

SP SEA

vs HOU Houston

vs LAA L.A. Angels 4

M. Fried

SP NYY

Max Fried

SP NYY

vs TB Tampa Bay

vs BAL Baltimore 5

J. Jones

SP PIT

Jared Jones

SP PIT

vs STL St. Louis

@ DET Detroit 6

M. King

SP SD

Michael King

SP SD

@ LAD L.A. Dodgers

vs ARI Arizona Advisable in most cases 7

C. Javier

SP HOU

Cristian Javier

SP HOU

@ SEA Seattle

@ ATH Athletics 8

K. Gausman

SP CHC

Kevin Gausman

SP CHC

vs MIA Miami

@ BOS Boston 9

N. Martinez

SP TB

Nick Martinez

SP TB

@ NYY N.Y. Yankees

@ PHI Philadelphia Better left for points leagues 10

Y. Kikuchi

SP LAA

Yusei Kikuchi

SP LAA

@ ATH Athletics

@ SEA Seattle 11

A. Pallante

SP STL

Andre Pallante

SP STL

@ PIT Pittsburgh

@ MIL Milwaukee 12

M. Soroka

SP ARI

Mike Soroka

SP ARI

@ COL Colorado

@ SD San Diego 13

S. Baz

SP BAL

Shane Baz

SP BAL

vs TOR Toronto

@ NYY N.Y. Yankees No thanks 14

S. Manaea

SP NYM

Sean Manaea

SP NYM

@ TEX Texas

@ WAS Washington 15

M. Scherzer

SP TOR

Max Scherzer

SP TOR

@ BAL Baltimore

vs CIN Cincinnati 16

D. Lynch IV

RP KC

Daniel Lynch IV

RP KC

vs CHW Chi. White Sox

vs CLE Cleveland 17

A. Kay

SP CHW

Anthony Kay

SP CHW

@ KC Kansas City

vs COL Colorado 18

M. Gore

SP TEX

MacKenzie Gore

SP TEX

vs NYM N.Y. Mets

@ MIN Minnesota 19

J. Kent

SP WAS

Jackson Kent

SP WAS

@ DET Detroit

vs NYM N.Y. Mets 20

B. Tidwell

SP SF

Blade Tidwell

SP SF

vs MIN Minnesota

vs LAD L.A. Dodgers 21

J. Ritchie

SP ATL

JR Ritchie

SP ATL

vs CIN Cincinnati

@ MIA Miami 22

K. Freeland

SP COL

Kyle Freeland

SP COL

vs ARI Arizona

@ CHW Chi. White Sox 23

B. Williamson

SP CIN

Brandon Williamson

SP CIN

@ ATL Atlanta

@ TOR Toronto 24

B. Basso

RP ATH

Brady Basso

RP ATH

vs LAA L.A. Angels

vs HOU Houston 25

J. Junk

SP MIA

Janson Junk

SP MIA

@ CHC Chi. Cubs

vs ATL Atlanta

Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments

_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/fantasy-baseball-week-27-preview-two-start-pitcher-rankings-feature-kevin-gausman-nick-martinez/)._