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I must confess that The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational nearly delayed these rankings. But in between plotting everyone in League 1’s demise, yours truly found some time to polish up the ranks and get everything together.
If you’re itching to follow along with TGFBI, check out the post on the site where you can scope out draft boards for any of the 20 leagues. Fake Teams has an entrant in League 1 (Heath), League 5 (Zack), League 17 (Punk), League 19 (Joe), and League 20 (Mark). Go get ‘em boys!
As for the ranks, today is the first 40, tomorrow is the next 40. That’s five more than last year, when we did a Top 75. I’ll be honest, after 40 or so hurlers I just wait and take the guys I like. So my ranks might look a little funky after that juncture (and even a little before). That said, I don’t see anything overly insane in Part 1. I really, really, really like the Clevinger-Flaherty-Taillon grouping, and that’s about as low as I would go for my SP1 if I was waiting. Those three, and Berrios.
It should go without saying, but since this is a fantasy sports advisory space I’ll say it anyway: Clayton Kershaw is no longer a safe pick. Not with that balky shoulder. You can assume injury risk in the form of Paxton and Strasburg, except those guys aren’t currently shut down like Kershaw is. Draft him at your own (considerable) risk. Share your thoughts below! When would you take Kershaw?
Top 40 Starters
| Name | Team | Rank | Avg Rank | Heath | Punk | Joe | Zack | Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Rank | Avg Rank | Heath | Punk | Joe | Zack | Mark |
| Max Scherzer | WAS | 1 | 1.20 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Jacob deGrom | NYM | 2 | 2.60 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Chris Sale | BOS | 3 | 2.60 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Justin Verlander | HOU | 4 | 5.20 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
| Gerrit Cole | HOU | 5 | 5.20 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
| Corey Kluber | CLE | 6 | 6.20 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 5 |
| Aaron Nola | PHI | 7 | 7.00 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 8 |
| Blake Snell | TB | 8 | 8.00 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 |
| Luis Severino | NYY | 9 | 9.40 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 |
| Trevor Bauer | CLE | 10 | 10.20 | 9 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 12 |
| Noah Syndergaard | NYM | 11 | 10.60 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 14 | 9 |
| Walker Buehler | LAD | 12 | 12.60 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 16 |
| Carlos Carrasco | CLE | 13 | 13.00 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 17 |
| Patrick Corbin | WAS | 14 | 14.40 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 13 |
| Stephen Strasburg | WAS | 15 | 14.60 | 17 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 14 |
| James Paxton | NYY | 16 | 16.40 | 16 | 17 | 14 | 19 | 16 |
| Clayton Kershaw | LAD | 17 | 16.80 | 21 | 15 | 17 | 21 | 10 |
| Mike Clevinger | CLE | 18 | 17.20 | 15 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 15 |
| Jack Flaherty | STL | 19 | 19.00 | 20 | 18 | 21 | 15 | 21 |
| Jameson Taillon | PIT | 20 | 20.60 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 25 | 22 |
| Jose Berrios | MIN | 21 | 21.40 | 19 | 24 | 22 | 22 | 20 |
| German Marquez | COL | 22 | 21.80 | 24 | 23 | 27 | 17 | 18 |
| Zack Greinke | ARI | 23 | 22.00 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 24 | 23 |
| Zack Wheeler | NYM | 24 | 25.80 | 23 | 22 | 33 | 23 | 28 |
| Mike Foltynewicz | ATL | 25 | 26.40 | 27 | 27 | 34 | 20 | 24 |
| Luis Castillo | CIN | 26 | 26.40 | 26 | 29 | 24 | 26 | 27 |
| Madison Bumgarner | SF | 27 | 26.80 | 30 | 26 | 23 | 30 | 25 |
| Charlie Morton | TB | 28 | 29.80 | 31 | 30 | 26 | 32 | 30 |
| David Price | BOS | 29 | 30.20 | 28 | 25 | 36 | 36 | 26 |
| Robbie Ray | ARI | 30 | 30.60 | 29 | 35 | 32 | 28 | 29 |
| Masahiro Tanaka | NYY | 31 | 30.80 | 32 | 28 | 30 | 33 | 31 |
| Miles Mikolas | STL | 32 | 30.80 | 25 | 32 | 28 | 50 | 19 |
| Nick Pivetta | PHI | 33 | 35.00 | 34 | 37 | 39 | 29 | 36 |
| Tyler Glasnow | TB | 34 | 35.60 | 43 | 41 | 35 | 27 | 32 |
| Nathan Eovaldi | BOS | 35 | 36.20 | 37 | 45 | 25 | 39 | 35 |
| Chris Archer | PIT | 36 | 36.80 | 40 | 31 | 42 | 37 | 34 |
| Shane Bieber | CLE | 37 | 37.40 | 33 | 34 | 41 | 40 | 39 |
| Yu Darvish | CHC | 38 | 37.60 | 39 | 33 | 38 | 45 | 33 |
| Eduardo Rodriguez | BOS | 39 | 39.20 | 35 | 40 | 40 | 35 | 46 |
| Josh James | HOU | 40 | 43.20 | 46 | 65 | 29 | 31 | 45 |