Ten Of Sunday’s Thirty Starters Are New To The Uniform Or Just Back From An Absence

Tampa Bay opens the day at 74-48 with eight wins in ten games, and the Rays got there by refusing to swing through anything. They have struck out 865 times, fewer than any lineup in baseball, and they hit .261 as a team, which is the highest mark of any club playing Sunday. Their bullpen has converted 48 saves against fourteen blown, and the staff carries a 3.71 ERA with a 1.15 WHIP.

Trevor Rogers takes the ball for Baltimore at 7-8 with a 4.21 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP and 102 strikeouts against 34 walks in 119.2 innings. His August has been uneven, nine strikeouts over six innings of two-run ball against the Angels on August 5 followed by four innings and two earned in Minnesota on August 10. The Orioles sit at 60-63 with 553 runs scored and 587 allowed.

Freddy Peralta answers, and the numbers require a footnote. His full season reads 5-9 with a 5.33 ERA across 24 starts and 123.1 innings, but only two of those starts have come in a Tampa Bay uniform and they have produced a 9.31 ERA over 9.2 innings. The most recent one was six innings of three-run ball at the Athletics on August 10, which is the version the Rays traded for. DraftKings has Tampa Bay at -140 with the total at 8.0.

No club playing Sunday prevents runs like Boston does. The Red Sox carry a 3.48 team ERA with a 1.22 WHIP, they have allowed 119 home runs, the fewest in the sport, and they have blown only eleven saves all year. That is how a lineup scoring 546 runs sits at 66-57.

Patrick Sandoval has made six starts since arriving and the surface line looks tidy at 1-1 with a 3.30 ERA. Look one column over and the 1.70 WHIP with a .319 opponent average tells you traffic has been constant, even if it has not scored. He worked six innings of two-run ball in Toronto on August 11.

Pittsburgh has not named a conventional starter. Lake Bachar has zero starts this season, seven innings of work since joining the Pirates, and a full-season 3.97 ERA with 68 strikeouts in 65.2 innings that reads like a leverage reliever rather than a rotation piece. The Pirates have dropped seven of ten and their staff has 1,177 strikeouts, most in baseball, attached to a 4.32 ERA and only 24 saves. Boston is a -114 favorite with the total at 8.0.

Michael Soroka has the best rate line of any starter on Sunday's board and almost none of the innings you would expect behind it. He is 8-3 with a 2.92 ERA, a 1.10 WHIP and 83 strikeouts against 20 walks, but that has taken sixteen starts and only 86.1 innings, and his log has a hole in it between June 19 and August 10. The comeback outing went four and a third scoreless against Colorado.

Bryce Elder has carried the Atlanta rotation in the other direction, 131.2 innings across 23 starts at 4.03, with 45 walks and 21 home runs allowed. His last two say everything about the volatility: seven innings of one-run ball against Miami on August 5, then five innings and seven earned against the Mets on August 10.

Atlanta is 73-50 and has allowed 479 runs, the second-lowest total of any club in action, behind a 3.64 staff ERA. Arizona sits at 66-58 with 564 runs scored and two wins in a row. The Braves are priced at -124 with the total set at 8.5.

Seven runs. That is the number DraftKings has posted for this one, the lowest total of the fifteen games, and both rotations have earned it. Dylan Cease is 7-5 with a 2.40 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, a .182 opponent average and 191 strikeouts in 131.1 innings, the highest strikeout total of any starter working Sunday. He struck out ten Cubs over seven shutout innings on August 6.

Ryan Weathers has quietly matched him for three weeks. Seven scoreless innings at the White Sox on July 30, six scoreless against St. Louis on August 4, five and two-thirds and one run against Seattle on August 11. That is 18.2 innings and a single earned run, from a pitcher whose season sits at 3.69 with 136 strikeouts in 126.2 innings.

New York has the best staff ERA in baseball at 3.28 and has lost three straight. Toronto has won seven of ten and sits 61-64, though the Blue Jays score less than almost anyone, 489 runs on a .679 team OPS that is the lowest of the thirty clubs. The home side is favored at -124.

Washington has scored 667 runs, more than any team in the sport, with 179 home runs and a .766 team OPS. The Nationals are 60-65. The gap is entirely on the other side of the ledger: 648 runs allowed, a 4.73 staff ERA and 32 blown saves, which is the worst figure in baseball by six.

Jake Irvin has been part of that story. He is 2-6 with a 5.79 ERA and eleven home runs allowed in 65.1 innings, and his last outing lasted three and a third innings against the Cubs on August 11 and cost five earned runs.

Christian Scott gives the Mets a genuine strikeout arm, 98 in 78.1 innings with a 3.45 ERA and a .230 opponent average, though he has walked 33 and gave up four earned in four innings at Atlanta on August 10. New York has won seven of ten to climb to 55-69 and is priced at -165 with the total at 8.5.

Tanner Bibee is 4-12. He also has a 3.99 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP and 144.1 innings, more than any other starter on the board, with 114 strikeouts and 40 walks. Ten strikeouts over five and two-thirds against the Mets on August 5 was followed by five earned runs in Detroit on August 11, and the win-loss column mostly reflects a Cleveland lineup that has scored 494 runs, second fewest in baseball.

Casey Mize arrives with a similar split personality to several arms on this slate. His season totals are strong, 4-7 with a 3.38 ERA, a 1.09 WHIP and 92 strikeouts in 96 innings, but the two starts since he joined San Diego have produced a 9.64 ERA. The second of them was six innings of two-run ball against Milwaukee on August 10.

San Diego has won seven of ten and sits 66-58 with 37 saves. Cleveland has lost seven of ten despite a staff that has struck out 1,150 hitters behind a 3.84 ERA. The Padres are a -111 road favorite and the total is 8.5.

Drew Anderson has thrown 71.1 innings this season and started four games. His last three appearances covered one and a third innings, three and two-thirds, and four, which is a swingman's usage pattern rather than a starter's, and Detroit is handing him the ball with a 3.91 ERA, 82 strikeouts and 27 walks on his record.

Sean Burke is the opposite kind of arm and the reason this line sits where it does. He is 7-6 with a 2.99 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP, a .217 opponent average and 152 strikeouts in 135.2 innings, and he has punched out eight or more twice in the last three weeks, including ten against the Yankees on July 30 and eight against Cincinnati on August 11.

Detroit still prevents runs better than almost anyone, a 3.52 staff ERA and 475 runs allowed, but the Tigers have blown 26 saves and are 60-63. Chicago is 64-58 with 587 runs and 161 home runs. The market is nearly indifferent: Detroit -104, total 8.0.

Eury Perez has become the best thing Miami has. He holds hitters to a .204 average with a 3.39 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP and 128 strikeouts in 116.2 innings, and he shut out Pittsburgh over seven innings with seven strikeouts on August 11.

Nick Lodolo makes his second start in five weeks. His log jumps from July 11 straight to August 11, and that return outing lasted four innings and cost four earned runs at the White Sox. The season sits at 4.86 with a 1.46 WHIP, 27 walks and twelve home runs allowed in 66.2 innings.

Cincinnati has 160 home runs and almost nothing else. The Reds hit .227, the lowest team average in baseball, strike out 1,158 times and their staff has issued 502 walks, more than any other club, which is a difficult combination in a ballpark this small. Miami is a -119 favorite and the total is the second highest of the afternoon at 9.0.

Dean Kremer's season splits in half. In Baltimore he was 1-4 with a 6.50 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. In two starts for Minnesota he is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA, a 0.58 WHIP and a .108 opponent average, including seven innings of one-run ball against his former club on August 10. Twelve innings is a small window, but it is a loud twelve innings.

Andrew Painter has had the harder summer, 2-8 with a 6.27 ERA, a 1.53 WHIP and fifteen home runs allowed in 80.1 innings. His last time out he gave Philadelphia five and a third innings of two-run ball in St. Louis on August 10, which was the steadiest he has looked in a month.

The Phillies staff has struck out 1,222 hitters, more than any other club in the sport, and Philadelphia is 66-58 with two straight wins. Minnesota is 60-64 with a 4.65 ERA and 619 runs allowed. Philadelphia is a -108 favorite with the total at 9.5.

Edward Cabrera has not thrown a competitive pitch since June 23. A left hamstring strain put him on the injured list the next day, and the road back ran through Iowa on July 31 and Knoxville on August 11. He is 5-4 with a 5.10 ERA, a 1.40 WHIP and fourteen home runs allowed in 72.1 innings, and he throws a changeup 30.5 percent of the time that averages 92.9 mph.

Hunter Dobbins counters with six pitches and no single one of them above 32 percent usage. Six starts have produced a 3.40 ERA and a .244 opponent average across 45 innings, and he has allowed two earned runs or fewer in two of his last three. His one look at these Cubs came July 27 and cost four earned in five and a third.

The season series is tied 6-6 across twelve games averaging 8.58 total runs, a stretch that includes a 17-1 Cardinals afternoon at Wrigley on July 3. Chicago is 72-52 and four back of Milwaukee, St. Louis is 62-61, and the Cardinals won Saturday 8-4. The Cubs are -153 with the total at 8.5. Our full breakdown is on the Cardinals at Cubs featured game page.

Colorado is 49-74 and San Francisco is 51-72, and the two of them have combined for exactly 100 wins in 246 games. The Rockies have allowed 702 runs behind a 5.46 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. The Giants have scored 502 and drawn 323 walks, which is the fewest of any lineup in baseball.

Blade Tidwell has been the one genuinely encouraging thing in the San Francisco rotation. Two starts with the Giants have produced a 2.78 ERA, a 1.10 WHIP and five walks in 22.2 innings, and the most recent was five and two-thirds of one-run ball against Houston on August 10.

Gabriel Hughes has gone the other way, 0-4 with a 5.61 ERA across six starts and 33.2 innings, including four innings and seven earned in Arizona on August 10. San Francisco is favored at -128 and the total is 8.0.

Ten and a half. That is the total DraftKings has hung on this one, two full runs above anything else on the board, and Sutter Health Park is the reason. The Athletics hit .263 with a .788 OPS and have scored 310 runs in 62 home games, five a night, against .223 and 225 runs in 61 games on the road. No club in baseball changes this much depending on the zip code.

Cody Bradford has eleven and a third innings on his 2026 file. Texas activated him from the 60-day injured list on August 5, and his second start went seven innings at Angel Stadium on August 11 with five hits, one walk, three earned runs and exactly one strikeout. His four-seamer averages 88.5 mph and he throws a changeup 36.6 percent of the time, which is a soft-contact profile living behind a 2.38 ERA and a 4.76 strikeout rate.

Jacob Lopez has been better lately than his season line, seven innings of two-run ball against Tampa Bay on August 10 against a 5.38 ERA and 44 walks in 82 innings. What sits behind him is the problem: a 5.48 staff ERA, a 1.50 WHIP, 193 home runs and 489 walks, all worst in the league. Sacramento is also short its two best bats, with Nick Kurtz on the injured list since August 4 and Shea Langeliers since July 26. Texas is favored at -132.

Noah Cameron threw eight shutout innings in Minnesota on July 30 and eight more with nine strikeouts against the Twins on August 5. Then came five and two-thirds and four earned in Los Angeles on August 10. The season reads 6-8 with a 4.45 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 129.1 innings, which is a lot of workload for a club sitting 50-74.

Ryan Johnson has taken the brunt of the Angels' pitching problems, 2-6 with a 6.71 ERA, a 1.56 WHIP, 27 walks and fourteen home runs allowed in 55 innings across eleven starts. He did hold Texas to one run over four and a third on August 11.

Anaheim's lineup strikes out 1,170 times, more than any other in baseball, and the bullpen has converted only 19 saves, fewest in the sport. The Angels have still won six of ten. Kansas City is a -113 favorite and the total is 9.0.

Milwaukee owns the best record in baseball at 76-48 and has taken two of the first three here, holding Los Angeles to four, three and one run. Logan Henderson closes it out with a 2.88 ERA, a 0.91 WHIP, a .197 opponent average and eleven walks in 56.1 innings, working off a 93.0 mph four-seamer and a changeup he throws nearly a third of the time.

Tarik Skubal answers in his third start as a Dodger. The full season is 7-6 with a 2.93 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP and 128 strikeouts in 107.2 innings, most of that in Detroit; the Los Angeles portion is 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA over eleven innings, including five innings and three earned against Kansas City on August 10.

The oddity worth staring at is the Dodgers' home ledger. Los Angeles has scored 271 runs in 62 home games and 343 in 62 on the road, hitting .248 with a .737 OPS at Dodger Stadium against .269 and .787 away from it. The Dodgers are 74-50 and priced at -176 with the total at 7.5.