Fantasy Baseball Week 8 Preview: Two-start pitcher rankings highlight Shane Baz, Grant Holmes

Find out which pitchers are in line for an extra start this week

Each weekend, Scott White ranks the two start pitchers for the upcoming scoring period and then categorizes them by how usable they are. The names depicted here are highly speculative and subject to change.

One of the most common ways they change is with the addition of a spot starter when a team is scheduled to play six games in a row. It doesn't always happen, but it happens often enough that I'm taking the extra step this year of pointing out which of the two-start pitchers is scheduled for Tuesday and Sunday in the upcoming scoring period since they're the most likely to lose out in such a scenario.

Below are the two-start pitchers for Fantasy Week 8 (May 12-18), with the most questionable (Tuesday/Sunday in a seven-game week) being Framber Valdez, Spencer Schwellenbach, Mike Soroka, and Jack Leiter.

All information is up to date as of Sunday evening.

Must-start, all formats

1	P. Skenes SP PIT Paul Skenes SP PIT	@ NYM N.Y. Mets	@ PHI Philadelphia
2	M. King SP SD Michael King SP SD	vs LAA L.A. Angels	vs SEA Seattle
3	C. Sanchez SP PHI Cristopher Sanchez SP PHI	vs STL St. Louis	vs PIT Pittsburgh
4	F. Valdez SP HOU Framber Valdez SP HOU	vs KC Kansas City	@ TEX Texas
5	S. Schwellenbach SP ATL Spencer Schwellenbach SP ATL	vs WAS Washington	@ BOS Boston
6	F. Peralta SP MIL Freddy Peralta SP MIL	@ CLE Cleveland	vs MIN Minnesota

Advisable in most cases

7	M. Wacha SP KC Michael Wacha SP KC	@ HOU Houston	vs STL St. Louis
8	S. Baz SP TB Shane Baz SP TB	@ TOR Toronto	@ MIA Miami
9	J. Berrios SP TOR Jose Berrios SP TOR	vs TB Tampa Bay	vs DET Detroit
10	M. Liberatore SP STL Matthew Liberatore SP STL	@ PHI Philadelphia	@ KC Kansas City
11	G. Holmes SP ATL Grant Holmes SP ATL	vs WAS Washington	@ BOS Boston
12	A. Abbott SP CIN Andrew Abbott SP CIN	vs CHW Chi. White Sox	vs CLE Cleveland
13	M. Kelly SP ARI Merrill Kelly SP ARI	@ SF San Francisco	vs COL Colorado
14	T. Mahle SP TEX Tyler Mahle SP TEX	vs COL Colorado	vs HOU Houston

Better left for points leagues

15	C. Rea SP CHC Colin Rea SP CHC	vs MIA Miami	vs CHW Chi. White Sox
16	J. Verlander SP SF Justin Verlander SP SF	vs ARI Arizona	vs ATH Athletics
17	C. Schmidt SP NYY Clarke Schmidt SP NYY	@ SEA Seattle	vs NYM N.Y. Mets
18	Y. Kikuchi SP LAA Yusei Kikuchi SP LAA	@ SD San Diego	@ LAD L.A. Dodgers
19	D. Peterson SP NYM David Peterson SP NYM	vs PIT Pittsburgh	@ NYY N.Y. Yankees
20	M. Soroka SP WAS Mike Soroka SP WAS	@ ATL Atlanta	@ BAL Baltimore

No thanks

21	J. Leiter SP TEX Jack Leiter SP TEX	vs COL Colorado	vs HOU Houston
22	T. Houck SP BOS Tanner Houck SP BOS	@ DET Detroit	vs ATL Atlanta
23	J. Irvin SP WAS Jake Irvin SP WAS	@ ATL Atlanta	@ BAL Baltimore
24	B. Lively SP CLE Ben Lively SP CLE	vs MIL Milwaukee	@ CIN Cincinnati
25	C. Dollander SP COL Chase Dollander SP COL	@ TEX Texas	@ ARI Arizona
26	J. Springs SP ATH Jeffrey Springs SP ATH	@ LAD L.A. Dodgers	@ SF San Francisco
27	R. Gusto SP HOU Ryan Gusto SP HOU	vs KC Kansas City	@ TEX Texas
28	S. Woods Richardson SP MIN Simeon Woods Richardson SP MIN	@ BAL Baltimore	@ MIL Milwaukee
29	J. Jobe SP DET Jackson Jobe SP DET	vs BOS Boston	@ TOR Toronto
30	C. Povich SP BAL Cade Povich SP BAL	vs MIN Minnesota	vs WAS Washington
31	E. Hancock SP SEA Emerson Hancock SP SEA	vs NYY N.Y. Yankees	@ SD San Diego
32	J. Cannon SP CHW Jonathan Cannon SP CHW	@ CIN Cincinnati	@ CHC Chi. Cubs
33	C. Quantrill SP MIA Cal Quantrill SP MIA	@ CHC Chi. Cubs	vs TB Tampa Bay