Forecaster for Week 16: July 20-26

We're back to regular programming for Week 16 after Week 15 featured an extended scoring period that included the weekend immediately following the All-Star break (Thursday, July 16 through Sunday, July 19). The Week 16 schedule, covering Monday, July 20 through Sunday, July 26, features a full Monday slate, since teams will have only played three or four games since the break. However, Thursday is quiet with only five contests. Several teams opted to give their aces extra rest, either because they worked in the Midsummer Classic or to manage workloads. As such, Cy Young Award contenders Cristopher Sanchez , Jacob Misiorowski , Joe Ryan and Dylan Cease come out of the second-half gate with a two-start week. It also has become common for pitchers recovering from injuries to target just after the break to return, and this year is no exception. Examples are Michael Soroka , Jameson Taillon , Randy Vasquez , Lance McCullers Jr. , Ronel Blanco , Martin Perez and Max Scherzer . Soroka and Vasquez merit the most attention, as they both enjoyed extended periods of success before the break. The Miami Marlins and San Francisco Giants both have just six games, split home and away, but they face a lot of vulnerable pitching. The Marlins visit the Houston Astros , then host the San Diego Padres , with each opponent using the back end of their suspect rotations. The Giants are on the road against the Kansas City Royals , then they return home to square off with the Los Angeles Angels , another pair of clubs without daunting pitching this period. Lineup lock times Week 16 Date Total games First game time Day games Monday, July 20 15 6:40 PM 0 Tuesday, July 21 15 6:40 PM 0 Wednesday, July 22 15 1:35 PM 7 Thursday, July 23 5 12:15 PM 4 Friday, July 24 15 4:10 PM 1 Saturday, July 25 15 1:10 PM 5 Sunday, July 26 15 12:15 PM 14 Scheduling quirks Week 16: Teams with the most games Total Home vs. LHSP vs. RHSP 10 tied with 7 Red Sox 6 Diamondbacks 4 9 tied with 6 Brewers 6 Twins 4 Phillies 6 Orioles 3 Rangers 6 Phillies 3 5 tied with 4 Blue Jays 3 Nationals 3 Starting pitcher ranks Week 16: July 20-26 Rk Pitcher Team 1st Start 2nd Start 1 PHI Mon 7/20-LAD (Lauer) Sun 7/26-NYY (Warren) 2 MIL Mon 7/20-NYM (Peralta) Sun 7/26-COL (Freeland) 3 MIN Mon 7/20-@CLE (Messick) Sat 7/25-ATH (Lopez) 4 TOR Mon 7/20-TB (Rasmussen) Sat 7/25-@BOS (Gray) 5 CLE Mon 7/20-MIN (Ryan) Sat 7/25-@TB (Rasmussen) 6 TB Mon 7/20-@TOR (Cease) Sat 7/25-CLE (Messick) 7 TEX Mon 7/20-CWS (Fedde) Sun 7/26-SEA (Gilbert) 8 LAD Sun 7/26-@NYM (Peralta) 9 DET Tue 7/21-@CHC (Peterson) Sun 7/26-KC (Avila) 10 PHI Fri 7/24-NYY (Weathers) 11 NYM Mon 7/20-@MIL (Misiorowski) Sun 7/26-LAD (Yamamoto) 12 KC Mon 7/20-SF (Mahle) Sat 7/25-@DET (Flaherty) 13 TOR Tue 7/21-TB (Martinez) Sun 7/26-@BOS (Tolle) 14 PHI Tue 7/21-LAD (Wrobleski) 15 BAL Mon 7/20-@BOS (Tolle) Sun 7/26-ATL (Lopez) 16 CIN Mon 7/20-@SEA (Kirby) Sun 7/26-@STL (Leahy) 17 PIT Mon 7/20-@NYY (Warren) Sun 7/26-CHC (Taillon) 18 HOU Fri 7/24-@CWS (Martin) 19 DET Thu 7/23-KC (Kolek) 20 MIA Mon 7/20-@HOU (Imai) Sun 7/26-SD (Buehler) 21 TB Tue 7/21-@TOR (Gausman) Sun 7/26-CLE (Cecconi) 22 NYM Fri 7/24-LAD (Sasaki) 23 CHC Mon 7/20-DET (Flaherty) Sun 7/26-@PIT (Keller) 24 DET Mon 7/20-@CHC (Taillon) Sat 7/25-KC (Wacha) 25 NYM Sat 7/25-LAD (Sheehan) 26 CIN Sat 7/25-@STL (Liberatore) 27 SEA Sat 7/25-@TEX (deGrom) 28 HOU Sun 7/26-@CWS (Fedde) 29 LAD Sat 7/25-@NYM (McLean) 30 NYY Mon 7/20-PIT (Keller) Sun 7/26-@PHI (Sanchez) 31 LAD Wed 7/22-@PHI (Nola) 32 SEA Sun 7/26-@TEX (Eovaldi) 33 CIN Tue 7/21-@SEA (Hancock) 34 BOS Mon 7/20-BAL (Baz) Sun 7/26-TOR (Gausman) 35 LAA Mon 7/20-STL (Liberatore) Sun 7/26-@SF (Mahle) 36 PIT Sat 7/25-CHC (Imanaga) 37 CLE Tue 7/21-MIN (Paredes) Sun 7/26-@TB (Martinez) 38 SEA Wed 7/22-CIN (Singer) 39 NYY Sat 7/25-@PHI (Rangel) 40 SF Fri 7/24-LAA (Rodriguez) 41 WSH Sat 7/25-ARI (Bratt) 42 NYY Wed 7/22-PIT (Jones) 43 MIA Sat 7/25-SD (Vasquez) 44 ATL Thu 7/23-SD (Canning) 45 SEA Mon 7/20-CIN (Abbott) 46 LAD Tue 7/21-@PHI (Wheeler) 47 PIT Fri 7/24-CHC (Boyd) 48 TB Fri 7/24-CLE (Bibee) 49 MIA Wed 7/22-@HOU (Blanco) 50 TEX Sat 7/25-SEA (Woo) 51 SF Mon 7/20-@KC (Wacha) Sun 7/26-LAA (Soriano) 52 CHC Sat 7/25-@PIT (Skenes) 53 TB Thu 7/23-@TOR (Bieber) 54 KC Tue 7/21-SF (McDonald) Sun 7/26-@DET (Valdez) 55 ATH Mon 7/20-@ARI (Bratt) Sun 7/26-@MIN (Prielipp) 56 DET Wed 7/22-@CHC (Rea) 57 MIN Thu 7/23-@CLE (Cantillo) 58 BAL Sat 7/25-ATL (Elder) 59 ATL Tue 7/21-SD (Buehler) Sun 7/26-@BAL (Baz) 60 SF Sat 7/25-LAA (Johnson) 61 BAL Fri 7/24-ATL (Holmes) 62 CHC Fri 7/24-@PIT (Ashcraft) 63 CLE Fri 7/24-@TB (McClanahan) 64 CWS Sat 7/25-HOU (Arrighetti) 65 NYY Tue 7/21-PIT (Chandler) 66 SEA Fri 7/24-@TEX (Gore) 67 SEA Tue 7/21-CIN (Burns) 68 PIT Tue 7/21-@NYY (Rodriguez) 69 STL Tue 7/21-@LAA (Urena) Sun 7/26-CIN (Abbott) 70 CWS Mon 7/20-@TEX (Eovaldi) Sun 7/26-HOU (Brown) 71 MIA Fri 7/24-SD (Marquez) 72 MIL Fri 7/24-COL (Sugano) 73 STL Fri 7/24-CIN (Lowder) 74 NYY Fri 7/24-@PHI (Luzardo) 75 CLE Wed 7/22-MIN (Ober) 76 CIN Wed 7/22-@SEA (Castillo) 77 STL Mon 7/20-@LAA (Soriano) Sat 7/25-CIN (Greene) 78 DET Fri 7/24-KC (Cameron) 79 MIN Wed 7/22-@CLE (Williams) 80 ARI Mon 7/20-ATH (Springs) Sat 7/25-@WSH (Griffin) 81 KC Fri 7/24-@DET (Mize) 82 STL Wed 7/22-@LAA (Detmers) 83 LAD Mon 7/20-@PHI (Sanchez) 84 ATH Tue 7/21-@ARI (Cabrera) 85 STL Thu 7/23-ARI (Pfaadt) 86 PIT Wed 7/22-@NYY (Cole) 87 ARI Wed 7/22-ATH (Jump) 88 HOU Sat 7/25-@CWS (Burke) 89 LAA Sat 7/25-@SF (Ray) 90 LAD Fri 7/24-@NYM (Manaea) 91 BOS Wed 7/22-BAL (Kremer) 92 MIL Tue 7/21-NYM (Thornton) 93 HOU Mon 7/20-MIA (Junk) 94 TB Wed 7/22-@TOR (Scherzer) 95 LAA Tue 7/21-STL (Leahy) 96 SD Wed 7/22-@ATL (Perez) 97 BOS Sat 7/25-TOR (Cease) 98 TOR Fri 7/24-@BOS (Sandoval) 99 ATH Sat 7/25-@MIN (Ryan) 100 MIN Fri 7/24-ATH (Ginn) 101 NYM Wed 7/22-@MIL (Henderson) 102 HOU Wed 7/22-MIA (Alcantara) 103 BAL Tue 7/21-@BOS (Suarez) 104 CLE Thu 7/23-MIN (Bradley) 105 ATH Fri 7/24-@MIN (Matthews) 106 CWS Fri 7/24-HOU (Lambert) 107 LAA Wed 7/22-STL (McGreevy) 108 MIL Wed 7/22-NYM (Scott) 109 CHC Tue 7/21-DET (Valdez) 110 ARI Sun 7/26-@WSH (Alvarez) 111 WSH Mon 7/20-@COL (Freeland) Sun 7/26-ARI (Soroka) 112 PHI Sat 7/25-NYY (Schlittler) 113 ARI Fri 7/24-@WSH (Littell) 114 SD Tue 7/21-@ATL (Lopez) Sun 7/26-@MIA (Junk) 115 ATL Fri 7/24-@BAL (Rogers) 116 SD Mon 7/20-@ATL (Elder) Sat 7/25-@MIA (Perez) 117 PHI Wed 7/22-LAD (Ohtani) 118 BAL Wed 7/22-@BOS (Bennett) 119 CIN Fri 7/24-@STL (Pallante) 120 CWS Tue 7/21-@TEX (Rocker) 121 ATL Mon 7/20-SD (Vasquez) Sat 7/25-@BAL (Bradish) 122 CHC Wed 7/22-DET (Melton) 123 TOR Thu 7/23-TB (Seymour) 124 MIN Sun 7/26-ATH (Springs) 125 TEX Tue 7/21-CWS (Schultz) 126 SF Wed 7/22-@KC (Lugo) 127 ATH Wed 7/22-@ARI (Kelly) 128 WSH Fri 7/24-ARI (Rodriguez) 129 NYM Tue 7/21-@MIL (Sproat) 130 BOS Tue 7/21-BAL (Young) 131 ARI Thu 7/23-@STL (May) 132 TEX Fri 7/24-SEA (Miller) 133 MIL Sat 7/25-COL (Feltner) 134 LAA Fri 7/24-@SF (Webb) 135 KC Thu 7/23-@DET (Skubal) 136 CWS Wed 7/22-@TEX (Quantrill) 137 ATL Wed 7/22-SD (King) 138 COL Sat 7/25-@MIL (McCullers) 139 MIA Tue 7/21-@HOU (Javier) 140 KC Wed 7/22-SF (Roupp) 141 TOR Wed 7/22-TB (Jax) 142 ARI Tue 7/21-ATH (Perkins) 143 BOS Fri 7/24-TOR (Yesavage) 144 HOU Tue 7/21-MIA (Phillips) 145 SD Fri 7/24-@MIA (Meyer) 146 MIN Tue 7/21-@CLE (Cecconi) 147 SF Tue 7/21-@KC (Avila) 148 COL Fri 7/24-@MIL (Drohan) 149 SD Thu 7/23-@ATL (Sale) 150 TEX Wed 7/22-CWS (Kay) 151 COL Mon 7/20-WSH (Alvarez) Sun 7/26-@MIL (Misiorowski) 152 WSH Wed 7/22-@COL (Hughes) 153 COL Wed 7/22-WSH (Cavalli) 154 COL Tue 7/21-WSH (Mikolas) 155 WSH Tue 7/21-@COL (Lorenzen) Hitter ratings Week 16: July 20-26 Overall LHB RHB SB Nationals 10.0 Athletics 10.0 Nationals 9.8 Guardians 10.0 Brewers 8.4 Nationals 10.0 Rockies 9.7 Astros 10.0 Tigers 8.1 Brewers 8.6 Diamondbacks 8.7 Padres 10.0 Diamondbacks 8.0 Marlins 8.5 Braves 8.5 Blue Jays 10.0 Rockies 7.9 Astros 8.2 Brewers 8.3 Rangers 9.1 Braves 7.5 Tigers 8.1 Tigers 8.1 Orioles 8.4 Marlins 6.9 Giants 7.5 Twins 7.6 Marlins 7.9 Athletics 6.8 Braves 7.2 Royals 7.6 Diamondbacks 6.7 Astros 6.7 Diamondbacks 7.2 Rays 7.0 Athletics 6.7 Twins 6.4 White Sox 6.5 Cardinals 6.7 Phillies 6.6