Forecaster for Week 24: Sept. 14-20

If you've made it this far, congratulations! You've either advanced to the championship round in ESPN head-to-head leagues, or you're still in contention in your categories or total points league. Fantasy baseball 's Week 24 is the penultimate week in the 2026 MLB regular (and fantasy) season, and it represents the first of the two-week championship round in standard head-to-head leagues. The two teams that won the two-week, Aug. 31-Sept. 13 semifinal matchups will now square off from Sept. 14-27. We're certain to see our first significant postseason berths clinched -- putting aside, for a moment, that the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers are virtual locks to assure themselves of (at the very least) playoff berths during the Sept. 11-13 weekend -- as several teams are within reach during the upcoming week. The Brewers (magic number of 5) and Los Angeles Dodgers (6) can clinch their respective divisions, and the New York Yankees (4), Dodgers (5), Atlanta Braves (8) and Boston Red Sox (9) can clinch wild-card spots -- all of which seems likely to occur during Week 24. From a player motivation standpoint, fantasy managers should prefer players from games with something on the line, and it's not uncommon for a team clinching some type of postseason berth or seeding to rest veteran players afterward, often in the game immediately following that happening. Lineup lock times Week 24 Date Total games First game time Day games Monday, Sept. 14 10 6:40 PM 0 Tuesday, Sept. 15 15 6:40 PM 0 Wednesday, Sept. 16 15 1:10 PM 4 Thursday, Sept. 17 9 12:35 PM 4 Friday, Sept. 18 15 6:40 PM 0 Saturday, Sept. 19 15 4:05 PM 3 Sunday, Sept. 20 15 1:10 PM 14 Scheduling quirks Week 24: Teams with the most games Total Home vs. LHSP vs. RHSP 9 tied with 7 Reds 7 Reds 5 Diamondbacks 6 Rockies 7 Rays 5 Tigers 6 Angels 7 5 tied with 3 Marlins 6 Mets 7 Padres 6 7 tied with 6 6 tied with 5 Starting pitcher ranks Week 24: Sept. 14-20 Rk Pitcher Team 1st Start 2nd Start 1 PHI Tue 9/15-@WSH (Kent) Sun 9/20-@NYM (Tong) 2 MIL Tue 9/15-@PIT (TBD) Sun 9/20-@BAL (Young) 3 HOU Tue 9/15-KC (Wacha) Sun 9/20-ATL (Holmes) 4 PHI Fri 9/18-@NYM (Thornton) 5 NYM Mon 9/14-BAL (Young) Sun 9/20-PHI (Sanchez) 6 STL Mon 9/14-SF (Roupp) Sun 9/20-WSH (Early) 7 KC Tue 9/15-@HOU (Brown) Sun 9/20-@PIT (TBD) 8 MIA Mon 9/14-@ARI (Burnes) Sun 9/20-@SD (Buehler) 9 LAA Mon 9/14-SEA (Anderson) Sat 9/19-MIN (Ryan) 10 ATL Fri 9/18-@HOU (Lambert) 11 DET Mon 9/14-@TOR (Arrighetti) Sat 9/19-@CWS (Martin) 12 LAD Tue 9/15-@CIN (Lowder) 13 TB Thu 9/17-ATH (Springs) 14 LAD Wed 9/16-@CIN (Abbott) 15 LAD Fri 9/18-SF (Perdomo) 16 CLE Mon 9/14-CWS (Martin) Sun 9/20-ATH (Perkins) 17 CHC Mon 9/14-ATL (Smith-Shawver) Sun 9/20-@CIN (Lowder) 18 PHI Wed 9/16-@WSH (Cavalli) 19 SD Fri 9/18-MIA (Phillips) 20 SF Mon 9/14-@STL (Mathews) Sun 9/20-@LAD (Sasaki) 21 NYM Thu 9/17-PHI (Nola) 22 NYY Mon 9/14-@MIN (Prielipp) Sun 9/20-@ARI (Rodriguez) 23 BOS Sat 9/19-@TB (Peralta) 24 DET Tue 9/15-@TOR (TBD) Sun 9/20-@CWS (Fedde) 25 MIL Wed 9/16-@PIT (Jones) 26 BAL Mon 9/14-@NYM (Tong) Sun 9/20-MIL (Misiorowski) 27 TB Tue 9/15-ATH (Perkins) Sun 9/20-BOS (Sandoval) 28 BOS Fri 9/18-@TB (Seymour) 29 LAD Thu 9/17-@CIN (Singer) 30 NYY Sat 9/19-@ARI (Pfaadt) 31 BAL Tue 9/15-@NYM (Manaea) 32 PHI Thu 9/17-@NYM (McLean) 33 TOR Fri 9/18-@TEX (Gore) 34 PIT Fri 9/18-KC (Dobnak) 35 BOS Tue 9/15-@TEX (Bradford) Sun 9/20-@TB (Jax) 36 LAA Tue 9/15-SEA (Gilbert) Sun 9/20-MIN (Prielipp) 37 TB Sat 9/19-BOS (Tolle) 38 CLE Wed 9/16-CWS (Kay) 39 TB Wed 9/16-ATH (Basso) 40 HOU Fri 9/18-ATL (Sale) 41 SEA Tue 9/15-@LAA (Johnson) 42 TB Fri 9/18-BOS (Suarez) 43 NYM Sat 9/19-PHI (Painter) 44 MIN Sat 9/19-@LAA (Detmers) 45 LAD Sat 9/19-SF (Webb) 46 NYM Tue 9/15-BAL (Baz) 47 TEX Wed 9/16-BOS (Bennett) 48 CWS Wed 9/16-@CLE (Messick) 49 ATH Tue 9/15-@TB (Jax) Sun 9/20-@CLE (Bibee) 50 DET Thu 9/17-@CWS (Castillo) 51 ATH Sat 9/19-@CLE (Cantillo) 52 NYM Fri 9/18-PHI (Luzardo) 53 MIA Sat 9/19-@SD (Mize) 54 NYY Wed 9/16-@MIN (Matthews) 55 CHC Tue 9/15-ATL (Lopez) 56 BAL Sat 9/19-MIL (Gasser) 57 CWS Mon 9/14-@CLE (Bibee) Sat 9/19-DET (Melton) 58 CIN Mon 9/14-LAD (Wrobleski) Sat 9/19-CHC (Boyd) 59 HOU Sat 9/19-ATL (Mahle) 60 NYM Wed 9/16-BAL (Bassitt) 61 PHI Sat 9/19-@NYM (Scott) 62 SEA Mon 9/14-@LAA (Detmers) Sun 9/20-@COL (Feltner) 63 SF Tue 9/15-@STL (Pallante) 64 SF Sat 9/19-@LAD (Sheehan) 65 WSH Sun 9/20-@STL (Mathews) 66 NYY Tue 9/15-@MIN (Kremer) 67 BAL Wed 9/16-@NYM (Stock) 68 KC Sat 9/19-@PIT (Chandler) 69 CLE Fri 9/18-ATH (Jump) 70 CWS Tue 9/15-@CLE (Griffin) Sun 9/20-DET (Anderson) 71 ARI Mon 9/14-MIA (Alcantara) 72 CHC Wed 9/16-ATL (Perez) 73 CHC Sat 9/19-@CIN (Lodolo) 74 CIN Fri 9/18-CHC (Holmes) 75 WSH Fri 9/18-@STL (Leahy) 76 MIL Fri 9/18-@BAL (Bradish) 77 BOS Thu 9/17-@TEX (Rocker) 78 ATL Sat 9/19-@HOU (Wesneski) 79 CHC Fri 9/18-@CIN (Burns) 80 KC Thu 9/17-@HOU (Pecko) 81 MIL Sat 9/19-@BAL (Rogers) 82 SD Mon 9/14-@COL (Sugano) Sat 9/19-MIA (Perez) 83 CLE Tue 9/15-CWS (Fedde) 84 STL Wed 9/16-SF (Molina) 85 STL Sat 9/19-WSH (Irvin) 86 NYY Fri 9/18-@ARI (Kelly) 87 MIN Thu 9/17-@LAA (Urena) 88 MIA Fri 9/18-@SD (Pivetta) 89 TOR Wed 9/16-DET (Montero) 90 ARI Fri 9/18-NYY (Cole) 91 DET Wed 9/16-@TOR (Scherzer) 92 WSH Sat 9/19-@STL (McGreevy) 93 LAD Sun 9/20-SF (Roupp) 94 SEA Wed 9/16-@LAA (Kikuchi) 95 LAD Mon 9/14-@CIN (Lodolo) 96 TOR Sun 9/20-@TEX (Bradford) 97 CWS Thu 9/17-DET (Valdez) 98 CWS Fri 9/18-DET (Jobe) 99 TOR Mon 9/14-DET (Melton) 100 ATH Thu 9/17-@TB (Rasmussen) 101 MIN Tue 9/15-NYY (Fried) 102 WSH Wed 9/16-PHI (Wheeler) 103 PIT Wed 9/16-MIL (Henderson) 104 ARI Sat 9/19-NYY (Schlittler) 105 STL Tue 9/15-SF (Tidwell) 106 LAA Thu 9/17-MIN (Bradley) 107 DET Fri 9/18-@CWS (Burke) 108 SF Wed 9/16-@STL (Liberatore) 109 CLE Sat 9/19-ATH (Lopez) 110 TOR Sat 9/19-@TEX (Quantrill) 111 PIT Sat 9/19-KC (Cameron) 112 MIN Wed 9/16-NYY (Rodon) 113 ATL Sun 9/20-@HOU (Brown) 114 HOU Wed 9/16-KC (Lynch) 115 ARI Sun 9/20-NYY (Warren) 116 KC Wed 9/16-@HOU (Javier) 117 HOU Thu 9/17-KC (Lugo) 118 BOS Wed 9/16-@TEX (deGrom) 119 MIN Mon 9/14-NYY (Warren) Sun 9/20-@LAA (Johnson) 120 ATH Fri 9/18-@CLE (Williams) 121 ARI Wed 9/16-MIA (Gusto) 122 TEX Fri 9/18-TOR (Cease) 123 ATL Mon 9/14-@CHC (Peterson) 124 MIN Fri 9/18-@LAA (Rodriguez) 125 CIN Tue 9/15-LAD (Skubal) Sun 9/20-CHC (Peterson) 126 BAL Fri 9/18-MIL (Harrison) 127 WSH Tue 9/15-PHI (Sanchez) 128 ATL Wed 9/16-@CHC (Imanaga) 129 LAA Wed 9/16-SEA (Kirby) 130 MIA Wed 9/16-@ARI (Soroka) 131 CIN Wed 9/16-LAD (Yamamoto) 132 KC Fri 9/18-@PIT (Skenes) 133 ARI Tue 9/15-MIA (Junk) 134 ATL Tue 9/15-@CHC (Gausman) 135 MIA Tue 9/15-@ARI (Gallen) 136 SF Fri 9/18-@LAD (Glasnow) 137 TEX Tue 9/15-BOS (Sandoval) Sun 9/20-TOR (Soriano) 138 TEX Sat 9/19-TOR (Yesavage) 139 MIL Thu 9/17-@PIT (TBD) 140 CIN Thu 9/17-LAD (Snell) 141 TEX Thu 9/17-BOS (Gray) 142 STL Fri 9/18-WSH (Alvarez) 143 SEA Fri 9/18-@COL (Hughes) 144 SD Tue 9/15-@COL (Feltner) Sun 9/20-MIA (Alcantara) 145 LAA Fri 9/18-MIN (Ober) 146 ATH Wed 9/16-@TB (Martinez) 147 SD Thu 9/17-@COL (Gordon) 148 SD Wed 9/16-@COL (Freeland) 149 COL Fri 9/18-SEA (Woo) 150 SEA Sat 9/19-@COL (Sugano) 151 COL Wed 9/16-SD (Ray) 152 COL Thu 9/17-SD (King) 153 COL Tue 9/15-SD (Buehler) Sun 9/20-SEA (Anderson) 154 COL Mon 9/14-SD (Mize) Sat 9/19-SEA (Hancock) Hitter ratings Week 24: Sept. 14-20 Overall LHB RHB SB Padres 10.0 Padres 9.9 Padres 9.5 Royals 10.0 Dodgers 8.6 Dodgers 9.1 Rockies 8.6 Tigers 9.6 Tigers 8.2 Tigers 8.8 Guardians 8.3 Padres 8.8 Rockies 8.1 Yankees 7.9 Dodgers 8.1 Giants 8.1 Mariners 7.7 Mariners 7.7 Mariners 7.5 Guardians 7.6 Guardians 7.5 Angels 7.5 Tigers 7.5 Cardinals 7.5 Blue Jays 6.9 Rockies 7.4 White Sox 7.3 Cubs 7.0 Yankees 6.4 Cubs 6.9 Blue Jays 7.0 Mariners 6.8 White Sox 6.3 Blue Jays 6.5 Red Sox 6.6 Reds 6.8 Angels 6.2 Rays 6.5 Athletics 6.4 Brewers 6.7