Set your lineups for the week ahead in fantasy baseball with our forecaster preview, which features pitcher rankings, hitter ratings, schedule observations and more.
Happy Opening Day!
The 2023 Major League Baseball season begins Thursday, and ESPN fantasy baseball's season begins that day as well with an expanded, 11-day "Week 1" scoring period, running from Opening Day through Sunday, April 9. Leagues with weekly lineup deadlines will lock lineups for the entirety of the scoring period at the start of each team's first scheduled game, and will not allow changes to take effect again until April 10. Additionally, head-to-head matchups will span the entire 11-day period.
Despite this being an 11-day scoring period, which gives some starting pitchers a chance to work as many as three times (Opening Day, then on four days' rest on April 4, then again on four days' rest on April 9), not a single pitcher is currently slated to do so. Out of the 151 starting pitchers scheduled to pitch in the opening scoring period,133 of them will work twice, so be sure to lean on the quality of matchups rather than the quantity.
Lineup lock times
Date
Total games
First game time
Day games
Thursday, 3/30
15
1:05 PM
11
Friday, 3/31
5
6:40 PM
0
Saturday, 4/1
15
2:10 PM
12
Sunday, 4/2
15
1:10 PM
14
Monday, 4/3
15
2:10 PM
2
Tuesday, 4/4
14
4:10 PM
1
Wednesday, 4/5
13
12:35 PM
12
Thursday, 4/6
10
1:10 PM
8
Friday, 4/7
10
2:20 PM
4
Saturday, 4/8
15
2:10 PM
7
Sunday, 4/9
15
1:05 PM
14
Scheduling quirks for Week 1
Teams with the Most Games This Week: Total, Home and Road
Total games
Home games
Road games
Diamondbacks
10
Astros
7
Blue Jays
10
Braves
10
Royals
7
Guardians
7
White Sox
10
Marlins
7
White Sox
7
Guardians
10
Mariners
7
Mets
7
Rockies
10
12 teams tied with
6
10 teams tied with
6
Astros
10
Royals
10
Dodgers
10
Marlins
10
Mets
10
Padres
10
Mariners
10
Blue Jays
10
Nationals
10
Starting pitchers for Week 1
Starting Pitcher Rankings, March 30-April 9
Rk
Pitcher
Team
1st Start
2nd Start
1
Max Scherzer
NYM
Thu 3/30-@MIA (Alcantara)
Tue 4/4-@MIL (Miley)
2
Justin Verlander
NYM
Sat 4/1-@MIA (Cabrera)
Thu 4/6-MIA (Cabrera)
3
Cristian Javier
HOU
Fri 3/31-CWS (Lynn)
Wed 4/5-DET (Rodriguez)
4
Shohei Ohtani
LAA
Thu 3/30-@OAK (Muller)
Wed 4/5-@SEA (Ray)
5
Corbin Burnes
MIL
Thu 3/30-@CHC (Stroman)
Wed 4/5-NYM (Peterson)
6
Alek Manoah
TOR
Thu 3/30-@STL (Mikolas)
Wed 4/5-@KC (Greinke)
7
Sandy Alcantara
MIA
Thu 3/30-NYM (Scherzer)
Tue 4/4-MIN (Maeda)
8
Shane Bieber
CLE
Thu 3/30-@SEA (Castillo)
Tue 4/4-@OAK (Sears)
9
Gerrit Cole
NYY
Thu 3/30-SF (Webb)
Wed 4/5-PHI (Nola)
10
Robbie Ray
SEA
Fri 3/31-CLE (Gaddis)
Wed 4/5-LAA (Ohtani)
11
Julio Urias
LAD
Thu 3/30-ARI (Gallen)
Tue 4/4-COL (Marquez)
12
Jacob deGrom
TEX
Thu 3/30-PHI (Nola)
Wed 4/5-BAL (Gibson)
13
Dylan Cease
CWS
Thu 3/30-@HOU (Valdez)
Wed 4/5-SF (Wood)
14
Brandon Woodruff
MIL
Sat 4/1-@CHC (Taillon)
Fri 4/7-STL (Flaherty)
15
Zack Wheeler
PHI
Sat 4/1-@TEX (Eovaldi)
Thu 4/6-CIN (Lodolo)
16
Framber Valdez
HOU
Thu 3/30-CWS (Cease)
Tue 4/4-DET (Manning)
17
Lance Lynn
CWS
Fri 3/31-@HOU (Javier)
Thu 4/6-SF (Webb)
18
Spencer Strider
ATL
Sat 4/1-@WSH (Gray)
Thu 4/6-SD (Snell)
19
Patrick Sandoval
LAA
Sat 4/1-@OAK (Fujinami)
Fri 4/7-TOR (Bassitt)
20
Clayton Kershaw
LAD
Sat 4/1-ARI (Bumgarner)
Fri 4/7-@ARI (Bumgarner)
21
Nestor Cortes
NYY
Mon 4/3-PHI (Walker)
Sun 4/9-@BAL (Bradish)
22
Logan Webb
SF
Thu 3/30-@NYY (Cole)
Thu 4/6-@CWS (Lynn)
23
Luis Castillo
SEA
Thu 3/30-CLE (Bieber)
Tue 4/4-LAA (Suarez)
24
Nick Lodolo
CIN
Sat 4/1-PIT (Hill)
Thu 4/6-@PHI (Wheeler)
25
Freddy Peralta
MIL
Mon 4/3-NYM (Carrasco)
Sun 4/9-STL (Woodford)
26
Zac Gallen
ARI
Thu 3/30-@LAD (Urias)
Tue 4/4-@SD (Darvish)
27
Max Fried
ATL
Thu 3/30-@WSH (Corbin)
Wed 4/5-@STL (Mikolas)
28
Jordan Montgomery
STL
Sun 4/2-TOR (Bassitt)
Sat 4/8-@MIL (Lauer)
29
Blake Snell
SD
Thu 3/30-COL (Marquez)
Thu 4/6-@ATL (Strider)
30
Aaron Nola
PHI
Thu 3/30-@TEX (deGrom)
Wed 4/5-@NYY (Cole)
31
Hunter Greene
CIN
Thu 3/30-PIT (Keller)
Wed 4/5-CHC (Stroman)
32
Chris Bassitt
TOR
Sun 4/2-@STL (Montgomery)
Fri 4/7-@LAA (Sandoval)
33
Sean Manaea
SF
Mon 4/3-@CWS (Kopech)
Sun 4/9-KC (Bubic)
34
Pablo Lopez
MIN
Thu 3/30-@KC (Greinke)
Wed 4/5-@MIA (Luzardo)
35
Joe Ryan
MIN
Sun 4/2-@KC (Keller)
Sat 4/8-HOU (Garcia)
36
Zach Eflin
TB
Sat 4/1-DET (Turnbull)
Fri 4/7-OAK (Fujinami)
37
Luis Garcia
HOU
Sun 4/2-CWS (Clevinger)
Sat 4/8-@MIN (Ryan)
38
Kevin Gausman
TOR
Sat 4/1-@STL (Flaherty)
Thu 4/6-@KC (Lyles)
39
Shane McClanahan
TB
Thu 3/30-DET (Rodriguez)
Wed 4/5-@WSH (Corbin)
40
Trevor Rogers
MIA
Sun 4/2-NYM (Senga)
Sat 4/8-@NYM (Senga)
41
Jesus Luzardo
MIA
Fri 3/31-NYM (Peterson)
Wed 4/5-MIN (Lopez)
42
Charlie Morton
ATL
Mon 4/3-@STL (Woodford)
Sat 4/8-SD (Wacha)
43
Tyler Anderson
LAA
Sun 4/2-@OAK (Waldichuk)
Sat 4/8-TOR (Berrios)
44
Jeffrey Springs
TB
Sun 4/2-DET (Wentz)
Sat 4/8-OAK (Waldichuk)
45
Johnny Cueto
MIA
Mon 4/3-MIN (Mahle)
Sun 4/9-@NYM (Carrasco)
46
Lucas Giolito
CWS
Sat 4/1-@HOU (Urquidy)
Fri 4/7-@PIT (Hill)
47
Jose Berrios
TOR
Mon 4/3-@KC (Singer)
Sat 4/8-@LAA (Anderson)
48
Drew Rasmussen
TB
Mon 4/3-@WSH (Williams)
Sun 4/9-OAK (Kaprielian)
49
Alex Cobb
SF
Sat 4/1-@NYY (Schmidt)
Fri 4/7-KC (Keller)
50
Taijuan Walker
PHI
Mon 4/3-@NYY (Cortes)
Sun 4/9-CIN (Overton)
51
James Kaprielian
OAK
Mon 4/3-CLE (Plesac)
Sun 4/9-@TB (Rasmussen)
52
Marcus Stroman
CHC
Thu 3/30-MIL (Burnes)
Wed 4/5-@CIN (Greene)
53
Logan Gilbert
SEA
Sat 4/1-CLE (Civale)
Fri 4/7-@CLE (Civale)
54
Spencer Turnbull
DET
Sat 4/1-@TB (Eflin)
Thu 4/6-BOS (Sale)
55
Miles Mikolas
STL
Thu 3/30-TOR (Manoah)
Wed 4/5-ATL (Fried)
56
Tyler Mahle
MIN
Mon 4/3-@MIA (Cueto)
Sun 4/9-HOU (Brown)
57
German Marquez
COL
Thu 3/30-@SD (Snell)
Tue 4/4-@LAD (Urias)
58
Kodai Senga
NYM
Sun 4/2-@MIA (Rogers)
Sat 4/8-MIA (Rogers)
59
Merrill Kelly
ARI
Fri 3/31-@LAD (May)
Thu 4/6-LAD (May)
60
Reid Detmers
LAA
Mon 4/3-@SEA (Kirby)
Sun 4/9-TOR (Kikuchi)
61
Jose Urquidy
HOU
Sat 4/1-CWS (Giolito)
Thu 4/6-@MIN (Gray)
62
Hunter Brown
HOU
Mon 4/3-DET (Boyd)
Sun 4/9-@MIN (Mahle)
63
Jameson Taillon
CHC
Sat 4/1-MIL (Woodruff)
Fri 4/7-TEX (Eovaldi)
64
Dustin May
LAD
Fri 3/31-ARI (Kelly)
Thu 4/6-@ARI (Kelly)
65
Michael Kopech
CWS
Mon 4/3-SF (Manaea)
Sun 4/9-@PIT (Contreras)
66
Aaron Civale
CLE
Sat 4/1-@SEA (Gilbert)
Fri 4/7-SEA (Gilbert)
67
Shintaro Fujinami
OAK
Sat 4/1-LAA (Sandoval)
Fri 4/7-@TB (Eflin)
68
Yusei Kikuchi
TOR
Tue 4/4-@KC (Bubic)
Sun 4/9-@LAA (Detmers)
69
Cal Quantrill
CLE
Sun 4/2-@SEA (Gonzales)
Sat 4/8-SEA (Gonzales)
70
Sonny Gray
MIN
Sat 4/1-@KC (Lyles)
Thu 4/6-HOU (Urquidy)
71
Justin Steele
CHC
Sun 4/2-MIL (Lauer)
Sat 4/8-TEX (Perez)
72
Eric Lauer
MIL
Sun 4/2-@CHC (Steele)
Sat 4/8-STL (Montgomery)
73
David Peterson