Daily Matchups

Yamamoto leads the way on a slate full of quality pitching

Daily Matchups

Brian Entrekin

Apr 18 2025 7:27am

Yamamoto leads the way on a slate full of quality pitching

Brian Entrekin

Apr 18 2025

Quickstart Guide on the above table:

“Rating” is the overall score for today’s starting pitchers matchup. K / ERA / WHIP / Wins are the individual components that go into the composite “Rating”.
Each of those five columns are sortable and set roughly to a 3.0 (positive) to -3.0 (negative) scale.
Best Starts scores are 0.5 and above, and display in green type
Judgement Call scores run from 0.4 to -0.4 and display in black type
Weak Starts scores are -0.5 and below, and display in red type
Player name links to go to an individual pitcher’s PlayerLink page for YTD stats, metrics and deeper analysis
This DAILY MATCHUPS page will be live on the site each day around 9am ET.

Other links/details:

A how-to-use article—which includes additional information on our 2022 format update—can be found here.
The full explanation behind the rating system (with all the nitty-gritty math) can be found in this 2017 Research article by Arik Florimonte.
You can always access scores for future games at our PITCHER MATCHUPS TOOL page (from Teams/Today’s SP on the top menu). There, you can filter the list by starting pitchers by today, tomorrow, or over the next eight days, as well as by AL-only and NL-only groups. In addition this is where all charts are available in a downloadable, spreadsheet-friendly format for further analysis.
For additional resources to help optimize your SP utilization, see our three-year ballpark factors and SP Buyers Guide columns.

Today's Overview/Schedule/Weather: We have a full day of baseball action today, starting with the DBacks and the Cubs at 2:20 pmEST. There has been some bumpy weather along the east coast, but it appears we’ll avoid postponement chances. We have some great pitching on tap, with only three games with a projected total of nine runs or more.

Notable Starts:

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been outstanding in his first four starts this season with a 1.23 ERA, 2.35 SIERA, and 25.3% K-BB over 22 innings pitched. Over the last two starts, Yamamoto has not allowed a run with 14 strikeouts in 12 innings pitched. Yamamoto looks to continue his early-season success today against a Rangers team that is hitting .216 against RHP this season, with an 81 wRC+. Yamamoto is the highest-rated pitcher today, with an overall rating of 2.2, and also has elite ratio ratings.

Cole Ragans has been on quite a stretch of dominance as he enters Friday’s start. Ragans has struck out ten or more hitters in each of his last three starts and has a 2.28 ERA and 32.3% K-BB over his first 23.2 innings pitched. Ragans takes on a Tigers team hitting .221 versus LHP this season with a 91 wRC+ while striking out 25.5% of the time. Ragans has a 2.1 overall rating to go with an elite 2.8 strikeout rating as he looks for a fourth straight game with double-digit strikeouts.

Drew Rasmussen has been a model of consistency over his first three starts this season. He has thrown five innings in each start, allowing one run while striking out 15 with only two walks. Rasussen will have his toughest matchup of the year today as he takes on the Yankees team hitting .249 versus RHP this season with a .220 ISO and 132 wRC+. Rasmussen has a 1.8 overall rating with solid ratio ratings, suggesting a fourth strong outing could be in store for the Rays’ young right-handed pitcher.

David Peterson has been solid over his first three starts of the season, with two quality starts in that stretch. Peterson has allowed five earned runs over 16.2 innings pitched with 17 strikeouts, but the eight walks have slowed down a potential great start. Peterson takes on a potent Cardinals offense, hitting .276 versus LHP with a 124 wRC+. Peterson has a 0.9 overall rating and 1.1 strikeout rating as he looks to throw 5-6 solid innings.

Chase Dollander has made two starts since getting promoted to the bigs, and he has been quite serviceable. He was more than serviceable in his last start as Dollander allowed two runs over 5.2 innings pitched with seven strikeouts. He takes on a Nats team hitting .234 this season versus RHP with a 104 wRC+ and a strikeout rate below 20%. It’ll be Dollander’s second start in Coors, and he’ll look to improve on the four earned runs allowed over five innings in his first Coors start, which may not be easy versus this Nats offense.

MacKenzie Gore has put together a strong start to the season through his first four starts. Gore has a 3.52 ERA, 2.51 SIERA, and an excellent 27.4% K-BB over his first 23 innings pitched. He takes on a putrid Rockies offense hitting .221 versus LHP this season with a 73 wRC+ while striking out 29.1% of the time. Coors can be tough on pitchers, but this Rockies’ offense could be all Gore needs for a successful start in Denver.

Quick Pitches:

Zack Wheeler needs to get back on track after allowing nine earned runs over his past two starts, with ten strikeouts in 11.1 innings pitched. Friday’s matchup versus the Marlins may be what Wheeler needs, as the Marlins are striking out 26.5% of the time versus RHP this season while hitting .235.
Freddy Peralta has been great over his first four starts with a 2.31 ERA, 3.15 SIERA, and a 21.7% K-BB over 23.1 innings pitched. He takes on an A’s team hitting .238 versus RHP this season with a 109 wRC+ while striking out only 17.7% of the time.
Logan Webb has been solid this season while allowing three earned runs or less over his first four starts, with a 20.4% K-BB over 24 innings pitched. He takes on an Angels team that is only hitting .237 against RHP this season, but has a solid .212 ISO.
Jacob deGrom has struggled over his last two starts, allowing seven earned runs over 9.2 innings pitched with seven strikeouts and four walks. It may be tough for deGrom to get right as he faces a Dodgers team with a .212 ISO and 133 wRC+ versus RHP this season.
Corbin Burnes is off to a rough start to the season, allowing nine earned runs over 15.1 innings pitched for a 5.28 ERA and 4.66 SIERA. Burnes faces a potent Cubs offense hitting .254 versus RHP this season with a 117 wRC+.