Fantasy Baseball Forecaster for Week 1 - March 30 to April 9

Set your lineups for the week ahead in fantasy baseball with our forecaster preview, which features pitcher rankings, hitter ratings, schedule observations and more.

9:50 AM ET

Tristan H. Cockcroft

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.

Projected starting pitchers for the next 10 days
Hitter matchup ratings for the next 10 days

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)
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