Mound Musings: My 2025 “Home” League Pitching Staff Updates

Readers often ask about my own pitching staffs in the various fantasy leagues in which I compete. So, having just recently reached the halfway point in my primary or "home" league, I thought I might take this opportunity to discuss the pitching staff I went to war with. I will add that I typically focus very heavily on a few arms, so many of these guys pitch on several of my teams.

A little background:

With 15 teams, this is a mixed league keeper with deep rosters (33 players per team with no minor league or disabled list slots). Standard scoring categories, five hitting and five pitching, with a lineup consisting of 12 hitters and nine pitchers (with a minimum of five qualified starting pitchers and two qualified relief pitchers).

So, let's look at my pitching staff, and discuss my thoughts on who and why:

• SP1 Kodai Senga – It's a keeper league and I am fairly happy with the nucleus of my starting rotation, or I would be if they could stay healthy. Senga is my guy. He just keeps getting better. He missed most of 2024, so I watched his first few 2025 starts, and although he wasn't perfect, it's clearly there. He is currently sidelined with a hamstring strain that is expected to keep him out until late July. Senga's calling card is a virtually unhittable fork ball, and as long as he stays around the plate, that pitch is always in the arsenal. I sure need him.
• SP2 MacKenzie Gore – Here's a Kid's List alumni. I mean it stands to reason. I first saw Gore when he was in high school, and I immediately decided he was destined to pitch for me. I have had to be patient. He was selected in the first round in the 2017 draft out of high school, and he was making good progress before the injuries set in. He can still struggle with command of his off-speed offerings at times, but when he's around the zone, with his stuff, that's all he needs (an impressive 131 strikeouts in 104 innings). Unfortunately, his mates aren't helping much. He's 3-8 despite a very respectable 3.11 ERA.
• SP3 Bryan Woo – Wooo wooo, jump on this train. His stuff is just okay, albeit he throws a little bit of everything at opposing hitters. Woo's calling card is mound presence, coupled with solid command of his entire repertoire. This guy wants to win. He experienced some right forearm soreness in 2023, but he still posts numbers far beyond most expectations and takes the ball every five days. His strikeout rate is mediocre, if he has a weakness, but he limits hard contact, doesn't clutter the basepaths with walks and he keeps the ball in the park.
• SP4 Kevin Gausman – It's amazing he is now 34 years old, and I have followed him through thick and thin since he came out of LSU as a highly touted arm in 2012. However, in 2025 his ERA is north of 4.00 for the first time since 2019. He's an enigma. His fastball velocity has been all over the place, his strikeout rate has plummeted, and his splitter, the pitch he is known for, also has been a bit inconsistent. It all adds up to 19 earned runs in three starts, and just 25 earned runs in his other 13 starts. I wish I could predict which you will get.
• SP5 Michael Soroka– Now we're getting into the more speculative picks. These guys do have one thing in common – inconsistency. I loved this guy when he popped onto the scene, and I still feel that way. He was a beast in 2019, but then the injuries set in. Interestingly, the injuries primarily have been to his legs. He missed late 2020 to 2022 with a torn Achilles (twice), and there have also been hamstring issues. Not surprisingly, leg issues can translate to mechanical problems and arm woes. So far in 2025 he is limiting hits, throwing strikes and recording strikeouts. Sound good? It's the long balls allowed, 10 in 53 innings. Gasp! I'm banking on a continued return to good health and great form.
• SP6 Dylan Cease– What can I say about Cease? He has a ceiling so high you might need oxygen just watching him. The guy was the runner-up in the Cy Young voting in 2022. Yes, some of that was done with smoke and mirrors, but he was good. He had an off year with the White Sox in 2023 and is struggling through a similar year this season with the Padres. Given that home park, he should be better. His problems generally trace back to spotty command. In 2025, he has walked 36 in just 97 innings, and extra baserunners are dangerous when pitching with men on is not your thing. When he's on, he's a monster, but at this point, owners need to accept the fact that there will be some bad with the good.
• SP7 Miles Mikolas – At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Mikolas is yet another pitcher fighting inconsistency. This weekend was a good example. He breezed through three innings allowing only a harmless single. Then in the fourth inning, the Guardians batted around – including a triple and two homers – putting six runs on the board. I guess that's the preferred way to ruin peripherals these days. Throw a few solid innings, then, without notice, switch over to batting practice fastballs for an inning, Yes, you will undoubtedly get a few very nice starts from him, but at some point you'll probably pay the price.
• RP1 Andres Munoz – Have you ever watched a pitcher who looked like every hitter was a potential strikeout? Here's your guy! Munoz has an electric power arm, and his command continues to improve. As long as he stays in or close to the strike zone, he is pretty much unhittable, His ascent to the full-time closer role was slowed by the depth of the Mariners bullpen, but he pushed the door open, and the job is his barring injury. I'm buying.
• RP2 Felix Bautista – I was projecting Bautista as a top-tier closer a couple years ago, and in 2023 he was a monster. Then, he missed all of 2024 after he blew his arm out. He's working his way back from Tommy John surgery, and the rust was painfully evident. Don't look now, but the rust is gradually wearing off. Now it's all about his primary attribute – intimidation. Bautista is huge (his nickname is "The Mountain") and he has the stuff to go with it.
• RP3 Liam Hendriks – I hyped Hendriks as my pick to close in Boston, and I have been off base. Aroldis Chapman has been closing while Hendriks has been hurt. Both have good stuff, and while Chapman does tend to struggle a bit more with command, they are competent closers. I got both on draft day to cover myself, and that looks like a good plan so far.
• FLEX – this could be a SP7/8 or RP3/4 – Yu Darvish, Tomoyuki Sugano, Andre Pallante, Matt Brash and Aroldis Chapman – This is the "bench strength" of my mound corps, so keeping the regulars on the mound is obviously a big key to my season. By the end of the draft, pitching was a veritable wasteland, and I filled in with what was available. For the most part these aren't bad pitchers, I just don't know how fantasy relevant they can be. I'm kind of counting on both Soroka and Mikolas coming back to form. And, I like Brash (great arm) and Chapman as bullpen insurance policies.

Some Notable Rotation Ramblings:

• Dietrich Enns made his MLB debut in 2017, before disappearing for a few years. Then, abracadabra, he reappears in 2021. Back to the long and winding road visiting Japan, Omaha and Korea, et al. All this before showing up in Detroit last week and tossing five shutout innings. Can you say determination?
• The Cubs' Shota Imanaga also returned to the mound recently. He had been out nearly two months with a hamstring strain, but if there was any rust, he hid it well, tossing five innings of shutout ball, allowing just one hit while walking two. He's not a big strikeout pitcher, but the Cubs' offense makes him a fantasy asset.
• I've been waiting patiently for a former star to return to form after missing time with a long-term injury. I'm sure not ready to write him off, but Walker Buehler should be ready to show us his former self. It's pretty much all command. The velocity and movement are okay, but he still misses his spots way too often.
• Looking for a speculative add? Think about German Marquez. He has done a respectable job pitching his home games in Coors Field, and as the trading deadline approaches, the contenders have to be considering him. No matter where he might land, his value has to go up. Take a flyer on him.
• Trivia time: Last week over a couple days (Wednesday and Thursday) there were 12 shutouts pitched in MLB. Pretty amazing to say the least. The last time that happened, Babe Ruth had not been born yet.

Endgame Odyssey:

Philadelphia's Jordan Romano looked like he was rounding into form before being ambushed by Atlanta. That probably leaves him in a committee with Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering. The Padres' Robert Suarez also blew a save last weekend, but it's a very rare occurrence, so his job is probably not in jeopardy. We're seeing more and more of Ronny Henriquez pitching the ninth inning for Miami. I admit I was never really sold on Calvin Faucher, and it looks like he may be losing the closer's role. It's always scary owning a Colorado pitcher, but if I'm going to have one, Seth Halvorsen is my guy. IMHO, he is best equipped to handle closing duties. Are you trolling for sleepers? Take a look at the Giants' Randy Rodriguez. His stuff is nasty (52 strikeouts in 36 innings) and he throws it for strikes (only seven walks). Camilo Doval is fairly entrenched as their closer, but if he stumbles, maybe Rodriguez gets a look?

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Find out which projected starters are going and when with RotoWire's Probable Pitchers page!