Lincoln Zdunich
Philadelphia Phillies
- Cristopher Sánchez
- Aaron Nola
- Jesús Luzardo
- Taijuan Walker
- Andrew Painter
With Zack Wheeler out for the start of Philly’s season due to the injury that ended his 2025 season early, Sánchez will start Opening Day for the club. Behind him are Nola and Luzardo (with his newly christened extension). After that it gets a little murky.
Walker factors in as a somewhat reliable fourth starter and pitching prospect Andrew Painter figures to get some starts before Wheeler returns. The Phils have a fantastic front half but the back might struggle until Wheeler comes back.
New York Mets
- Freddy Peralta
- Nolan McLean
- David Peterson
- Clay Holmes
- Sean Manaea
- Kodai Senga
The Mets did a great job of adding an ace to their rotation. That starting group was a large part of the reason why New York failed to make the playoffs last season. Trading for the Milwaukee Brewers’ Freddy Peralta immediately stabilizes what should be an elite rotation.
They’ve toyed with a six-man rotation though it’s possible that they’ll use some in long reliever roles like they did with Manaea last year. Senga’s struggles got him sent down to the minors, hopefully he’ll be able to rebound from that this season.
But top prospect McLean figures to share co-ace duties with Peralta after pitching incredibly down the stretch. Especially after ramping up by starting for Team USA during the World Baseball Classic this spring.
Atlanta Braves
- Chris Sale
- Spencer Strider
- Reynaldo López
- Bryce Elder
- Joey Wentz
Atlanta is hoping that the 2024 National League Cy Young (and Triple Crown) winner will seek to replicate it after Sale dealt with a major rib injury in 2025. Spencer Schwellenbach will miss the first few months but López and Strider will seek to tread water until he returns.
Elder and Wentz will fill out the back end of the rotation, giving the Braves slightly shaky fourth and fifth starters. But the group can hope to rely a little on the offense rebounding from a rough ’25.
Washington Nationals
- Cade Cavalli
- Zack Littell
- Miles Mikolas
- Brad Lord
- Josiah Gray
It’s not looking great in D.C., where the Nationals have signed two free agents in Littell and Mikolas. Apart from those two the group is lacking after they traded MacKenzie Gore to the Texas Rangers this offseason.
Lord will hopefully factor in as a reliable back end option with Cavalli named the Opening Day starter. Gray lost the entire 2025 season to injury and struggled in 2024 but he just needs to take the mound consistently in order to give the Nats some stability.
Miami Marlins
- Sandy Alcantara
- Eury Pérez
- Braxton Garrett
- Max Meyer
- Chris Paddack
One of the more interesting rotations in baseball, Miami dealt star pitcher Edward Cabrera to the Chicago Cubs for top prospect Owen Caissie. Even without that they still have Alcantara and Pérez front lining the starter group. They also signed Paddack to piece together the back of the rotation.
Garrett lost all of last year to injury, and Meyer pitched to unfortunate results, but both are hoping to rebound as reliable starters for Miami. If Alcantara can continue to pitch like he did down the stretch last season (and reclaim some version of his 2022 Cy Young year), the Marlins will have an ace to anchor the front of their rotation.
