2026 MLB playoff rotation tiers: Ranking October pitching options - ESPN

We're just about a week away from the start of the 2026 MLB playoffs, meaning this year's top contenders are lining up their rotations with hopes of making a deep October run.

With that in mind, let's rank the starting pitching options for the teams currently in the postseason field (or deep in the mix) with an eye for how they will be used.

These rankings are weighted based on how often a team is likely to use its pitchers in a seven-game series. The No. 1 and No. 2 starters have much more impact than the others because the playoffs are often about riding your best pitchers and then figuring out the rest as you go. There are a couple of pitchers listed as candidates who, due to the nature of the playoffs, probably won't start but could because of an injury or in a spot-start or bullpen-game situation where an unlikely arm offers a better matchup.

I ranked 15 teams with at least a chance of playing in October, so three of the teams listed below won't end up qualifying for the postseason.

The candidates: Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Justin Wrobleski, Kris Bubic

Yep, the Dodgers are still tops in this category — even with the currently injured Shohei Ohtani likely not pitching again this season — and by a pretty good margin. They could start four arms over a seven-game series that are all better than any one arm on five or six of the teams listed below.

Skubal picked up right where he left off following elbow surgery earlier this year; he posted the third-best FIP among starters this season. Yamamoto is essentially in a dead heat with Skubal, with the latter ranking seventh and the former eighth in pitcher WAR. Snell made only one start before August due to shoulder fatigue and is currently