Week 24 of the 2025 fantasy baseball calendar centers on two-start pitchers with playoff implications. Yu Darvish anchors the streamer tier, drawing favorable home matchups against CIN and COL in Petco Park. Framber Valdez gets two starts against TOR and ATL, while Shota Imanaga tackles ATL and TB, offering a premium strikeout floor with solid ratios. Nick Lodolo and Jose Quintana land strong rosters with CIN and MIL in two-start weeks, and Adrian Houser alongside Eury Pérez bring enticing upside for longer weeks. Braxton Ashcraft, perched as a sleeper, carries multi-inning potential against two middling offenses, rounding out a slate that blends risk, reward, and strategic waiver moves.

With rosters under 50% in several cases, the waiver wire remains fertile for Week 24. The mix of high-floor arms and upside rockets provides a blueprint for playoff push lineups: leverage pitcher-friendly venues, weigh opponent lineups, and balance safe starts with upside streams. This week’s batch emphasizes two-start viability that can swing ratio stats and keep your ratios competitive during the final stretch.

Miami’s Eury Pérez overpowered Toronto with six innings of two-run ball on 94 pitches, sealing a 5-3 win that capped a strong August (3-0, 3.00 ERA) and drew a standing ovation in Miami. Pérez’s fastball velocity and sharp breaking balls kept the Blue Jays' lineup off balance, reinforcing his status as the Marlins’ future ace after a comeback season from Tommy John.

Toronto mounted a late charge as Daulton Varsho delivered a three-run homer in the seventh, but Pérez and the Marlins held on. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is working his way back from a hamstring injury, while the Jays’ road trip ended frustrated against two generational arms, Pérez and Skenes, who continue to reshape fantasy and betting narratives around elite young pitching.

In this win, Pérez trimmed the noise, attacked the zone, and flashed the ceiling many expect for him as a cornerstone of Miami’s rotation. The matchup against a rival with a growing ace aura further fueled Pérez’s narrative as one of the sport’s most electric young arms.

Marlin rookie Jakob Marsee supplied a bases-loaded triple and Eury Pérez spun six-plus innings of three-hit ball to lift Miami past Toronto 5-3. Wagaman added a solo homer and Ramírez drove in a run as the Marlins opened a lead that Toronto couldn’t completely erase, despite Varsho’s three-run homer in the late innings. A small Marlins cushion held, with Phillips closing the 9th for his second save.

Before the game, Luis Castillo was inducted into the Marlins Hall of Fame. The Jays threatened late, but Miami answered with an insurance run from Ramírez. The up-next slate features Scherzer vs Minnesota and Cabrera vs Atlanta, while Toronto eyes continued offence from Varsho and Guerrero Jr. in upcoming contests.

Jakob Marsee’s breakout moment and Pérez’s six-inning gem stand out, signaling continued fantasy relevance for Marlins bats and the Marlins’ pitching depth. Toronto’s lineup flashed power in Varsho and Guerrero Jr., but the night belonged to Miami’s timely hits and bullpen resilience.

Two-start week preview for Aug 18 tightens the fantasy edge as rosters juggle rotations. Philadelphia shifts to a six-man rotation for Aaron Nola, limiting Suarez to one turn. Cubs face an eight-game week due to a Monday doubleheader, with Cade Horton highly parked for two starts; Jameson Taillon could join at least one game in Monday’s swing. Rays play five games, reducing two-start chances; Jays’ Bieber plan is still in flux. Amid the shuffle, target elite volume: Joe Ryan, Logan Gilbert, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Spencer Strider and Cade Horton stand out as must-starts, with Eury Pérez, Gavin Williams, Jack Leiter and Spencer Arrighetti offering strong secondary paths. Streaming options like Victor Mederos and Jake López (Athletics) provide portable upside. The overarching strategy: maximize two-start weeks by leaning into teams with robust schedules, while exploiting waiver-wire edges to secure high-floor arms.

Top options are grounded in recent form: Ryan’s Minnesota slate (Athletics then White Sox) looks as favorable as any two-start week, while Yamamoto’s Dodgers two-step (Rockies then Padres) carries obvious upside even in Coors. Horton’s late-season surge makes him a plug-and-play in all formats, and Pérez’s Miami schedule arms a high-strikeout week with reasonable win potential. Strider remains a high-risk/high-reward asset in two-start windows, and Leiter’s recent consistency supports aggressive use in routine leagues. Williams and Leiter broaden the two-start map, while others like Rodón, Pivetta and Kelly round out a deep pool of streaming and contingency options that fantasy managers should monitor through the weekend.

Today’s MLB DFS slate centers on a six-game DraftKings main and an eight-game FanDuel lineup, with the Mariners/Orioles and Guardians/Marlins games added for FD. The core upside rests on premium arms Joe Ryan and Eury Perez, with a blueprint to stack Mets’ bats around Pete Alonso and a high-ceiling share of Shohei Ohtani in the outfield. Add in a Blue Jays mini-stack around Bo Bichette and warm-up options like Brandon Lowe and Starling Marte to fuel several tournament builds.

Value plays shine in Addison Barger and Addison-style options, while the Mets’ stack leverages Carlos Carrasco’s rough splits, and the Jays’ lineup avoids Horton’s recent regression by leaning into a top-tier offense. The slate rewards a mix of cash-game solidity from Perez and Ryan, and upside pivots like Ohtani and Bichette in GPP formats.

Injury monitoring and late lineup shifts could tilt ownership, so pivots off the big-name arms—while still targeting solid floor—could pay off. The article emphasizes balancing elite upside with cost-efficient dart throws, all in a slate where appropriate exposures to the Guardians and Marlins can yield strong leverage.

Overall, a compact, star-driven core anchored by Ryan, Perez, Alonso, and Ohtani, with strategic stacks and value plays designed for both DK and FD formats.