Every day of the 2022 baseball season, I’ll be looking at today and tomorrow’s slate of scheduled starting pitchers and ranking their matchups for your fantasy baseball streams.
There’s a lot that goes into this and you can hang out with me on Twitch.tv/pitcherlist to talk about the specific ranks as I make them every weekday morning from 9am – 12am ET. If you have questions to these ranks, please ask during the morning Twitch AMA. Those are my office hours as I generally don’t answer comments on the site.
There are four tiers to these rankings with 12-teamers in mind:
Auto-Start – Just do it. Don’t overthink this, start the man.
Probably Start – I’m likely starting these arms, though I recognize there is more risk than we’d like there to be. Either it’s a tough matchup for a good pitcher or a weak lineup for a volatile arm.
Questionable Start – There are situations where I’d take the chance, either with strong enough upside on the ability side, or a poor offense that a pitcher could take advantage of.
Do Not Start – The reward is not worth the risk. Don’t do it.
Obviously, there will be circumstances where pitchers should move between teams for your situation specifically and these new tiers should act as a little more help than the straight table from last year.
Please keep in mind that streaming is far from a perfect play. In fact, if they work out over half the time, I’d consider it a success. These matchup rankings & streamer picks are going to be wildly different than the actual results throughout the year, so please, have sympathy before the scathing comments and tweets. I’m only trying to help!
Make sure to read the notes if you’re wondering why I’m favoring certain pitchers over others – I won’t get to everyone and hopefully I answer what questions you will have.
There is a second table for tomorrow’s starting pitcher matchups as well, helping everyone get a jump on their nightly pickups. Please note that these matchups are subject to change, though, and there will be times when I have the incorrect pitcher going. I thank you for your future understanding.
Finally, there are my streaming picks of the day, and please keep in mind that I am forced to pick a streamer every day. Those highlighted in Green are in the second tier and I’d roll with them everywhere. The most common are those in Yellow in the third tier and should be decent if you’re searching for something on a given day. Finally, those are Red are those I really don’t want to start (they are labeled as “Do Not Start”, after all) but have no other choice. Don’t stream these guys until you are truly desperate. A streaming pick is defined as “rostered in 20% or fewer leagues,” which really emphasizes the point that I’d be happy if over 50% of these worked. I could do the whole sub 30/40% rostered, but there’s no fun in that. You can use the rankings to realize who would be those picks, instead.
As I do my rankings, I thought it would be helpful to showcase a table of how we’re ranking offenses. Dave Swan does an incredible job of showcasing future SP matchups every 2-3 weeks in this article, and I’ve elected to use his offense ranks to share with all of you here:
I’m sure it’ll change through the year + there are differences to be made about teams vs. LHP or RHP, but it’s a great general table that y’all should keep in mind.
Alright, let’s get to it.
2022 Streamer Record: 6-6
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- It’s a sizeable top tier today as we’re beginning to see the studs diversify a little as we get more spins through the rotation. You have your normal Top 20 standards who you’re not sitting (yes, even Robbie Ray and Walker Buehler with their depressed velocities) and then there’s Jesús Luzardo after his double-digit strikeout game last week. Try to find someone who isn’t starting Luzardo after that.
- Despite faltering last time out, I’m still rolling with Adam Wainwright everywhere against the Marlins. Miami is putting up a larger fight than we expected, but Waino hasn’t turned into a pumpkin because of one poor day at the park.
- In the second tier, Merrill Kelly is a play I’d be making everywhere I could. His changeup has looked great while his fastball command is carrying him through games. And hey, there’s a chance his upped fastball velocity comes back.
- I’d still lean on Max Fried and Nathan Eovaldi despite facing strong opponents. They are talented enough to produce despite the lineups.
- In the third tier, our streaming pick falls to Cole Irvin as he faces the Orioles. He’s revamped his repertoire during the off-season and could pull off a quality start against a middling Baltimore offense.
- I wouldn’t say I’m incredibly sold on Joan Adon, but I think there’s another here to take advantage of the weak Arizona bats. It’s a fastball/slider combination that could return a strikeout an inning as he hosts the Sneks.
- In the bottom tier, Jon Gray makes his return from the IL. I don’t anticipate a full five frames here, pushing him down despite my excitement of seeing him perform without a blister.
- I know it’s been a hot start for Justin Steele, but I think it’s more smoke and mirrors than a legitimate arm deserving of strong performances. Against the Rays, it’s a clear bench for me.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- We have a ton of aces going on Wednesday and leading the way are Carlos Rodón and Chris Bassitt. Yes, these pitchers are ranked lower on the The List than Brandon Woodruff and Sandy Alcantara, but as of right now, Rodón and Bassitt are in better positions to dominate.
- Charlie Morton has a tough task ahead as he faces the Dodgers and despite some early struggles, you’re starting him. Because duh.
- There are some more tough matchups here – Shohei Ohtani at Houston, José Berríos at Boston, Logan Gilbert against the Rangers, and Marcus Stroman facing the Rays – but you’re going to start them all. Don’t overthink this.
- I have Luis Severino as the #5 play against the Tigers for this reason. It’s not as difficult of a matchup + he’s chucking 97+ heaters with a deep repertoire. I dig this. A lot.
- In the second tier, we have a trio of pitchers facing middling squads to make for comfortable decisions on Wednesday. Merrill Kelly could go six strong against the Nationals, Drew Rasmussen has a reasonably high floor against the Cubs, and MacKenzie Gore (in what may be his final start before being sent back down) should do well against a struggling Reds offense.
- Sadly, Triston McKenzie wasn’t given the same luxury as he faces the White Sox. You still start him given his higher velocity and solid breakers, but there is a touch more caution given the strength of the ChiSox bats.
- The streaming pick of the day is Miles Mikolas, who would be in the second tier if it weren’t for his struggles in the first start of the year against the very same Miami Marlins. He’s fresh off a seven-strikeout performance and could soar once again.
- We had higher hopes for Eduardo Rodriguez at the start of the year and while I believe in him as a solid 12-teamer arm through the full year, he’s going through a gauntlet of opponents to start the year.
- In the final tier, don’t rule out the chance that Zach Eflin performs decently well despite heading to Coors. It’s not guaranteed this will fail.
- Despite the low chance of success, we do have a fair amount of arms who could go six frames against poor lineups. Daulton Jefferies, Erick Fedde, Jordan Lyles, and even Chris Paddack have opportunities to go a full six frames on Wednesday.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)