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 – 11am 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.
(Opener) – Outlines that a pitcher is being opened for that day & the pitcher listed will follow the opener.
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: 42-29
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- It’s a short Monday with plenty of aces, including a phenomenal matchup of Gerrit Cole vs. Shane McClanahan. Start them both.
- The Great Undulater José Berríos starts against the White Sox and since his mid-May outing against the Yankees, he’s been exactly the man you wanted him to be when you drafted him. Roll with Berríos.
- The second tier comes with three well-known names. Miles Mikolas returns after tossing 129 pitches as he was one strike away from a no-hitter and while we should expect some fatigue lingering, he’s still a play to make against the Brewers.
- It wasn’t the season debut we were looking for from Lance Lynn last week and it’s no fun to see him face the Blue Jays. Despite the issues, I think Lynn will shake off rust here and is worth the start as he aims to reclaim his Top 15 SP status.
- The final arm in the tier is Noah Syndergaard as he faces the Royals. He’s essentially a Toby with a hint of strikeout upside now, making a start against the Royals a solid option.
- The third tier begins with our streaming pick of the day in Zach Davies. His changeup has been fantastic as of late and the Padres are poor against right-handers. There’s still a low floor, but he’s my favorite of the options available.
- The other two names in the Questionable Start tier could be streamed if you’re searching for something as they face each other in Pittsburgh. JT Brubaker could have his breakers working and tally six frames against a mediocre Cubs lineup.
- Meanwhile, Caleb Kilian looked rough in his last outing, walking five without recording a strikeout. We don’t believe that’s his actual ability and it could come out in a major way against the Pirates.
- In the bottom tier, David Peterson and Trevor Rogers are facing each other and I wouldn’t start either one. Peterson could have his best slider and make this work, while Rogers simply hasn’t been the arm we’ve hoped for him to be + he has a tougher challenge against the Mets’ offense. Sit this out.
- The last three options each have their touch of intrigue. Josh Winckowski doesn’t pack a whole lot, but could stave off the Tigers and earn a with for the Sawx, for example.
- There’s also Alex Faedo as he faces Boston right after his disaster outing. I won’t rule out a rebound with his slider, but his floor makes this far too dangerous.
And lastly, there’s the return of Daniel Mengden after far too long, making a start for the Royals. I’m happy for him to return to the majors, though we have no idea what we’re going to see.Update: Nope, it’s Kris Bubic now. Bummer.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Despite the full slate of games, we have only a few auto-starts this week with a debatable trio at the end. Tony Gonsolin has been on too good of a run to deny him a start in Cincy, Zac Gallen is primed to get out of his funk with a start against the Padres, and Joe Ryan should be all set against the Guardians.
- And yes, even with his recent struggles, I’m still making Kevin Gausman the #1 play for Wednesday. His velocity was up in the last start and the splitter will come back around.
- The top of the second tier is a point of contention. I’m leaning on Sean Manaea with the best matchup against the Diamondbacks, though I can see some favoring the strikeout-machine Dylan Cease even against the Jays, or even demanding more respect for Martín Pérez given his incredible run across the last two months. Start em all.
- It’ll be a tough fight to prevent a manager from sitting Spencer Strider at the moment, simply because of the fun it is to start him right now. That said, I can’t ignore his volatile control – if he’s holding a near 65% strike rate, he’ll cruise. If it hovers 60% or lower, it’ll be a struggle.
- We saw Jack Flaherty return last week with lower velocity and it wasn’t what we had in mind. However, we often see pitchers need a few starts to ramp back up and I imagine this outing against the Brewers will be another step in the right direction. I’d take the chance.
- The final two of the tier are Roansy Contreras and Marco Gonzales, each with a great matchup ahead of them. Neither are performing at their peaks, though, preventing them from escalating the ranks.
- In the third tier, our streaming pick of the day is Ryan Feltner, who returns to the Rockies rotation with Austin Gomber in the bullpen. I was enamored with Feltner’s increased fastball velocity on the road the last time we saw him and with a cushy start on Tuesday against the Marlins, I’d go for it.
- It’s hard to discern what we’ll see for José Urquidy and Aaron Ashby against the Mets and Cardinals. Urquidy has been a bit volatile this season from start to start and faces a mighty Mets offense, while Ashby’s forearm fatigue created a disaster last time out. The ceiling is great, but Ashby may not recover in full against the Cardinals.
- I know, I know. It’s Rich Hill against the Tigers! And yet he didn’t come through against the Athletics last time. I don’t have a major problem if you want him above Ashby and Urquidy, just recognize the lower ceiling and a similar floor.
- I won’t give up on Matt Swarmer and his filthy slider as he faces the Pirates. Sure, he didn’t come through last time against the Padres, but it’s the Pirates and you could be rewarded for your bold stream.
- I’ve been loving the Tyler Mahle resurgence…against the Diamondbacks. Now he has to head back home and face the Dodgers and it makes me all kinds of upset. Talk about a high-risk/reward play.
- And finally, there’s James Kaprielian against the Mariners. Kap is a Toby (we hope) against a decent squad. Not my favorite play in the slightest, but I can imagine those in QS leagues taking the chance.
- It’s possible we see Jonathan Heasley have a brilliant outing once again as he faces the Angels. I didn’t see a whole lot to love in that magnificent seven-inning performance to buy into a replication here, but hey, it could happen.
- I’m excited to see Anthony DeSclafani finally returning to the hill this year, but his rehab outings haven’t gone great and he’ll likely be heavily limited here. This is a Still ILL for a guy who will likely nestle as a Toby.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)