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 about 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: 58-46
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- I don’t know about you, but I get a spark of joy seeing the top tier each day. Corbin Burnes is pitching! And Luis Castillo gets the Marlins! Oh, and Jon Gray is likely going to continue his dominance against the Mariners! It’s the little things in life.
- Keep in mind, Kevin Gausman is facing a Cardinals squad without Paul Goldschmidt or Nolan Arenado. He should feast.
- The second tier holds just a pair of arms for Wednesday. Zac Gallen should continue his season of solid ratios though I’ll always dream of something greater and a proper SP #1 season. Maybe next year…
- I can see some managers being hesitant about Tarik Skubal given how the last month or two have gone. He’s fresh off a 6 IP, 0 ER, 9 Ks start against the Athletics and I don’t think the Padres are enough of a threat to turn that away.
- The questionable start tier is a bit dicey. Drew Rasmussen is a decent play against the middling Orioles and Braxton Garrett could continue his hot streak against the Reds, though it’s a dangerous proposition as baseballs fly out of Great American Ballpark. Take a moment to determine if you need to start Garrett there.
- Our streaming pick of the day is Brad Keller against the Angels. Los Angeles is without Mike Trout and could be even easier for Keller to coast 6+ frames, even if he’s a bit volatile.
- I’m not sure what the right spot is for Andrew Heaney. He hasn’t pitched in the bigs since June 19th as he’s dealt with a shoulder injury, which would normally send him to the fourth tier as a Still ILL, but he’s had two rehab games, with his most recent one coming with five frames against nineteen batters + he’s facing a mediocre Nationals lineup. I wouldn’t risk this if I didn’t have to as I’d love to see where he’s at first.
- Finally, there’s Tyler Wells, who has turned into a proper Toby and gets a struggling Rays offense. I don’t adore Wells’ ability, but there’s a decent chance he takes advantage.
- In the final tier, Kyle Gibson is a coin flip I don’t like taking these days. It could work as a right-hander against Atlanta, but is it worth it?
- This may be the final start we see of David Peterson for a while as Jacob deGrom should return next week and it’s unfortunate he squares up against the best offense in town. Hopefully the slider is as good as it has been and he can make it work, but I have my doubts. Note: There’s a chance it’s Max Scherzer today instead of David Peterson – if you have Scherzer, stick him in your lineup as a precaution. Scherzer would be the #2 play today ahead of Gausman.
- With the Red Sox all banged up and floundering, Cal Quantrill could do his normal PQS stuff. Chase it if you must.
- Lucas Giolito and Nathan Eovaldi are both struggling to find their velocity and it could persist on Wednesday. I have more hope for Giolito to recover, but a date in Coors is terrifying.
- Then we have a trio of Toby types with Marco Gonzales, Adam Wainwright, and Cole Irvin. Irvin gets the nod above Waino as he’s on a successful stretch, while the Rangers are a far better opponent to face than the Astros and Jays for Gonzales.
- Across the final five names, there’s not much to chase here. The ideal is Chris Archer lasting for five frames, Domingo Germán looked rugged in his first outing and now gets the tough Mets crew, and don’t get me started on Patrick Corbin and Antonio Senzatela. Please don’t.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Look at those two lovely gents at the top of the rankings for Wednesday. If we get fewer than seven frames from Zack Wheeler against the Pirates, I will legitimately be disappointed.
- The same almost applies for Shohei Ohtani as long as he leans heavily on the slider again. I don’t see a world where you don’t start Ohtani, even if you’re a touch worried about the foul ball to the thigh from Monday.
- In the second tier, Triston McKenzie has been a bit inconsistent with his command, but the Red Sox are not in a great place at the moment. I’d feel comfortable starting him in Boston.
- Alex Wood has held his velocity while the slider has been legit, even if the Dodgers didn’t let him succeed over the weekend. A date with the Cubs should be far better.
- And we’re still rolling with José Urquidy as he’s improved his four-seamer over the last month and change. The Mariners aren’t a large enough threat to reconsider.
- I considered Jameson Taillon in the second tier as well, but he’s been a bust in four of his last five outings, including starts against the Athletics, Pirates, and Orioles. Facing the Royals isn’t as clean as I’d want it to be.
- Back in February, I was hoping that by the end of July we’d see Logan Gilbert find something in his secondaries to latch onto, and we may have gotten that last start as he tossed more curveballs than we’d seen all season to resounding applause. I hope it sticks, but the Astros are going to be a hard hurdle to overcome.
- I know it’s been the year of Tyler Anderson, but it’s still Coors, y’all. At least his previous start’s turbulence can be explained by a bit of sign stealing and Anderson may survive the mile-high gauntlet.
- Our streaming pick of the day is Kutter Crawford, though I wouldn’t say this is a targetted start for me. Crawford’s stuff isn’t exceptional, but it’s good enough to stave off the Guardians, while we can only hope the Red Sox have enough left in the tank to help secure a Win. Not a great streaming day.
- Others I considered were Graham Ashcraft against the Marlins, Jordan Lyles against the Rays, and Justin Steele facing the Giants. Among all four, I can see 1-2 working out, and I still favor the floor of Crawford above the volatility of the others (Ashcraft’s command is wonky, I feel like we’re playing with fire with Lyles, and Steele’s stuff is incredibly underwhelming).
- But Nick! Yusei Kikuchi is returning for the Jays and gets the Tigers! He hasn’t pitched since July 5th (zero rehab starts in the minors) due to a neck injury and his command was all over the place before he stepped off the bump. I’m not expecting a high pitch count and that’s ignoring the innate volatility of Kikuchi & his questionable stuff.
- I can see a world where Brady Singer has his best sinker and slider against the Yankees, though it’s a minefield for him to navigate, especially with the patience of that lineup mixing with Singer’s erratic nature. I’d avoid it everywhere.
- If you need something, there’s a shot Ryan Yarbrough goes 5+ against the Orioles and provides some production here. I don’t think there’s enough to chase in standard leagues, though.
- And hey, Zach Thompson could have his cutter and curve against a middling Phillies lineup. I won’t rule it out, just don’t go after the bottom arms listed from Spencer Howard to José Ureña. Those are going to be rough.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)