Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings – 9/4 & 9/5

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 10am – 12pm 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:

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: 80-62

 

Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• Few locked-in options are ahead on Sunday, with Max Fried taking the top spot against the Marlins and ending with Miles Mikolas facing the lowly Cubs. Pretty straightforward stuff here.
• Yes, George Kirby deserves it against the Guardians. He’s been fantastic with his four-seamer and the Guardians aren’t the scariest of foes.

 

• The second tier starts with Pablo López getting a tough draw against Atlanta. I think he’s ready to tackle them with his changeup and four-seamer, though there’s more risk here than those in the top tier.
• Ross Stripling was pushed to Sunday and is primed to take advantage of a fantastic matchup against the Pirates.

 

• The splitter has returned for Frankie Montas, but he has yet to get into a true groove with his full repertoire as a Yankee. There’s a little more hesitation here than I’d like.
• Carlos Carrasco is returning from his oblique injury to face the Nationals. It’s a loose Still ILL given the short stint and I think you’re safe starting him against Natty Lite.

 

• It hasn’t been smooth sailing for José Urquidy lately, but the Angels aren’t dangerous enough to hold him back.
• Our streaming pick of the day is Spenser Watkins against the Athletics. Watkins hasn’t been sparkling, but good enough to produce against a mediocre offense. And hey, Orioles Magic n all.

 

• The third tier is a long one with many poor matchups going to normally Tier 2 arms (Lucas Giolito, Marcus Stroman, Mike Clevinger, Cal Quantrill…?) and inexperienced pitchers getting pedestrian lineups.
• Speaking of which, I’m not sure if we can buy into Ranger Suárez. He hasn’t had his pristine command and failed to capitalize on his excellent schedule thus far.

 

• We wanted Matt Manning’s slider to flirt with 61% CSW again, but the Mariners had different plans. The Royals are an easier time, but good luck guessing which Manning we’ll see. I’m cautious here.
• If there’s an opener for Ryan Yarbrough against the Yankees, consider that for a cheap Win. That offense is struggling once again.

 

• There are some fun options in Adrian Martinez and Max Castillo against the Orioles and Tigers, but these are last-resort chases above the other options. It’s not a good day for streaming.
• I know Jason Alexander went five strong last time out, but he only tossed 59 pitches and it’s unlikely for him to succeed in his limited time on the hill once again.

 

• I wouldn’t chase Mike Clevinger, Dylan Bundy, or JT Brubaker on Sunday. Clev doesn’t have his breakers, Bundy is…Bundy, and Brubaker has a difficult challenge ahead against Toronto. There’s a slim chance for all of them, and I’d hate to have my week come down to them.
• The bottom tier is, once again, clear avoids. Please don’t chase Kutter Crawford or Erick Fedde.

 

• Update: The Reds vs. Rockies rained out on Saturday, leading to a doubleheader on Sunday. Make sure Nick Lodolo is in your lineup and do whatever you must with Germán Márquez.
• Also, the Red Sox are going with Josh Winckowski instead of Kutter Crawford and you shouldn’t care. Same with the Dodgers going with Caleb Ferguson instead of Ryan Pepiot.

 

• I should also note that the Rays will be using an opener for Ryan Yarbrough, which does make him a bit more interesting.

 

Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• The top tier is a bit murky for Monday, missing all AGA pitchers, allowing Kevin Gausman and Lance Lynn to snatch the top two spots. Just one of those days.
• The end of the tier includes Logan Webb and Brady Singer. Webb gets the tough challenge of the Dodgers, but you have to start him each time he tosses, while Singer is on too good of a run (even with last week’s stumble) to deny him the start.

 

• The second tier contains the return of Jack Flaherty, despite a Still ILL situation. He’s performed well in rehab and gets Natty Lite – I’m all for it.
• The other options are all over the place. Drew Rasmussen’s cutter has been fantastic, José Berríos is a Cherry Bomb, Michael Wacha struggled last time but has been amazing overall, and Jameson Taillon is good enough for the nod even against the Twins. It’s all shaky, I know, but if you have them, you’re likely starting them.

 

• In the third tier, I have no idea what to do with Freddy Peralta. His command has been off and Coors is as dangerous as it gets. Here’s to hoping he can replicate his MLB debut years ago.
• The streaming pick of the day is José Suarez against the Tigers. It’s the Tigers n all + Suarez has decent enough stuff to make it worthwhile. This isn’t a start I’d run to grab, though.

 

• The other three options are iffy, to say the least. Will Marco Gonzales have his changeup? Is the magic gone from Martín Pérez, especially against the Astros? And is Jordan Lyles actually good enough at home to endure the Jays?
• The bottom tier doesn’t add a whole lot, either. Please avoid all of these, but if you must, Tyler Alexander has the best chance against the Angels, even if he’ll likely be a bit limited.

 

• Quick note: We don’t know what the Astros are going to do on Monday, so it may be Hunter Brown, it could be someone completely different. Monitor it in case someone makes a surprise start.

 

Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)