SP Streamers for today's, tomorrow's and the day after tomorrow's games for fantasy baseball.
Every day of the 2025 baseball season, I'll be looking at today's 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 Playback.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 Playback 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. This includes "if I have them rostered, I'm starting them" pitchers.
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-not-elite pitcher or a weak lineup for a volatile arm. These pitchers have a 50% or greater chance of performing well in my view and I'm starting them in the majority of situations.
Questionable Start - Think of this tier as "I don't want to start these pitchers in a vacuum, but you could do worse." Streamers found in this tier are not pitchers I'm targeting and are only if you are in dire need of one. To play it safe with streaming, just start the Probably Start streamers.
Do Not Start - The reward is not worth the risk. Don't do it. Seriously, these pitchers have a very slim chance of success or sometimes none at all.
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 that day's streaming pick in the second tier and I'd roll with them everywhere. Those in Yellow are in the third tier and should be okay if you're searching for something on a given day, but I don't recommend streaming unless you're in need. 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 according to Fantasy Pros. This 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 those picks would be 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, granted by our PLV powered Projections (in alphabetical order by tier):
I'm sure it'll change through the year + there are differences to be made about teams vs. LHP or RHP, but it works as a general table that y'all should keep in mind.
To spice up these streaming recommendations, I've included our new daily fantasy baseball projections powered by PLV, and I'll be competing against PL Bot to pick the best streaming option each day.
These projections are different from your typical projections as they incorporate our pitch quantifier, assessing pitcher and hitter skills at a much more granular level than your standard box score.
To get access to PL Bot's picks each day, sign up for PL Pro here.
The streaming record is determined by "Was this a productive game for 12-teamers if I started them?" Roughly a "PQS" with a Win and a strikeout per inning with a sub 1.20 WHIP, with a minimum of 5 IP. Close calls are decided by Playback chat.
Nick's 2025 Streamer Record: 6-0
My Pick yesterday: Casey Mize @ SEA
My Pick today: Landen Roupp @ HOU
PL Bot's 2025 Streamer Record: 5-1
PL Bot's Pick yesterday: Simeon Woods Richardson vs CHW
PL Bot's Pick today: Get our Daily & Weekly PLV Projections with PL Bot via PL Pro here.
Note: Names below in Italics are my streaming picks of the day.
Wednesday 4/2 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Tarik Skubal @ SEA - Aces gonna ace.
Zack Wheeler vs. COL - Aces gonna ace.
Paul Skenes @ TBR - Aces gonna ace.
Garrett Crochet @ BAL - Aces gonna ace.
Dylan Cease vs. CLE - Aces gonna ace.
Pablo López @ CHW - It's the White Sox. This is lovely. Here's to PabLó earning the AGA tag by May.
Cole Ragans @ MIL - Aces gonna ace, even if Ragans was a bit off last time out.
Blake Snell vs. ATL - Aces gonna ace.
Hunter Greene vs. TEX - He looks so good thus far.
Framber Valdez vs. SFG - Go do your thing, Valdez.
Ryan Pepiot vs. PIT - Pepiot with another delicious matchup should be an absolute joy to watch.
Freddy Peralta vs. KCR - "Professor Chaos" showed up at first and he settled down quickly.
Luis Castillo vs. DET - I don't see why you wouldn't.
Sonny Gray vs. LAA - Sonny had depressed velocity on his four-seamer and was able to adapt in his last outing. Let's hope the velo is back but the backup plan clearly works, too.
MacKenzie Gore @ TOR - ALRIGHT GORE. Please prove to us all that the new slider is here to stay and you're actually coming through on your potential. PLEASE. I'd hate for you to be the "HIPSTER" you were in 2024.
Carlos Rodón vs. ARI - The changeup to RHB looks here to stay and I love Rodón as a "Holly" this season.
Probably Starts
Yusei Kikuchi @ STL - It's a great matchup and the strikeout potential is obviously alive, though his first start came with red flags across the entire arsenal.
Clay Holmes @ MIA - Holmes, just throw enough strikes. Please. Your first start looked like the pain we felt trusting Hicks too long into last season. Be the Hicks we saw on Monday.
Jeffrey Springs vs. CHC - Springs' changeup was alive and well and even against the Cubs, we're putting him into our lineup and hoping for sunshine and rainbows.
Zach Eflin vs. BOS - Eflin is a "Toby" hoping to be a "Holly" once again with a good win chance for the Orioles.
Jack Leiter @ CIN - Hey "Jack Zippo". We know the stuff is absurd and we're bracing ourselves for a few weeks of failure (what is development without failure?) before the rise to stardom. Just give us something to make us encouraged here.
Landen Roupp @ HOU - Roupp was incredible in the spring and I'm excited to see if he demands a pickup across your leagues. If you have a questionable arm with Roupp on the wire, I'd make the swap before the outing.
Sean Burke vs. MIN - I was tempted to make Burke the streamer against a languishing Twins lineup, but his velocity is down two ticks and the breakers aren't the whiff-happy pitches we saw in his small sample last year.
Questionable Starts
Zac Gallen @ NYY - It's the Yankees + Gallen isn't at his peak.
Ben Lively @ SDP - Lively isn't the worst, y'all. This could be 5-6 IP of 2 ER or a "PQS".
Jameson Taillon @ ATH - He throws a ton of strikes with a good defense behind him, allowing "Koufax" to take the wheel on any given night.
Kyle Freeland @ PHI - I know how good the first start was...against the weak Rays crew. Philly is more intimidating, but at least it's not Coors?
Do Not Starts
Connor Gillispie vs. NYM - If the Marlins let him go five frames, it's not out of the question he can go "Dancing With The Disco" and survive. Maybe.
Bryce Elder @ LAD - Oh. Oh no.
Eston Lucas vs. WSN - He's a southpaw stepping in for Scherzer (not Yariel or Bloss. Huh.) and you don't want to do this.
Thursday 4/3 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Joe Ryan vs. HOU - Aces gonna ace. Are we going to see 94+ mph here?
Hunter Brown @ MIN - I haven't been the biggest fan, but Brown is obviously making it work with a wide arsenal. Maybe the four-seamer is better than I'm giving it credit..?
Probably Starts
Nick Lodolo @ MIL - Lodolo finally has a clean bill of health and I loved the changeup feel last time out. Milwaukee hasn't impressed, either.
Questionable Starts
Charlie Morton vs. BOS - There's a chance for a Win and QS. The other three? Either looking terrible or a stupid good offense.
Merrill Kelly @ NYY - It's the Yankees. Kelly is a crafty fella though, and those can make things annoying for big boppers like the Yankees. There's a chance at production here.
Nestor Cortes vs. CIN - Yes, it was horrible. You probably shouldn't do this, though we should likely just forget about that first outing entirely. But the lower velocity! Okay, fair. Let's hope that's back to 92 mph.
Tanner Houck @ BAL - Houck had a horrific spring and it carried over into his first outing. The Orioles are not an offense to mess with either. I don't like this at all.
Do Not Starts
Taijuan Walker vs. COL - It's "Rockie Road" but hot dang. Taijuan.
Antonio Senzatela @ PHI - Sure, whatever Senz-A.
Carlos Carrasco vs. ARI - Carrasco is unlikely to go five frames here, let alone with a line you'll enjoy.
Friday 4/4 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
New for PL Pro members - I am making the streaming table for an extra day out. I wanted to add a bonus for those who support us without taking anything away to everyone else and I thought this was a good compromise.
TOR is listed twice in the team offense ratings