Here are today’s daily SP Streamer rankings.
Every day of the 2023 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. 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.
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 in the second tier and I’d roll with them everywhere. Those in Yellow 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,” 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 works as a general table that y’all should keep in mind.
Alright, let’s get to it.
This year, with our new daily fantasy baseball projections powered by PLV, I’ll be competing against PL Bot to pick the best streaming option each day.
To get access to PL Bot’s picks each day, sign up for PL Pro here.
Nick’s 2023 Streamer Record: 13-9
My pick yesterday: Zach Plesac vs. MIA
PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 11-11
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Rich Hill vs. CIN
Want PL Bot’s pick today? Sign Up for PL Pro here.
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Plenty of aces are going on Sunday, making it awfully difficult to rank them. I decided to place the clear ace arms above the likes of Sonny Gray and Reid Detmers even though they have better matchups. Max Fried and Cristian Javier are still safer bets despite their upcoming duel.
- At the bottom of the tier is Grayson Rodriguez as I feel that if you have him rostered, you’re starting him against the Tigers. That breakout start is just around the corner.
- The second tier doesn’t feel so great for Sunday. Lucas Giolito has looked better but the Rays are a tough pill to swallow. Marcus Stroman has been sturdy, but what difficulty will the Dodgers bring to the table? And Tylor Megill gets the best matchup, but his skill set doesn’t demand production.
- The streaming pick of the day can be found in this tier as well with Eduardo Rodriguez against the Orioles. I don’t completely buy his ten strikeout game earlier this week, but he presents the ability to go six frames against a good-but-not-elite offense.
- The third tier kicks off with Logan Allen as he makes his MLB debut against the Marlins. This is a different Allen than you already know, with great command of sliders down in the zone and a low-to-mid 90s heater. I have a rule to not start pitchers in their MLB debuts, but I recognize that he has a decent chance of pulling this one off.
- Zach Eflin returns from the IL, making a clear Still ILL situation as he faces the White Sox, especially with the Rays’ tendency to limit pitch counts.
- It’s been a ht streak for Vince Velasquez and now he gets the gift of hosting the Reds in Pittsburgh. Not the worst play out there, but I’m electing to avoid the risk if I can.
- Ignore the season debut for Brayan Bellow as it came with jitters and the rain and it should be an improvement against Milwaukee. There’s too much haze in ability + volume for me to start him, but I’ll be watching closely.
- I don’t like Drey Jameson’s fastball enough to trust him against the Padres, while Jack Flaherty took a major step back in his last start to turn into a proper Cherry Bomb.
- If you’re in dire need of a QS, Jordan Lyles could do the trick, while Ross Stripling may be able to give you five decent frames against the Mets, even if his luck hasn’t gone his way thus far in the season.
- In the bottom tier, I have zero interest in Clarke Schmidt facing the mighty Jays, Chris Flexen’s horrific floor that comes without a glistening ceiling, and Kyle Muller hasn’t flashed his upside in ages.
- Don’t do José Ureña or Patrick Corbin. You know this.
- Update: The Twins are giving Bailey Ober a start against the Nationals. He went 6 IP and 5 IP in his most recent minor league games and gets the Nationals. This makes for a solid stream in my book.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Outside of Spencer Strider, it’s a bit difficult to navigate the top tier. Sonny Gray gets the #2 spot given his early season success. I’m going with Nick Lodolo after as I believe his last outing was an outlier. Chris Bassitt has settled down after his first outing, and Chris Sale just fanned eleven. I can’t see myself benching him now.
- In the second tier, Jordan Montgomery should be fine against the Giants, while Nathan Eovaldi and Alex Cobb are pitching well enough to start them despite questionable matchups.
- I’m all in on Taj Bradley and even with a bout with the Astros on the docket, I’m still rolling with him.
- I’d stream Cal Quantrill wherever I could as he could cruise to six frames with ease against the Tigers.
- With Quantrill at 25% rostered, that forces Dean Kremer as the streaming pick of the day (1% rostered!) as he leads the third tier. He increased his velocity in his last start and the Red Sox offense isn’t as threatening as they once were.
- I sure don’t know what to do with Lance Lynn. He could excel against the Jays or fall flat on his face and starting a week with such volatility isn’t what I’d go for. It’s okay to take it safe here.
- Some are going to be curious about starting Colin Rea or José Suarez against weak lineups. If you want to chance it, go ahead, but I don’t trust either one to have the skill set to truly take advantage of it. It’s more like a Sunday stream instead of a kick-off to the week.
- Despite succeeding last time out, Edward Cabrera is still a Cherry Bomb in my eye and an evening in Atlanta makes me too anxious.
- I want to like Matthew Boyd more, but seeing his velocity go from 92/93 to 91 to 89/90 in his last three outings has me terrified. I wouldn’t go for Boyd until he has a statement outing.
- Brad Keller dropped the ball in his last start, slowing any hype we had for him. Jhony Brito could survive 5-6 frames with his pitch-to-contact approach (yay great changeups!), and José Urquidy has to deal with the blazing hot Rays. I’d love to sit all of these arms.
- The bottom tier has little excitement per usual. Ken Waldichuk is a Frozen Banana, so why not, maybe this is the start…
- Tommy Henry is getting the start instead of Brandon Pfaadt and against the Royals, anything could happen. Sure don’t want to chase it, though.
Featured Image by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram)