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: 22-6
My Pick yesterday: Jack Kochanowicz vs. PIT
My Pick today: Landen Roupp vs. MIL
PL Bot's 2025 Streamer Record: 22-6
PL Bot's Pick yesterday: Reese Olson vs. SDP
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.
Thursday 4/24 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Garrett Crochet vs. SEA - Aces gonna ace.
Cole Ragans vs. COL - Aces gonna ace.
Jacob deGrom @ ATH - Aces gonna ace.
Drew Rasmussen @ ARI - He sure looks like an ace, doesn't he? I sure hope this is the day we see a full six innings.
Bryan Woo @ BOS - It's Fenway and that's a bit scary. We're doing it, of course.
Corbin Burnes vs. TBR - He's not an ace and I'm annoyed about his lagging secondaries and the cutter stuff dropping, though he's still a productive arm in a good matchup.
Probably Starts
Landen Roupp vs. MIL - He's fresh off a massive strikeout game, how could you not?
MacKenzie Gore vs. BAL - Is this a good or bad matchup? I need to know since Gore apparently kills it only in tough situations.
Tyler Anderson vs. PIT - This should be the glorious stream you want it to be.
Shane Smith @ MIN - We're rolling with this one against a poor lineup in hopes Smith has made gains on his stamina.
Questionable Starts
Chris Paddack vs. CHW - He allowed 9 ER to them last time out. Surely he won't do that again, right? Don't throw so many terrible sliders this time, please.
J.T. Ginn vs. TEX - I may be overrating this one a bit, though I really dig Ginn's sinker and believe his slider is better than the pitch we saw in his last game.
Chase Dollander @ KCR - Dollander is outside of Coors and has big velocity...and not much else.
Tobias Myers @ SFG - He's returning from the IL in what should be a "STILL ILL", but it's a solid matchup and it could work.
Michael Lorenzen vs. COL - It's "Rockie Road" and as luxurious of a matchup you could hope for.
Do Not Starts
Cade Povich @ WSN - After what we saw last time, it's hard to pull the trigger here.
Carmen Mlodzinski @ LAA - At least it's the Angels?
Germán Márquez @ KCR - At least he's not in Coors?
Friday 4/25 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Logan Gilbert vs. MIA - Aces gonna ace.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. PIT - Aces gonna ace.
Michael King vs. TBR - Aces gonna ace.
Paul Skenes @ LAD - Aces gonna ace.
Pablo López vs. LAA - You're ready to go. This isn't a "STILL ILL".
Nathan Eovaldi @ SFG - The curve and splitter are cooking.
Kodai Senga @ WSN - The wide arsenal should help. Hopefully more cutters?
Chris Sale @ ARI - Alright Sale. You've been terrible thus far but the skills are there. This is the start you reclaim your acolytes.
Probably Starts
Shane Baz @ SDP - Baz had a rough one against the Yankees, but I still adore him.
Seth Lugo vs. HOU - Lugo is solid, though the Astros are a little tougher. Fortunately, it's a RHB heavy lineup.
Luis Severino vs. CHW - It's the CrySox.
Jake Irvin vs. NYM - He's looking like the guy we saw during his excellent run last year. The curve is back.
Justin Verlander vs. TEX - Velocity with great heaters and sliders make me stoked for Verlander moving forward.
Matthew Liberatore vs. MIL - Liberatore is up to 95 mph with a larger emphasis on his slider. Let's hope it sticks (and the change is better...?)
Questionable Starts
Zac Gallen vs. ATL - We're in purgatory with Gallen. This can go either way.
Hayden Wesneski @ KCR - The extension is great, I just wish there was more than his sweeper as the four-seamer is rough.
Casey Mize vs. BAL - I'm not sold on Mize's breakers, making him too much of a two-pitch arm in my book.
Tanner Houck @ CLE - Houck just performed well in a cushy matchup and this will be far tougher with a ton of LHB.
Do Not Starts
Andrew Abbott @ COL - It's Coors. And maybe I'm underrating this one given Abbott's excellent changeup last time out + the Rockies not acting particularly scary.
José Berríos @ NYY - Berríos is maddening and it's the Bronx.
Ben Lively vs. BOS - Lively has it in him to find a Win or QS, but at what cost.
Kyle Hendricks @ MIN - Same with Hendricks.
Brandon Young @ DET - The Orioles are looking for a savior in their rotation. It's highly unlikely to be Young, but there's a chance.
Cal Quantrill @ SEA - Quantrill is so not it, but the "TEA" gives him a shot if his splitter is fantastic.
Carlos Carrasco vs. TOR - Hey, maybe five frames for a Win?
Chad Patrick @ STL - He had a great start with his cutter last time and the Cardinals aren't dangerous, but then again, two first names. And general meh quality, of course.
Sean Burke @ ATH - We're not at a place to lean into Burke once again.
Taijuan Walker @ CHC - Taijuan? Nooooope. He also left his last start early and it may still be affecting him.
Kyle Freeland vs. CIN - It's Coors.
Colin Rea vs. PHI - He's not stretched out to 80 pitches yet.
Saturday 4/26 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
New for PL Pro members - I am making the streaming table for an extra day out (no write-ups as these pitchers change often). 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.
Mize uses 6 pitches. Not sure what all the “two pitch” commentary is about.
Four Seamer (34.6%)
Split Finger (24.1%)
Slurve (18.1%)
Slider (13.3%)
Sinker (9.6%) Sweeper (0.3%)
Currently performing better than R Ray. Alcantara, Bibee, C Sanchez, Ragans, just to name a few above him. I know because I own them all!
The four-seamer and splitter are the foundation of what he does. The slurve and slider are mediocre, while the sinker can help, it’s not the driving force in the slightest.
Not really fair to include the sweeper there at 0.3%. Probably a misclassified slurve, really.
And if you’d prefer Mize than those guys, awesome! If you’ve read these pieces enough (especially the SP Roundup), you’ll know how my process is all about their arsenal and what speaks to future success – not “this guy is performing better than others”.
To each their own! I hope you find these helpful.