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: 8-3
My Pick yesterday: Will Warren @ PIT
My Pick today: Richard Fitts vs. TOR
PL Bot's 2025 Streamer Record: 9-2
PL Bot's Pick yesterday: Martín Pérez @ DET
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.
Monday 4/7 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Logan Gilbert vs. HOU - Aces gonna ace.
Hunter Greene @ SFG - He's looking like an AGA. It's bonkers.
Michael King @ ATH - Aces gonna ace.
Logan Webb vs. CIN - Still a little weird to see the changeup pulled back, but who cares.
Kodai Senga vs. MIA - Senga has a wider arsenal and gets the Marlins.
Carlos Rodón @ DET - The Tigers aren't scary and I expect the changeup to return.
Zac Gallen vs. BAL - He was absurd against the Yankees and even if that's not sustainable, you're not turning his follow up down.
Nathan Eovaldi @ CHC - He's been on a roll and even against the Cubs, you're doing it.
Justin Steele vs. TEX - The command should be better.
Dustin May @ WSN - This should be five frames of production if not more.
Probably Starts
Hayden Wesneski @ SEA - I don't love Wesneski, but it's in Seattle.
Zach Eflin @ ARI - I debated this one plenty, but Eflin is a decent play every time with a good Win chance.
Questionable Starts
Richard Fitts vs. TOR - He's been pushed back two days after the rainout and unfortunately gets the Jays instead of the Cardinals. I'd still roll with it.
MacKenzie Gore vs. LAD - You want a true "Cherry Bomb" play? Here you go. I personally wouldn't risk it.
Matthew Liberatore @ PIT - It's the Pirates and Liberatore's arsenal is...fine.
Luis Severino vs. SDP - The Padres scare me a little bit.
Michael Lorenzen vs. MIN - The Twins aren't doing a whole lot offensively, so maybe there's a "PQS" in here.
Simeon Woods Richardson @ KCR - Will the Twins let him go more than five, if even that? Will it be worth it?
Do Not Starts
Casey Mize vs. NYY - His velocity was down last time out and it's the Yankees.
Carmen Mlodzinski vs. STL - Not a terrible debut but I still don't trust it, even against the Cardinals.
Easton Lucas @ BOS - He was able to survive last time out and you know this isn't the life you want.
Valente Bellozo @ NYM - You're hoping for five frames of decent cutters and four-seamers up. Blegh.
Tuesday 4/8 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Zack Wheeler @ ATL - Aces gonna ace.
Garrett Crochet vs. TOR - Aces gonna ace.
Paul Skenes vs. STL - Aces gonna ace.
Chris Sale vs. PHI - Aces gonna ace.
Cole Ragans vs. MIN - Aces gonna ace.
Tarik Skubal vs. NYY - Aces gonna ace. Against the Yankees. Blegh.
Dylan Cease @ ATH - Aces gonna ace.
Framber Valdez @ SEA - It's in Seattle.
Pablo López @ KCR - López isn't at his peak yet, but this is a lovely situation.
Sonny Gray @ PIT - Gray has the velocity and sweeper back.
Luis Castillo vs. HOU - I don't love it, but he has that dawg in him. I think.
Freddy Peralta @ COL - He's looking incredible and even in Coors, Peralta should be started.
Shane Baz vs. LAA - Baz came out with guns ablazing. No way you're denying this.
Probably Starts
Nick Lodolo @ SFG - Lodolo has his health and should grow as the season continues.
Clay Holmes vs. MIA - It's a great matchup, but can The Adobe throw enough strikes?
Landen Roupp vs. CIN - The first start is out of the way. Now we can get the wider arsenal + a Reds team who recently had a nightmarish scoreless streak.
Jeffrey Springs vs. SDP - Not the best matchup, but Springs should be sunshine and rainbows after the struggles against the Cubs.
Questionable Starts
Ben Lively vs. CHW - He throws effective strikes and it's the White Sox.
Justin Wrobleski @ WSN - The Dodgers are likely turning to Wrobleski to replace Snell and his heater + breakers could be enough here.
Merrill Kelly vs. BAL - It's the Orioles, though Kelly is not nearly as poor as that Yankees start made him look.
Jameson Taillon vs. TEX - Taillon nibbled better in his last start and I hope he can do so again when he faces the Rangers.
Kyle Hendricks @ TBR - The Rays are not scary and Hendricks has been a shocking "Toby".
Shane Smith @ CLE - Smith should be on the ascension by month, hopefully a direct incline start-to-start. It's all about stamina and refining the secondaries throughout the start.
José Berríos @ BOS - He's too volatile and it's Fenway.
Carlos Carrasco @ DET - There may be a cheap Win here. Just saying.
Charlie Morton @ ARI - Morton had ten strikeouts last time out if you're desperate for it. That's highly unlikely to return, but there's more upside here than in the bottom tier.
Do Not Starts
Kyle Freeland vs. MIL - Freeland isn't the worst! But it's Coors. Womp womp.
Connor Gillispie @ NYM - There are little pieces of the arsenal that work but I'm not ready to commit.
Patrick Corbin @ CHC - He's back! Against the mighty Cubs! And not fully stretched out!
Brad Lord vs. LAD - Is this an opener or actually starting? Regardless, this isn't set to be a day of shocking production for so many reasons.
Wednesday 4/9 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.
Just my opinion, but I think you’re vastly overestimating the strength of the Yankees lineup due to a hot start. Other than Judge and Chisholm, they really have very little. I started Mize without hesitation today. Talking about Carrasco as a win play when he’s facing Skubal is absolutely wild to me.