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.
And of course, there are my streaming picks of the day. 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.
(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):
Remember, these offensive rankings are based on each offense's Process+ so far this year and how we project their lineups moving forward. It means you're going to see a little different offensive rankings than you may see elsewhere and there will always be some surprises. This is based on skills, not purely results!
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 PLV, 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: 32-10
My Pick yesterday: Ben Brown vs. SFG
My Pick today: José Soriano vs TOR
PL Bot's 2025 Streamer Record: 30-12
PL Bot's Pick yesterday: Charlie Morton vs. MIN
PL Bot's Pick today: Get our Daily & Weekly PLV Projections with PL Bot via PL Pro here.
Thursday 5/8 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Yoshinobu Yamamoto @ ARI - Aces gonna ace.
Spencer Schwellenbach vs. CIN - You're hosting the Reds. This is the start that vaults you onto the right path.
Jesús Luzardo @ TBR - There isn't a world where you're benching Luzardo given his start to the year.
Bailey Ober vs. BAL - Ryan is out with an illness, pushing Ober up a day where he can hopefully overwhelm with high heaters and stellar changeups to LHB.
Probably Starts
Kris Bubic vs. CHW - This has obvious written all over it.
Brayan Bello vs. TEX - Texas isn't the strongest of offenses - they fired their hitting coach after all.
Chris Bassitt @ LAA - Here's to hoping the curve shows up against for Bassitt.
Nick Lodolo @ ATL - I still like Lodolo's skill set, even if this is against Atlanta.
Ryan Pepiot vs. PHI - A tough one here. I have zero issues with anyone wanting to bench Pepiot. That said, if he's on, it doesn't matter who he's facing.
Questionable Starts
José Soriano vs. TOR - The Jays are a good matchup. Just throw strikes.
Casey Mize @ COL - Coors isn't so terrifying at the moment.
Brandon Pfaadt vs. LAD - I dig Pfaadt's adjustments this year and good luck enduring your anxiety against tthe Dodgers.
Do Not Starts
Jack Leiter @ BOS - It's Fenway and Leiter hasn't found his groove post-IL stint yet.
Dean Kremer @ MIN - There's always a chance.
Davis Martin @ KCR - The ceiling isn't high enough for me to chase.
Keider Montero @ COL - Maybe the Rockies' offense is just that bad.
Kyle Freeland vs. DET - Coors against one of the hotter offenses? No thanks.
Tanner Gordon vs. DET - Absolutely not.
Friday 5/9 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Tarik Skubal vs. TEX - Aces gonna ace.
Joe Ryan vs. SFG - Aces gonna ace...but he may not make this start after being scratched with an illness for Thursday's game. Then again, the Twins started Ober opening weekend when he was clearly not recovered so who knows. If he starts, you start him.
Hunter Brown vs. CIN - Hosting the Reds is a gift.
Aaron Nola @ CLE - Nola's command and velocity are peaking.
Luis Castillo vs. TOR - The fastballs are making me worried, but it's "@TEA" against a meh offense.
Probably Starts
Kevin Gausman @ SEA - The splitter returned in his last game (YES) and all I can do is hope that he's made a tweak. I'm thrilled we get to spin that wheel while heading to "@TEA", too.
Jameson Taillon @ NYM - Taillon has been on such a fun run and he loves pitching in Citi Field.
Max Meyer @ CHW - He has been terrible. I know. At yet, pitchers are finicky and we know the ceiling. He gets the White Sox and I'm rolling with it.
Questionable Starts
Tomoyuki Sugano @ LAA - Sugano's command has improved massively and the Angels are not scary. He's trending in the right direction and this may be the start you want to jump in for.
Clay Holmes vs. CHC - "The Adobe" still frustrates me with his inability to showcase precision across his arsenal in a given game, but his stuff is still solid and he's likely not coming off your rosters all year. Too bad it's the Cubs here.
Jordan Hicks @ MIN - Hicks. Buddy. Can you please sit 97 mph and actually command the sinker? And not have terrible splitters and sweepers?
Nick Martinez @ HOU - Martinez is one of those arms who I feel has better command and stuff than the results often say. It looks nice and pristine, but he's more hittable than I'd like. THAT SAID, if the slider (better than the cutter last time out!) and change are on, this should be fine against the Astros.
Gavin Williams vs. PHI - If you've moved on from this "HIPSTER" I totally get it. I'm a believer in the next four months of Gavin, who has the pieces and could be a stud in a heartbeat. The four-seamer is legit and he just needs consistent strikes with another pitch.
Mitchell Parker vs. STL - Parker has displayed his floor and is still capable of going six strong against the Cardinals.
Erick Fedde @ WSN - You are a 15-teamer "Toby", right?
Will Warren @ ATH - I don't like starting guys in Sacré Verde (The sacred green + Sacramento = Sacré Verde) and Warren is in the development period of figuring out his arsenal.
Jose Quintana @ TBR - Quintana does enough to give himself a chance at a Quality Start and gets a good matchup.
Do Not Starts
Michael Lorenzen vs. BOS - Lorenzen has a chance for a Quality Start, but the ceiling has been notoriously low.
Roki Sasaki @ ARI - It's just not worth it until Sasaki displays a legit third pitch.
Bryce Elder @ PIT - At least it's the Pirates and there could be a Win?
Eduardo Rodriguez vs. LAD - It's the Dodgers. It's so dang risky, even if he's somehow found strikeouts at times this year.
Zack Littell vs. MIL - He could go "Dancing With The Disco" for minimal reward.
Hunter Dobbins @ KCR - Ehhhh, I'm not the biggest Dobbins fan.
Bailey Falter vs. ATL - I'm curious if Falter can sustain the 93 mph heater we saw last time.
Randy Vásquez @ COL - It's Coors and Vásquez's approach is to worship "Koufax".
Bryse Wilson vs. MIA - Not even the Marlins can convince me to do this.
Kyle Hendricks vs. BAL - Here's to hoping the changeup(s) work out.
Patrick Corbin @ DET - Corbin is doing everything he can to survive 5+ frames, but even when he's doing what he wants it's likely not enough against the roaring Tigers.
Osvaldo Bido vs. NYY - It's New York in Sacré Verde + Bido has feral command.
Antonio Senzatela vs. SDP - Senz-A does what Senz-A does.
Saturday 5/10 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 from everyone else, and I thought this was a good compromise.
