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!
There is a second table (and now third for PL Pro members) 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 for my streaming record, I am forced to pick a streamer every day even if they are in the bottom tier. 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 Do Not Start pitchers unless 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 and it applies to a smaller audience.
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.
Note: If no pitcher under 20% rostered would have qualified for a "Streaming Win," no loss is granted.
(Opener) - Outlines that a pitcher is being opened for that day & the pitcher listed will follow the opener.
Nick's 2025 Streamer Record: 67-27
My Pick yesterday: Win - Justin Wrobleski @ KCR
My Pick today: Jacob Lopez @ TBR
My Pick tomorrow: Richard Fitts vs. CIN
My Pick day after tomorrow: Unlock with PL Pro
My picks for the day after tomorrow are located at the bottom of this article for PL Pro members.
PL Bot's 2025 Streamer Record: 65-29
PL Bot's Pick yesterday: Win - Justin Verlander @ CHW
PL Bot's Pick today: Unlock with PL Pro
PL Bot's Pick tomorrow: Unlock with PL Pro
PL Bot's Pick day after tomorrow: Unlock with PL Pro
PL Bot's Picks are located at the bottom of this article for PL Pro members.
Monday 6/30 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Zack Wheeler vs. SDP - Aces gonna ace.
Garrett Crochet vs. CIN - Aces gonna ace.
Logan Webb @ ARI - Aces gonna ace.
Carlos Rodón @ TOR - Aces gonna ace.
George Kirby vs. KCR - Please tell me the "BSB" approach is returning. PLEASE.
Drew Rasmussen vs. ATH - He's a solid 5-6 inning arm for a Win.
Probably Starts
Michael Wacha @ SEA - It's a great place to pitch and Wacha had a legit slider to RHB last time out.
Jacob Lopez @ TBR - I hope he can have the same "Fratty Pirate" approach that has fueled his recent success. It's more reliant on command than I'd like.
Chase Burns @ BOS - He's a legit arm and the biggest worry is his four-seamer's potential affinity for the longball. Good thing Fenway suppresses them. I'll take doubles that create jams Burns' strikeout ability can wriggle out of.
Ryne Nelson vs. SFG - Alright Ryne, show me a secondary for strikes. YOU GOT THIS.
Trevor Rogers @ TEX - Rogers faces the Rangers a second time and hopefully he has the same precision with all three pitches.
Erick Fedde @ PIT - Fedde is type of pitcher you stream against weak lineups and look at htat! It's the Pirates!
Questionable Starts
NONE - Once again, I do not put pitchers into tiers just so they look cleaner. That helps no one.
Do Not Starts
Andrew Heaney vs. STL - Heaney could conceivably be in the third tier, but you can't trust the guy.
Patrick Corbin vs. BAL - He's allowed 9 ER in his last two games, but there's a chance the slider works against their LHB and he gets a QS.
Max Scherzer vs. NYY - Scherzer didn't have his cutter/slider last time out and it's the Yankees.
Matt Waldron @ PHI - The Padres are turning back to Waldren in the rotaiton and I wouldn't trust this working out at all.
Tuesday 7/1 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Paul Skenes vs. STL - Aces gonna ace.
Jacob deGrom vs. BAL - Aces gonna ace.
Max Fried @ TOR - Aces gonna ace.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. CHW - Aces gonna ace.
Joe Ryan @ MIA - Aces gonna ace.
Cristopher Sánchez vs. SDP - He's cruising.
Freddy Peralta @ NYM - You know the deal.
Nick Pivetta @ PHI - He's an auto start given his absurd strikeout ability lately and the Phillies are not a top tier offense at the moment.
Probably Starts
Jack Flaherty @ WSN - The curve returned all the whiffs last time out and I believe my fears of his tipping are behind him.
Clay Holmes vs. MIL - "The Adobe" has allowed more people free passes into his home that usual in his last two and I'm not concerned. It was far more competitive last time out.
Shane Baz vs. ATH - His new cutter is legit.
Matthew Boyd vs. CLE - Boyd is solid and Cleveland shouldn't scare you.
Richard Fitts vs. CIN - Fitts is stretched out and gets the "Reds Carpet"...even if that means Fenway. Fitts' arsenal is above-average even if it he may lack an overpowering offering.
Edward Cabrera vs. MIN - Cabrera is still figuring out his baseline arsenal. If he can focus on sinkers and have a high strike rate, the changeup and breakers can take over.
Questionable Starts
Charlie Morton @ TEX - He's been on a roll and I love starting pitchers in Texas.
Gavin Williams @ CHC - Gavin found his velocity and extension last time out while also throwing a ton of cutters. Now it's up to him to get his command in order...against the Cubs. It's a tough one.
Kevin Gausman vs. NYY - If Gausman has his command again, he can take down the volatile Yankee offense.
Andre Pallante @ PIT - It's the Pirates, though I don't love Pallante's ceiling.
Colton Gordon @ COL - Two first names n all as a four-seamer/sweeper arm against many RHB in Coors. And yet, Gordon has pulled it off and could steal a Win with ease.
Shane Smith @ LAD - It's the Dodgers.
Hayden Birdsong @ ARI - Birdsong was an atrocity last time out and he shouldn't be that bad again. And the Sneks are worse without Corbin (which one? Both!), right?
Tyler Anderson @ ATL - Changeups are still stellar n all. Unfortunately, it's Atlanta.
Brady Singer @ BOS - Singer's slider is coming back...but this is Fenway...but the Sawx are not that great of an offense...I'll stop with the elipsies, I'm sorry.
Jeffrey Springs @ TBR - I don't trust Springs to have more than his changeup on a given night, and he hasn't had that every evening, too.
Didier Fuentes vs. LAA - Dider got destroyed in his second MLB outing, though I still adore the four-seamer's absurd 1.8 "HAVAA" at 95+ mph. He could have a major strikeout game just with 60%+ fastballs is he can spot it upstairs.
Do Not Starts
Zac Gallen vs. SFG - You really can't trust him these days. Weird game of highly volatile arms of Gallen vs. Birdsong here.
Emerson Hancock vs. KCR - He has a chance for a QS, though I don't love the state of his secondaries and his fastballs are meh.
Trevor Williams vs. DET - #NeverTrevor.
Michael Lorenzen @ SEA - Lorenzen gets "@TEA" and you know you still don't like it.
Chase Dollander vs. HOU - He's in Coors and his stuff isn't as great as you thought it was.
Wednesday 7/2 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.
