Here are today and tomorrow’s daily SP Streamer rankings for fantasy baseball.
Every day of the 2024 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 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 (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.
Alright, let’s get to it.
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 2024 Streamer Record: 61-44
My pick yesterday: Christian Scott vs. COL -L
PL Bot’s 2024 Streamer Record: 62-43
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Zack Littell vs. CLE – W
Want PL Bot’s pick today? Sign up for PL Pro here.
My streaming pick of the day is Underlined and Italicized.
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
Auto Starts
Chris Sale @ SDP – Aces gonna ace.
Logan Gilbert @ LAA – Aces gonna ace.
Zac Gallen vs. TOR – He wasn’t great last time out, but we trust this to work.
Ronel Blanco vs. TEX – Blanco is still pitching incredibly well.
Probably Starts
Yusei Kikuchi @ ARI – Kikuchi is putting it all together.
Jake Irvin @ MIL – Irvin didn’t have his hook last time out and I’m leaning that it’ll return.
Nick Lodolo vs. MIA – It’s the Marlins, ignore the weird Still ILL game.
Ryan Pepiot vs. CLE – Pepiot is fighting off the Cherry Bomb label and we can only hope the control is there.
Mitch Keller @ CHW – Keller gets the White Sox and hasn’t had his production fall off a cliff.
UPDATE: Max Scherzer @ HOU – It’s not the old Scherzer and it’s the Astros.
Jose Quintana vs. COL – I’m sold that Quintana’s command is here for a while in this Vargas Rule and now he gets Rockie Road.
Carlos Rodón @ BAL – It’s the Orioles, but Rodón’s skills are great across his last two.
Blake Snell vs. MIN – Can he throw enough strikes?
Brayan Bello vs. KCR – Bello had a few mistakes that were punished, but ultimately looked far better than his previous month in his last outing.
Jameson Taillon @ STL – Taillon is cooking right now.
Ben Lively @ TBR – Lively has had a great schedule and has mostly taken advantage of it. We’re giving him another start before moving on.
Questionable Starts
Brady Singer @ BOS – He’s a textbook Cherry Bomb in Fenway.
Dean Kremer vs. NYY – Kremer is horribly inconsistent.
Chris Paddack @ SFG – I don’t love what Paddack does and was tempted to put him in the bottom tier. There’s a chance for six frames, though.
Miles Mikolas vs. CHC – Mikolas had a disaster outing, sandwiched by production. There’s a chance.
Do Not Starts
Colin Rea vs. WSN – The ceiling isn’t great and he just struggled mightily.
Jon Gray @ HOU – Gray doesn’t have his best slider and it’s the Astros.
Trevor Rogers @ CIN – He’s locating well, but the stuff isn’t special.
Cal Quantrill @ NYM – Maybe the splitter is killing it? He’s too disrupted from his Vargas Rule.
Michael Mercado vs. OAK – Mercado isn’t nearly as bad as last start would make you think + it’s the Athletics.
Randy Vásquez vs. ATL – I’m not buying the recent starts of success + it’s Atlanta.
Ryan Yarbrough @ DET – Oh snap! The Fratty Pirate! I wonder how long they let him pitch and if he gets an opener.
Joey Estes @ PHI – It’s the Phillies and Estes displaced the cataclysmic floor in his last outing.
Roansy Contreras vs. SEA – How long does he go? As we watch it, we may want it to be short.
Joey Wentz vs. LAD – It’s the Dodgers. It’s Wentz. Noooooope.
TBD White Sox SP vs. PIT – With Jonathan Cannon pitching in bulk after Crochet on Friday, it’s unclear how the White Sox will approach Sunday’s game. Maybe Michael Soroka? Or calling up Sean Burke or Nick Nastrini? Who knows.
UPDATE: Carson Fulmer vs. SEA – Ayyy it’s Fulmer! Cool cool cool, good luck fella.
UPDATE: Germán Márquez @ NYM – HE’S BACK! I only wish the best for him.
UPDATE: Beau Brieske vs. LAD – Yeaaaaaah no.
UPDATE: Chad Kuhl vs. PIT – Looks like Kuhl is the answer and you don’t want to do this.
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Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
It’s the all-star break! I’ll have this streaming article once again on Thursday to preview Friday’s games.
Photos Courtesy of IconSportswire | Adapted by Aaron Asbury (@aarongifs on Instagram)