Here are today’s daily SP Streamer rankings.
Every day of the 2023 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.
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,” which 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 would be those picks, 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):
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.
This year, with our new daily fantasy baseball projections powered by PLV, I’ll be competing against PL Bot to pick the best streaming option each day.
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 2023 Streamer Record: 76-63
My pick yesterday: Zack Littell vs. COL
PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 72-67
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Zack Littell vs. COL
Want PL Bot’s pick today? Sign Up for PL Pro here.
With the new formatting for the notes, I’ve made the streaming pick of the day Underlined and Italicized.
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
Auto-Starts
Kevin Gausman @ BAL – Aces gonna ace.
Shohei Ohtani vs. CIN – He’s starting and if he’s starting, we’re starting him.
Clayton Kershaw @ CLE – He’s TATIAGA and the slider should be back to normal soon. He may be slightly limited, though.
Corbin Burnes vs. MIN – Burnes’ cutter returned to form last night en route to a Golden Goal. It’s just one start, though.
George Kirby @ CHW – Arguably should be above the White Sox but that start against the Royals was so not what we wanted.
Kenta Maeda @ MIL – Maeda lost his slider last time out. He should get it back.
Tarik Skubal vs. CHC – His four-seamer has literally the best O-Swing across all starters in the majors. Incredible.
Sandy Alcantara @ SDP – Alright Sandy, AGA is at the doorstep. Knock em dead.
Probably Starts
Andrew Abbott @ LAA – Abbott isn’t punching out everyone and their grandmothers anymore (sorry for that image), sadly. Still, the Angels are generally a solid team to stream against these days.
Cole Ragans @ OAK – The schedule is so good ahead for Ragans. As long as he features the four-seamer well enough for strikes and doesn’t get changeup-happy, this should be bliss.
Seth Lugo vs. MIA – It’s a solid Toby outing.
José Urquidy vs. BOS – Ditto, especially with Urquidy’s fantastic kitchen sink approach we’ve seen recently.
Aaron Civale vs. COL – Double ditto. That’s a thing, right? He’s back up to 65% cutters + curveball because we actually have good things in life.
Charlie Morton vs. NYM – The Win chance and strikeouts are too good to pass up, even with the ratio risk this Cherry Bomb brings each time out.
Michael Lorenzen vs. SFG – He just had a clunker, but this is the Giants. Surely we’re not giving up after one bad outing, right?
Questionable Starts
Reid Detmers vs. CIN – Detmers took down the Rangers, but his command was off. The ball landed in good spots, but it often wasn’t intentional and I heavily question if he’s turned a corner.
Chris Sale @ HOU – His velocity fell dramatically to just 91 mph, topping out at only 93.6 mph – he was averaging 95+ beforehand. Not great, Bob.
Jameson Taillon @ DET – He’s fine. I wonder if there’s enough in the repertoire to sustain the run he’s on, but hey, it’s the Tigers. He has a higher chance that Thompson for six frames.
Jack Flaherty vs. TOR – Flaherty has had his moments and isn’t pitching as poorly as the lines have suggested, but he also won’t carry the same adrenaline he had the last time he faced the Jays right after the trade deadline.
UPDATE: Zack Thompson @ PIT – Thompson is starting a day early with Liberatore hitting the IL. I like the matchup and like Thompson’s three-pitch mix, even if there’s still some polish left to add. Keep in mind, he has the same floor we assign to young arms without any track record in the majors.
UPDATE MacKenzie Gore @ NYY – He’s a Cherry Bomb who has been far more Bomb over the last few months, even if he’s fresh off a solid strikeout performance. Arguably in the third tier based on the recency + the demoralization of the Yankees and yet I can’t do it. The Update is me realizing Gore should be in the third tier given a matchup against the horrid Yankee offense.
Do Not Starts
José Quintana @ ATL – Quintana has had his command, but it’s Atlanta (I know, he survived last time. Don’t press your luck). In addition, he’ll get the Dodgers after this one and I can’t endorse holding onto Quintana for two weeks. He’ll likely be on the wire when you want to jump back in any way.
Matthew Liberatore @ PIT – He was 94/95 for a game, then fell back to 92 mph and change. Womp womp.
Luis Severino vs. WSN – Severino bolstered his velocity up nearly two ticks in his last outing + leaned on a cutter inside of slider/change. I wonder if that gets him out of this horrific funk.
Alex Cobb @ PHI – The splitter hasn’t been great (save for one outing) in what, three months?
Xzavion Curry vs. LAD – Curry chucked fastballs that weren’t hit and mixed in a solid slider. That’s not enough for the Dodgers.
Austin Gomber @ TBR – Gomber had that lovely run and it came to screeching halt last time out. There’s a chance he can make it happen here, but the ceiling isn’t worth it.
Michael Kopech vs. SEA – His fastball is rough these days and Kopech is so far away from the man I wanted him to be.
UPDATE: Luis L. Ortiz vs. STL – It looks like Ortiz is getting the start and we have no idea how long he’ll go + his arsenal hasn’t been as electric when we have seen him.
UPDATE: Adrián Martínez vs. KCR – Hey, he’s back! And I have no idea if he’s actually starting this one and how long he’ll go. Yay!
Kyle Muller vs. KCR – Oh hey, he’s back! I hope he’s showing us something new. Probably not.
Andre Jackson vs. STL – Andre isn’t going to go five frames, is he?
Brett Kennedy @ LAA – Absolutely not.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
Auto-Starts
Tyler Glasnow vs. COL – Aces gonna ace. Feels weird putting him over Cole, but this looks to be pure dominance.
Gerrit Cole vs. WSN – Cole has been weird with his slider and the Yankee Win chance isn’t what it used to be.
Pablo López vs. TEX – It’s Texas, but he’s an ace now. You don’t bench AGA.
Probably Starts
Justin Steele @ PIT – I’ve been a little weirded out by Steele lately, but it’s the Pirates. You go for it.
Merrill Kelly vs. CIN – Kelly has had some mishaps and we’re still going to start him because we don’t overreact.
J.P. France vs. BOS – France is a Toby for a winning team, arguably a Holly, even with a higher-than-ideal WHIP.
José Berríos @ BAL – Berríos is opponent agnostic. Go for it.
Questionable Starts
Brandon Williamson @ ARI – This is one weird tier for Thursday. I don’t like the matchup at all, but all of the guys below are gonna give y’all the eyebrow raise. Williamson is our reluctant streamer of the day as the changeup has been solid and his increased velocity is sticking.
Andrew Heaney @ MIN – He’s a Cherry Bomb but at least it’s not the Dodgers or Astros.
Gavin Williams vs. LAD – Williams has shown the stupid good ceiling, that’s worth something, right?
Brayan Bello @ HOU – It’s the Astros and if Bello had a legit third pitch, I’d maybe consider this.
Ryan Pepiot @ CLE – Ah, now we get to the fun of this tier that I think has a better chance than the legit “Do Not Start” options. Pepiot is likely getting the ball on Thursday for the Dodgers and flexed a changeup he can actually throw for strikes with a strong breaker in his relief appearance over the weekend. This could work.
Jesse Scholtens vs. OAK – He executed the BSB while in Coors. The five walks weren’t nearly as wild as the results suggest + this is Oakland. Welcome to your ultra-sneaky streamer.
Ken Waldichuk @ CHW – He punched out seven last time out and it’s the White Sox. He’s awfully volatile and likely not worth it, but there are worse strikeout plays.
Patrick Corbin @ NYY – I led with Corbin in the SP Roundup after he executed the best BSB I’ve seen from him since…2019? He also gets paired with the demoralized Yankees and it could mean six innings of production. I know, it’s a weird tier.
Do Not Starts
Peter Lambert @ TBR – Sorry Lambert, even without Franco, the Rays are still a good offense.
Andre Jackson vs. CHC – I don’t know how long he goes and it’s the Cubs.
TBD Orioles SP vs. TOR – With Flaherty getting scratched and Kremer moving up a day, it’s unknown how the Orioles are handling Thursday’s game.
Featured Image by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram)