Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings Fantasy Baseball – 8/28 & 8/29

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: 80-64

My pick yesterday: Bailey Falter vs. CHC

PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 74-70

PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Gavin Stone @ BOS

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 vs. WSN – Aces gonna ace.

Blake Snell @ STL – Aces gonna ace.

Clayton Kershaw vs. ARI – It’s TATIAGA.

Kenta Maeda vs. CLE – Maeda hasn’t had his best slider, but I’m not going to do anything rash yet.

Andrew Abbott @ SFG – Abbott is solid and it’s the Giants.

Zac Gallen @ LAD – Gallen is an ace, but I hate that he has to take on the Dodgers.

UPDATE: Grayson Rodriguez vs. CHW – You’re not sitting GrayRod these days.

UPDATE: Bobby Miller vs ARI – He’s back to pitching on Monday again and against the Sneks, you’re gonna let him fly.

 

Probably Starts

 

Lucas Giolito @ PHI – He looked fantastic last time out.

Bryan Woo vs. OAK – It’s the Athletics and Woo should be good to go at least five here.

Jon Gray @ NYM – Gray’s slider is elite and the four-seamer has been good enough to make this worthwhile.

Chris Sale vs. HOU – It’s Houston and yet Sale spotted his sliders and ramped up the velocity last time out. I say go for it.

 

Questionable Starts

 

Taijuan Walker vs. LAA – Walker isn’t inspiring a ton of hope with just 91/92 mph heaters, but the Angels are so poor of an offense right now.

Johan Oviedo @ KCR – He’s a Cherry Bomb through and through.

Cristian Javier @ BOS – Uggggh. I’m still waiting for the slider to earn strikes and the four-seamer to dominate at the top of the zone. Maybe this is the one?

Reese Olson vs. NYY – The Yankees are not a good offense and Olson can have some success when the slider is cooking. Just get the changeups down and fastballs armside.

Wade Miley @ CHC – Meh. He has a low ceiling as a proper ‘Toby”, but he could go a comfortable 5-6 frames.

Jameson Taillon vs. MIL – I’m not loving how Taillon has to squeeze everything out of his arsenal to make himself fantasy-relevant.

Luis Severino @ DET – It’s the Tigers and there’s some hope Severino has some magic in him left.

 

Do Not Starts

 

Kyle Harrison vs. CIN – I don’t trust he’ll go a full five innings + the command is terrible. You could do worse if you’re desperate for strikeouts.

Xzavion Curry @ MIN – I don’t think his slider is nearly as great as the strike rates have been and the fastball is poor.

Bryce Elder @ COL – It’s Coors and Elder could steal a Win. Those ratios may hate you for it though.

Adrían Martínez @ SEA – If he’s able to go five frames Martínez may be able to eke out production with his changeup.

Zack Greinke vs. PIT – Greinke does what Greinke does.

Josiah Gray @ TOR – Josiah struggles too much to find strikes across his repertoire, where no pitch is elite.

Michael Kopech @ BAL – Kopech’s fastball has fallen off a cliff.

Tylor Megill vs. TEX – We saw 96 mph + legit sliders last time out and sadly the Rangers are too good to risk this.

Austin Gomber vs. ATL – It’s Atlanta + Coors.

UPDATE: Kyle Muller @ SEA – This isn’t the start you want to chase. Muller isn’t ready.

Adam Wainwright vs. SDP – It’s Waino. I really hope he gets Win #199.

 

 

Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

Auto-Starts

 

Pablo López vs. CLE – Aces gonna ace. Don’t let the Rangers change your tune.

George Kirby vs. OAK – It’s Oakland.

Clayton Kershaw vs. ARI – He’s TATIAGA for a reason.

Sandy Alcantara vs. TBR – He didn’t come through against the Padres, but I see no reason to sit against the Rays.

Corbin Burnes @ CHC – Yes, it was a terrible time in his last start, but y’all know that isn’t what to expect moving forward.

Cole Ragans vs. PIT – PEW PEW PEW. Ragans has such a good schedule ahead and is a unicorn, pumping up to 101 mph from the left side and four other legit pitches.

Tarik Skubal vs. NYY – His fastball is fantastic and the changeup + slider are coming along.

Justin Steele vs. MIL – I’m still a little weirded out by Steele’s command across the last month, but we’re all still starting him.

José Berríos vs. WSN – I don’t see a world where you’re not starting Berríos if you have him on your squads.

 

Probably Starts

 

Gavin Williams @ MIN – He’s gone through some frustrating command issues but the upside is well worth the floor.

Seth Lugo @ STL – He’s steady, the only annoyance is the lack of Wins with the Padres sitting under .500.

Aaron Civale @ MIA – He’s a solid Toby for a winning club.

Dean Kremer vs. CHW – The cutter is good, the four-seamer usually is too.

Brandon Williamson @ SFG – I dig the new changeup and new velocity + the Giants are not a team to fear.

Merrill Kelly @ LAD – The Dodgers are a team to fear, sadly. It’s a tough call given Kelly’s dominance.

 

Questionable Starts

 

Michael Lorenzen vs. LAA – He’s been terrible in his last two games as the wheels are slowly coming off, but the Angels are an atrocity at the moment.

Alex Cobb vs. CIN – He’s had his splitter working for just the second time in ten starts, but does that mean it’s back for good?

Charlie Morton @ COL – He’s a volatile fella heading into Coors. If you’re chasing Wins and strikeouts, you go for it. His sub 3.40 ERA is likely going up, though.

J.P. France @ BOS – He got absolutely trounced last time out and yet we all know he’s not cooked for good.

Tyler Anderson @ PHI – The changeup is good, the question is if everything else can support it enough.

Brayan Bello vs. HOU – It’s the Astros. I am curious to see if his slider has the same shape as last time, though.

Andrew Heaney @ NYM – He’s a Cherry Bomb through and through.

José Quintana vs. TEX – It’s the Rangers and I’m so annoyed by it. Quintana still has a chance if he has impeccable command, of course.

Jhony Brito (Opener) @ DET – Brito was terrible last time, but this is the Tigers. If pitches through the fifth, you may vulture a Win.

 

Do Not Starts

 

Ken Waldichuk @ SEA – There are moments where he executes the BSB and tallies up a fair number of strikeouts, but the ratio risk is too high.

MacKenzie Gore @ TOR – He’s a Cherry Bomb against a strong offense. Nooope.

Zack Thompson vs. SDP – I kinda dig Thompson, but the Padres destroy LHP.

Jesse Scholtens @ BAL – If he executes his gameplan, there is a path to survival in Walltimore.

Luis L. Ortiz? @ KCR – Even if he starts, how long will it be? Will he hint at the filth we saw last year? There could be an opener, granting the chance for a stolen Win.

Peter Lambert vs. ATL – In Coors. Against Atlanta. NOPE.

 

Featured Image by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram)