Rankings of the SP Streamers for today’s, tomorrow’s, and the day after tomorrow’s games for fantasy baseball.
Every day of the 2026 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 twitch.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 Twitch 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! If you have questions about these offense rankings, reach out to Kyle Bland (@blandalytics).
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 Twitch 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 2026 Streamer Record: 34-29
My Pick yesterday: Loss – Connor Prielipp @ CHW (L): 4.1 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 5 K
My Pick today: Colin Rea @ PIT
My Pick tomorrow: Framber Valdez @ CHW
PL Pro Members have access to my 14-Day Sit/Start SP Grid, which ranks all expected starters into four tiers over the next 14 days. Here is an example from last season.
PL Bot’s 2026 Streamer Record: 33-30
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Loss – Connor Prielipp @ CHW (L): 4.1 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 5 K
Thursday 5/28 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Paul Skenes vs. CHC – Aces gonna ace.
Chris Sale @ BOS – Aces gonna ace.
Nathan Eovaldi vs. HOU – I wonder if Eovaldi will force another AGA tag this year.
Probably Starts
Davis Martin vs. MIN – The Vargas Rule is all about avoiding the heart of the plate and Martin failed to do that last time out, with a big inning messing him up. He deserves a mulligan after nearly two months of excellence, no?
Taj Bradley @ CHW – His return from the IL was incredibly impressive, making me more convinced than ever that his refined strike-throwing ability is here to stay.
Spencer Arrighetti @ TEX – The Pasta Pirate is really close to being the captain of the Astros rotation and Arlington is a wonderful place to plunder strikeouts. I hope he isn’t super erratic.
Payton Tolle vs. ATL – Tolle’s four-seamer is elite and I’d have a little more comfort if his secondaries were reliable companions he could trust with batters sitting heater so often. Hotlanta has me scared and this will be a proper test.
Questionable Starts
Colin Rea @ PIT – Rea has been a consistent streaming option against mid teams and the Pirates are…mid. I think.
Do Not Starts
Jack Flaherty vs. LAA – Flaherty is a dire strikeout play. Terrible floor, sadly.
Grayson Rodriguez @ DET – Rodriguez’s stuff is not what it used to be.
Chris Bassitt vs. TOR – He has a long leash, but you may not want him to keep going.
Patrick Corbin @ BAL – Corbin can shock with surprise value here and there, but the ceiling is too low to justify the floor.
Friday 5/29 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Max Meyer @ NYM – It’s shocking to see Meyer as the SP #1 among these names, and yet, it’s the Mets and he’s pitching at the top of his game.
Zack Wheeler @ LAD – Aces gonna ace. Even against the Dodgers. Please get back to 96 mph.
George Kirby vs. ARI – The Sneks aren’t scary and Kirby, despite missing the ideal approach, is still a solid Holly.
Freddy Peralta vs. MIA – Peralta isn’t the stud of old, but it’s the Marlins.
Shota Imanaga @ STL – He’s run into HR issues and a date in St. Louis while holding 92 mph should make things far better. He still earned a fantastic CSW and a ton of whiffs last time out, you know.
Probably Starts
Carlos Rodón @ ATH – Rodón took a step forward last time out, but he’s wasting more fastballs than I’d like + it’s Sacré Verde + I need to see it again.
Nick Martinez vs. LAA – The WHIP hurt, but he kept his ERA down against the Yankees. This Vargas Rule barrels forward.
MacKenzie Gore vs. KCR – We finally got a strong performance from Gore and a matchup with the Royals in Arlington gives him a lovely stage to replicate.
Framber Valdez @ CHW – The White Sox are kinda scary right now – they just destroy Prielipp, after all – and there’s more risk here than I’d like. There’s a case for the Questionable tier if you don’t believe in Valdez’s career of rebounding after tough stretches.
Questionable Start
Walbert Ureña @ TEX – The changeup has been stellar and it’s a great park. The control is suspect and it makes for a lower ceiling than you want for his WHIP floor.
Zac Gallen @ SEA – It’s a great park to pitch, and I hope Gallen can nail the secondaries down with a well-spotted heater.
Justin Wrobleski vs. PHI – We saw an uptick in velocity last time out with a slight increase in changeups. We’ll likely get more 93/94 mph heaters with sliders, though. It’s worked out far more than expected thus far, maybe it will again?
Stephen Kolek @ TEX – It looks great on paper after a CGSHO, though I worry about the lingering effect on pitchers after they throw their longest starts of the year – Kolek had been below 90 pitches prior to his 100+ pitch effort to go the distance.
Coleman Crow @ HOU – He’s an elite spin arm at 91 mph. It’s really hard to be consistently effective at 91 mph these days.
Jared Jones vs. MIN – He’s BACK. And it’s a Still ILL where he’ll likely be on a pitch count of some kind + adrenaline may make him more inefficient.
Do Not Start
Brayan Bello @ CLE – If he has an opener, it may work out (it’s worked thus far, after all). It’s incredibly risky, otherwise.
Logan Webb @ COL – It’s a Still ILL in Coors. Sorry Webb, if I knew you were back to normal, I’d let it fly.
Kai-Wei Teng vs. MIL – That’s two straight strong outings from Teng, but his control cannot be trusted. He’s a strikeout play at the cost of a high WHIP and potential ERA disaster.
Slade Cecconi vs. BOS – He has a long leash and the Sawx are horrible against RHP. The skills are…blegh.
Trevor Rogers vs. TOR – I’ve been a vocal supporter of Rogers throughout his struggles based on his sutff and command looking far better than the box scores…until last time out. That was terrible.
Andrew Alvarez vs. SDP – The Friars struggle against LHP and there are some fun breakers here. There’s a lack of track record, though, and I’d wait and see.
Kyle Leahy vs. CHC – There are signs of Leahy taking a step forward, but I’d still avoid the Cubs, even with their current losing streak.
Lucas Giolito @ WSH – He’s at 90 mph. I cannot endorse Giolito at 90 mph.
Bailey Ober @ PIT – He was around 87 mph last time out. Don’t expect another nine frames any time soon. Or ever.
Grant Holmes @ CIN – He’s a dire strikeout play with a heavy risk of a harmful ERA in Great American Small Park.
Luis Severino vs. NYY – Sevy at home and against the Yankees is not what you want. But it’s a Revenge Game! Naaaaah.
Austin Voth @ BAL – WHOA. He was in the NBP in 2025 where he fanned 92 batters in…125 innings. Nope.
Chris Paddack vs. ATL – He’s sub 93 mph against Hotlanata in Cincy. Oh dear.
Michael Lorenzen vs. SFG – Coors for Lorenzen = A bad time.
Erick Fedde vs. DET – Don’t trust him.
Saturday 5/30 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
PL Pro members get an extra day of full SP Streaming rankings for the day after tomorrow.
PL Pro Members have access to my 14-Day Sit/Start SP Grid, which ranks all expected starters into four tiers over the next 14 days. Here is an example from last season.
Photos Courtesy of IconSportswire | Adapted by Aaron Asbury (@aarongifs on Instagram)
