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: 21-20
My Pick yesterday: Win – Jameson Taillon vs. CIN (ND): 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 5 K
My Pick today: Colin Rea vs. CIN
My Pick tomorrow: Cade Povich @ MIA
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: 24-17
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Win – Jameson Taillon vs. CIN (ND): 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 5 K
Wednesday 5/6 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Paul Skenes @ ARI – Aces gonna ace.
Tyler Glasnow @ HOU – Aces gonna ace.
Cole Ragans vs. CLE – Aces gonna ace and stop y’all from worrying about his ratios. HRs are the issue and they’ll stop.
Bryan Woo vs. ATL – DITTO. Seriously Ditto.
Zack Wheeler vs. ATH – Wheeler’s velocity isn’t what we want it to be, and I’m hoping he gears it up.
Probably Starts
Will Warren vs. TEX – Warren has been as solid as any arm out there as of late.
Shane McClanahan vs. TOR – The changeup feel hath returned.
Eury Pérez vs. BAL – He’s home and that’s been a huge factor thus far. I wonder if it’ll stick. More importantly, can he command his arsenal properly?
Nathan Eovaldi @ NYY – He just took them down, why not go all Khaled for Another One?
Michael Soroka vs. PIT – I know he just allowed 8 ER. Outliers happen.
Freddy Peralta @ COL – It’s Coors, yes, but it was also the park of his MLB debut where it didn’t matter. That was years ago, obviously, and yet, it represented Peralta’s nature of his opponents mattering less than executing his stuff. Update: Postponed. Womp womp.
Noah Schultz @ LAA – Schlutz has proven himself steady thus far, and we’re keeping that thought until something gives.
Colin Rea vs. CIN – It’s the Reds Carpet, making for a lovely streaming opportunity for Rea after he did a wonderful job against the Sneks.
Joey Cantillo @ KCR – I’m generally hesitant leaning on Cantillo, but the Royals aren’t scary and the strikeout upside is still there.
Questionable Starts
Sonny Gray @ DET – He’s back and it’s a Still ILL. I’m not sure how many pitches he ultimately throws here.
Brandon Sproat @ STL – Sproat. You’re so dang close. This is a great matchup. You. Got. This.
Walbert Ureña vs. CHW – It’s the CrySox and the dude throws hard. Then again, Soriano does too and you saw how that went.
Do Not Starts
Bailey Ober @ WSH – I know he’s on a roll, but he’s at 88 mph on the heater, y’all.
Patrick Corbin @ TBR – Corbin has been shockingly decent and it’s the Rays.
Brandon Young @ MIA – Last week was terrible against the Astros. Fortunately, the Marlins are an easier mark.
Martín Pérez @ SEA – Pérez has had some surprisingly excellent starts this year and it’s @TEA. There’s a chance.
Andre Pallante vs. MIL – I like the attack for RHB with sinkers in and sliders away, but the four-seamer is still heavily questionable against LHB. I need to see more first.
Jack Flaherty vs. BOS – Flaherty has done very little to prove himself worthy of a roster spot on your fantasy teams.
Jeffrey Springs @ PHI – It hasn’t been Sunshine and Rainbows for a while and it will continue to be that way until the four-seamer returns to form.
Brady Singer @ CHC – Singer has been awfully disappointing and I don’t want to go up against the Cubs offense.
Adrian Houser vs. SDP – Houser has a chance, and also hasn’t shown us a reason to trust that this is the good one.
Lance McCullers vs. LAD – It’s McCullers, who could actually pull this off if he’s at his peak. Highly unlikely.
Matt Waldron @ SFG – Don’t Trust A Knuckleballer.
.Michael Lorenzen vs. NYM – Strong Bad is back in Coors. THE WEATHER CAN’T STOP ME. No thanks.
Miles Mikolas vs. MIN – You’re still here? No not, Mikolas, you, staring at your screen.
Thursday 5/7 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Shota Imanaga vs. CIN – IM AN AGA.
Probably Starts
Michael King vs. STL – Alright King, get that command cooking.
Ryan Weathers vs. TEX – Weathers seems to be finding his groove and it’s hard to say no here.
Max Meyer vs. BAL – Meyer just flexed a far better four-seamer and if that holds, we’re cooking.
Connelly Early vs. TBR – I don’t think we’ve seen Early’s final form yet and last week’s improved changeup was thrwarted by tipping caught by the Astros. I’m still in here.
Seth Lugo vs. CLE – I’m worried about Lugo’s curveball losing over two ticks of velocity. Gotta roll it with across his hot season, though.
Questionable Starts
Zac Gallen vs. PIT – It’s a great matchup and I just wish Gallen was in a great place to give us the confidence to start him.
Cade Povich @ MIA – I dig what Povich does when he isn’t throwing meh fastballs over the heart of the plate. He’ll get a mediocre Marlins lineup and has the opportunity to go six.
Mitch Keller @ ARI – It’s Keller against a mid-squad. You know the drill.
MacKenzie Gore @ NYY – Gore has been struggling as of late + the Yankees. I’m benching where I can, but the ceiling is still super high.
Do Not Starts
Jake Irvin vs. MIN – There have been a few good moments, but that’s about it.
Christian Scott @ COL – I don’t want to start pitchers in Coors these days. I’m interested after this start, though.
Matthew Liberatore @ SDP – Libby is free, sure, but just because you can read a book doesn’t mean you should spend your time doing so.
Slade Cecconi @ KCR – He’s not providing enough value to trust.
J.T. Ginn @ PHI – Ginn has some potential and I want to see him demand that we focus on him before slotting him into lineups.
Andrew Painter vs. ATH – We haven’t seen progression from Painter, why would it start here?
Jesse Scholtens @ BOS – This may actually be Griffin Jax opening and Scholtens following – Jax isn’t worth the time as he’s around 45 pitches at the moment, while Scholtens would be in position for a dub, but it’s Fenway and he’s pretty meh.
Rhett Lowder @ CHC – Lowder just allowed 8 ER, but he didn’t allow 8 ER every time beforehand, you know. There’s a chance.
Simeon Woods Richardson @ WSH – I have yet to see anything to latch onto.
Jose Quintana vs. NYM – It’s Coors, sorry Quintana.
Friday 5/8 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)
