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). UPDATE: We’ve added distinctions for Home/Away park factors and projected strength vL and vR handed pitchers:
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: 99-70
My Pick yesterday: Win – Quinn Mathews vs. SFG (W): 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BB, 8 K
My Pick today: Martín Pérez @ CHC
My Pick tomorrow: Cristian Javier vs. KCR
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: 85-84
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Win – Quinn Mathews vs. SFG (W): 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BB, 8 K
Tuesday 9/15 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Jacob Misiorowski @ PIT – Aces gonna ace.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto @ CIN – Aces gonna ace.
UPDATED: Jacob deGrom vs. BOS – Aces gonna ace.
Logan Gilbert @ LAA – Aces gonna ace.
Cristopher Sánchez @ WSH – Please stop allowing hits. We all want you to be dope.
Max Fried @ MIN – The volume should be there.
Hunter Brown vs. KCR – Brown had more success with his heater last start and I want to believe.
Probably Starts
Michael Wacha @ HOU – He’s gonna win the Spider-Man, y’all. I think. He, Erod, Martín, and Nick Mart are all in contention.
Griffin Jax vs. ATH – The stuff is there and he’ll have a longer leash.
Foster Griffin vs. CHW – The last outing likely terrified you. Don’t be afraid, it was one horrific inning after two stellar ones.
Questionable Starts
Kevin Gausman vs. ATL – He’s a HIPSTER even if I still think he’s worth the start.
Andre Pallante vs. SFG – It’s the Giants in Busch Stadium. This could be just fine.
Shane Baz @ NYM – Baz’s curveball is still solid, I wonder if he’ll have enough pieces to pull through without a high WHIP.
Martín Pérez @ CHC – It’s the Cubs, but a low ERA and cheap Win could still be in the cards.
Ryan Johnson vs. SEA – Johnson has been throwing harder for a little while and has been hard to hit. Let’s hope it’s at least five frames.
Michael Soroka vs. MIA – It looks as though him and Gallen are swapping roles (will Gallen follow?). I’m not ready to endorse Soroka until he showcases his former command.
Do Not Starts
Cody Bradford vs. BOS – The required precision hasn’t been there much at all since his Still ILL.
Drew Anderson @ TOR – Anderson is…meh. It’s more of a 15-teamer play.
Janson Junk @ ARI – Junk doesn’t go long enough and has had terrible results despite every model loving him. Something else is messing him up.
Sean Manaea vs. BAL – Manaea hasn’t made it work for a while.
Davis Martin (Opener) @ CLE – At least he has a long leash? We’re so far removed from his hot stretch.
Jackson Kent vs. PHI – I can see Kent performing well in 2027, but it’s difficult to put faith in a full outing of execution when he hasn’t done it yet.
Jack Perkins @ TBR – At least it’s in the Trop. The ceiling isn’t high enough. Are you talking about the Trop or Perkins? Yes. …got it.
Bailey Ober vs. NYY – 87 mph.
Blade Tidwell @ STL – The arsenal lacks the punch we need to bank on Tidwell taking advantage of a good matchup
Patrick Sandoval @ TEX – Sure, it could be a strikeout an inning, but at what cost?! Yeah, four in 3.2 IP. The Irish Panda doesn’t deserve strays like that. But yes, maybe.
Walker Buehler @ COL – The “hot” stretch is just ERA-focused, and it’s Coors.
Spencer Miles (Opener) vs. DET – How long will he go? Who follows? Does it matter?
Rhett Lowder vs. LAD – Lowder is a rare stream and this is not the exception.
Kyle Freeland vs. SDP – It’s Freeland. In Coors.
Antowne Kelly (Opener) vs. MIL – It looks like it’s Kelly acting as the follower, but who really knows how long he’ll go.
Wednesday 9/16 Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings
Auto-Starts
Blake Snell @ CIN – Aces gonna ace.
Logan Henderson @ PIT – Aces gonna ace.
Zack Wheeler @ WSH – He’s back…right?
Cade Cavalli vs. PHI – Aces gonna ace. I’m pretty sure.
Parker Messick vs. CHW – He’s the Holly of the year.
Carlos Rodón @ MIN – Rodón isn’t fully back, but far enough that you’re not benching him.
Probably Starts
Jared Jones vs. MIL – Jones is cooking after two strong outings. I sure hope the slider is still killing it.
Nick Martinez vs. ATH – The 15-teamer Spider-Man of the year.
Shota Imanaga vs. ATL – If you’re scared about the HRs, I understand. Personally, I think he still gets enough whiffs to make it worthwhile.
Questionable Starts
Cristian Javier vs. KCR – Javier is starting to click into place, but I’m not going to act like he has a high chance of six frames of production.
George Kirby @ LAA – Alright Kirby. We’ve been through a lot, me and you and everyone. It’s the Angels! You can nail down your sweeper away, right?
Yusei Kikuchi vs. SEA – Kikuchi was close to making it to five frames last time out, but it wasn’t quite there. Here’s to hoping it is here.
Robbie Ray @ COL – It’s Coors, even if Ray has performed better lately. He’s still not fixed.
MacKenzie Gore vs. BOS – He’s going Wednesday instead of Thursday now and he’s a proper HIPSTER.
Merrill Kelly vs. MIA – Kelly’s changeup is good enough that this could be 5/6 innings of decency.
Jake Bennett @ TEX – Bennett had better command last time out, though he may be hitting a wall this deep into the season.
Matthew Liberatore vs. SFG – Libby has increased his strikeouts with more sliders to RHB…until last start. I have to imagine it’ll be better here, but the ratio risk is very present.
Do Not Starts
Keider Montero @ TOR – Montero betrayed his label with a horrific WHIP last outing. It was his main reason to stream him and now even that’s in question.
Chris Bassitt @ NYM – He has the leash and that counts for something.
Max Scherzer vs. DET – We saw that one great outing from Scherzer. Don’t expect it again.
Zebby Matthews vs. NYY – It’s the Yankees + Zebby is not the guy we saw for two starts.
Anthony Molina @ STL – Unfortunately, Molina couldn’t keep the momentum going last time out. There’s still a chance he does well with his four-seamer around the zone + secondaries down.
Erick Fedde @ CLE – Fedde will likely be opened for and maybe that gets him a Win. He’ll have to pitch up to snuff, of course.
Robert Stock vs. BAL – The hope is five innings of decency with a lava floor.
Andrew Abbott vs. LAD – It’s the Dodgers + Abbott being Abbott.
Ryan Gusto @ ARI – This has so rarely worked.
JR Ritchie @ CHC – Ritchie is back and I have no interest in pursuing this.
Daniel Lynch IV @ HOU – He had a decent start for the first time in his last outing. Yay. I don’t trust this at all.
Brady Basso @ TBR – How long is he even going?
Mason Adams vs. SDP – Absolutely not.
Thursday 9/17 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)
