Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings – 10/2 & 10/3

Every day of the 2022 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 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 (Updated 9/10):

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 in the second tier and I’d roll with them everywhere. Those in Yellow 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:

I’m sure it’ll change through the year + there are differences to be made about teams vs. LHP or RHP, but it’s a great general table that y’all should keep in mind.

Alright, let’s get to it.

 

2022 Streamer Record: 99-71

 

Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• This may be your final day of the fantasy season and you’ll have plenty of aces helping you reach the finish line. The final four of this tier may give you pause, though. Chris Bassitt and Charlie Morton square off and I had a difficult time deciding between the two of them. Meanwhile, Adam Wainwright has looked fatigued down the stretch (but it’s the Pirates), and Pablo López has been dancing between effective and harmful over the last month and change.

 

• The second tier is small and carries both Marcus Stroman and Luis Garcia. Stroman took care of business in his last start and should be good to go against a poor Reds offense, while Garcia found his cutter and axed the curve last time to plenty of success.
• We also have our streaming pick of the day here with Roansy Contreras facing the Cardinals. Even against a tougher offense, I’m trusting Contreras’ strikeout potential and don’t anticipate another ridiculous day of luck like his 6 ER clunker (that came with 10 Ks!).

 

• The third tier gets a bit dicey quickly. Michael Wacha had his changeup but not his fastball & cutter command in his previous outing and will get punished by the Jays if he’s questionable again.
• Adrian Houser and Zach Davies are interesting 5+ inning options as they face poor lineups. Houser can use his sinker to generate outs, while Davies’ changeup has shown life in the second half.

 

• The Twins look to be pushing Bailey Ober to Monday (nooooo!) in order to let Simeon Woods Richardson make his MLB debut (yay!) against the Tigers. If you’re looking for something exciting to push you over the edge, consider this one as Richardson has dominated the minors and what’s the real difference between that and the Detroit lineup? I’m so sorry.

 

• The rest of the Questionable Start is awfully…questionable. Kyle Bradish’s fastball usage went back up last time as the secondaries faltered and disaster struck. Corey Kluber gets the Astros and I wouldn’t trust him to be at the top of his game.
• And James Kaprielian was able to go seven strong against the Mariners last time he faced them, but that was a clear peak and not something expected to be repeated.

 

• If you’re in dire need in the final tier, consider Chase Anderson against the Cubs. He looked solid through four in his last start before rain got in the way and the Cubs can make rare events happen.

 

• Updates: The Brewers are doing weird things and starting Freddy Peralta despite tossing on Thursday evening. Don’t expect him to last very long.
• The Yankees have pushed back Luis Severino to Monday with Chi Chi González getting the start (I forgot he was a Yankee, too). Don’t start him.

 

• The Giants have shut down Logan Webb for the season, turning Sunday into a bullpen game. A 2.90 ERA across 192.1 IP ain’t so bad.

 

Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• Can we take a moment to sympathize with Phillies fans as they fight for the final Wild Card spot and now have three games against the Astros?! Poor Aaron Nola makes his final start in Houston and I’m still very much starting him there. So should you.
• Make sure you have Luis Severino in your lineup after the Yankees pushed him a day from Sunday.

 

• I lowered the ranking of Patrick Sandoval from last week after he wasn’t his best self. I still think you should be starting him without fear, but he’s not as exciting as the others.
• There’s a small temptation to push our streaming pick of the day Bryce Elder into the top tier against the Marlins, but it’s wise to have some caution with inexperienced rookies.

 

• Speaking of the second tier, Jesús Luzardo still sits in the second spot, even with a start against Atlanta. His curve and heater were great last outing and I think he’s well worth the green light.
• Bailey Ober featured twelve slider whiffs last start and while he’s not getting the Tigers, the White Sox aren’t a massive threat to see if he can repeat it.

 

• It’s unclear how long the Rays will let Tyler Glasnow pitch after tossing 50 pitches in his return from TJS. He looked like his classic self, though, making this a matter of volume than the opponent.
• I don’t know if Hayden Wesneski is pitching on Monday or Thursday (Wade Miley pitched two innings in relief in just 12 pitches over the weekend), though he’s a probable start on either day against the Reds. I dig his curve plenty.

 

• In the third tier, Tony Gonsolin is set to return from the IL and I imagine he’ll be limited…but it is Rockie Road. Feel free to play him, I’m going to adhere to Still ILL rules.
• The rest of the tier is heavily questionable. Mitch Keller is on a bit of a hot streak but gets the tougher Cardinal offense, Rich Hill is a Cherry Bomb and don’t let his last start against the Orioles seduce you too heavily, Dean Kremer has been productive, but the Jays are scary, and Martín Pérez isn’t as sharp as his June self.

 

• In the bottom tier, there’s little to go after. Adrian Martinez has a long enough leash if you’re chasing six frames – you could say the same about José Ureña too, I guess – and maybe Tommy Henry squeezes out production against the Brewers.

 

Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)