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 9am – 11am ET. If you have questions to 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.
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 pitcher or a weak lineup for a volatile arm.
Questionable Start – There are situations where I’d take the chance, either with strong enough upside on the ability side, or a poor offense that a pitcher could take advantage of.
Do Not Start – The reward is not worth the risk. Don’t do it.
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. The most common are those in Yellow in the third tier and should be decent if you’re searching for something on a given day. 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. Dave Swan does an incredible job of showcasing future SP matchups every 2-3 weeks in this article, and I’ve elected to use his offense ranks to share with all of you here:
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: 26-13
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Look at
Shane McClanahanand Sandy Alcantara each sitting at the top of the rankings today. Sigh. What studs they are. Update: Looks like McClanahan is going on Tuesday now with Corey Kluber stepping in on Monday against the Tigers. He’s in the Questionable Start tier as a decent option to start your week, despite the blowup last time out. - I’ve had Noah Syndergaard and Luis Severino inside the second tier a good amount this year, but with the Rangers and Orioles both poorly hitting baseballs, Thor and Sevy each jump up into the top tier. I remember when we debated over their ranking inside the Top 10 back in 2019. What times those were.
In the second tier, even after his nightmarish start against the Nationals last week, I’m likely starting Tylor(d) Megill in my leagues. He still sat 96 mph in that outing, you know.Update: Welp, Megill hit the IL with biceps tendonitis, making Trevor Williams today’s starter for the Mets. Don’t roll with him.- Ian Anderson was a tough call to make here and I elected to lean toward starting him than tossing a coin. Anderson hasn’t found his groove quite yet, but he’s still performing better than what we saw in early April, making his floor high enough for me to roll the dice.
- In the third tier, I’m really not digging the options for Monday. It means Alex Wood leads the tier despite a horrendous matchup in Coors. Let’s hope his new velocity is enough to make it worthwhile and earn a Win.
- With the slim pickings, it means Wade Miley is my streaming pick of the day. Miley is just one start removed from the IL and only tossed 64 pitches last time out. That said, it’s the Pirates and Miley could wiggle around them for a Win.
- Other options to consider are Zach Logue and Yusei Kikuchi. Logue dominated last time out with breakers and his heater, but I wonder if it was just a blip and the Twins will expose him on Monday.
- As for Kikuchi, he cruised through a pair of outings against the Yankees despite not sitting above 95 mph on his heater. The Mariners should make for an easier time, but does he still have the same magic with his new breaker? I’m not sure.
- I want to raise Kyle Bradish more after he fanned 11, but the Yankees are too tough to feel confident.
- I love that Jon Gray is starting despite his knee injury, though he may be limited while the Angels are as dangerous as they come.
- In the bottom tier, Garrett Whitlock had a catastrophic outing and now get the Astros. Not the best combination for your Monday.
- While he has been on a roll, I do not want to start Jake Odorizzi against a Red Sox lineup that has finally woken up. It was a fun little run while it lasted.
- Keep in mind, there’s a chance that Lucas Giolito returns from the COVID-IL to start today instead of Jimmy Lambert. Keep an eye on it.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Despite 34 starters going on Tuesday, we only have two in the top tier. Yeah, it’s that kind of day.
- Make sure you’re starting Shane McClanahan and Dylan Cease because duh, of course you are.
- I was tempted to put Mike Clevinger in the top tier, but the Phillies offense is red hot and Clevinger hasn’t had enough starts quite yet to start without fear.
- Jameson Taillon against the Orioles seems like the safest play of the tier as he’s been able to effectively feature his secondaries for strikes through the year, pitching for a winning ball club.
- Some are going to have fear starting José Berríos against the Mariners, but I believe in his skillset and long track record of volatility – he’s The Great Undulater and I’d keep starting him unless there are legitimate problems inside his arsenal.
- Two possible streaming candidates sit at the bottom of the tier: Josh Winder and Tyler Anderson. Both have cushy matchups and a repertoire that speaks to 5+ frames of beneficial fantasy production. Start em both.
- The third tier…oh boy this is a tier. If you have some disagreements about these ranks and order, by all
Johnsmeans, do what you want, as long y’all agree it’s the same “near coin-flip” mentality of success or failure. - Because it’s nigh impossible to accurately rank these 13 players, I decided to make a few groupings. First are the “rostered arms with terrible matchups” with Logan Gilbert, Alex Cobb, José Urquidy, and Merrill Kelly. If you want to bench them because of their opponent, go right ahead.
- Then it’s a whole lot of possible streaming options against middling squads. Reid Detmers is fresh off a no-hitter and gets the weak Rangers…but he’s still struggling to earn whiffs with his slider (he fanned just two in that start!) and we often see a no-hitter hangover as guys are pushed a bit harder to go all nine frames. Still, I don’t love the other options and Detmers is once again my streaming pick of the day.
- I almost stuck JT Brubaker above Detmers as he gets the Cubs. Coffee Cakes has a strong slider and could wield it effectively to produce in Wrigley.
- There’s hype around Spencer Strider, but how many innings are we going to get? Is he going to limit the walks? Will it be worth it against a Milwaukee offense that’s been heating up (albeit, now without Willy Adames)? Too many questions and concerns for me to confidently slot Strider into lineups.
- It looks like Zach Eflin could be returning from the COVID-IL to pitch against the Padres this week and given San Diego’s struggles at the plate lately, it could return dividends, even if Eflin is slightly rusty.
- The rest of the third tier is a mish-mash of Toby arms and sneaky plays against some poor squads. Connor Overton has been surprisingly decent lately and I see his start against the Guardians closer to a coin-flip than a start you need to avoid, for example.
- And with Zach Plesac finding his slider in his last start and now getting the Reds, he could finally start returning some value this year.
- In the bottom tier, I wonder if Ryan Pepiot can do better than 1/25 changeup whiffs as he gets another start for the Dodgers. It may have been simply jitters in his MLB debut and there is a shot for 5+ innings with a Win against the Sneks.
- Beau Brieske ain’t so bad at all and the Rays aren’t the most dangerous of foes. I wouldn’t do it, but hey, it could happen.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)