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: 27-17
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Only a lucky few have made it to the top tier for Monday’s games, with Gerrit Cole and Zack Wheeler leading the way. Are you hesitating to start them? Why?
- The Great Undulater José Berríos returned the favor for trusting managers last week and may be on the path to redemption against the Cardinals. Trust the history of Berríos and start him.
- The second tier is filled with some great matchups for solid arms. Luis Garcia hasn’t fallen into the rhythm we want him to land into, but the Guardians don’t pose a major threat.
Mike Clevinger was pushed to Monday with Gore going on Sunday, allowing him to get an easier matchup against the Brewers. He should be safe.Update: Clevinger went on the IL, allowing Nick Martinez to slide back into the rotation…for now. It could just be a spot start, it could be a return to a six man rotation. I’d be cautious letting him fly given he hasn’t started for a hot moment + we don’t know how long he’ll go (just four innings thrown last week).
- It’s wonderful to see Marco Gonzales on one of his patented Vargas Rule stretches and a date against the Athletics shouldn’t interrupt his trajectory.
- I know some are frustrated with Alex Cobb, but the skills are very much intact while his last outing was inside Coors. Now he hosts the Mets, which isn’t the easiest of dates, but should help rosters.
- There are two solid streaming options in the second tier with very similar skill sets as they square off in Pittsburgh. I’m favoring Chad Kuhl and his slider over JT Brubaker’s but it’s anyone’s guess who will have the better line here. Both should rack up the strikeouts without much damage to the ratios.
- Tyler Anderson is a Toby facing a mediocre offense. Let him fly against the Nationals, but don’t expect too much from him. He’s just a Toby, y’all.
- The same applies to Zack Greinke as he faces his former Diamondbacks squad. The strikeouts won’t be much, but he should help in ERA and WHIP.
- I had some trouble placing Triston McKenzie and Miles Mikolas given their tough matchups. McKenzie feels a little safer to provide some value given his strikeout upside, while Mikolas could find a way to survive despite the mighty Jays bats. Up to you if you want to risk them or not.
- In the bottom tier, I can’t convince myself to trust Adrian Houser despite facing a Padres team that struggles against right-handers. Houser did fail to overcome the Reds on back-to-back starts, after all.
- There’s been a touch of intrigue surrounding Zach Logue lately, but he only went 4.1 frames in his last outing against the Twins and you’d be wise to be wary of the Mariners offense.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- We feel like a cheater’s dream with a ton of aces in the top tier on Tuesday. Hopefully Zac Gallen can gain the label this week with his changeup and/or slider stepping up to give us the confidence of a full season’s success, batting down the those who preach of his FIP and SIERA suggesting regression.
- At the end of the tier are Dylan Cease and Logan Webb, who each have a difficult matchup ahead of them. Cease has been on a roll this season, though, he’s prone to a blowup, especially against the red-hot Sawx. As for Webb, he hasn’t been the overwhelming starter we wanted him to be, but his slider returned last start and should be a solid play against New York.
- In the second tier, Framber Valdez and Marcus Stroman have strong cases to ascend to the top tier given their matchups against the Guardians and Reds. I’m a little concerned about their WHIP despite it, but that doesn’t make them guys to bench. Feel good about it.
- After a disappointing outing against the Red Sox where he allowed a pair of longballs to Trevor Story, I wouldn’t have any concern throwing George Kirby out there against the Athletics. His fastball is too good.
- I feel like if you have Tyler Mahle, you start him against the Cubs, even if it’s at home. This stigma of pitching in Cincy can’t last forever…right?
- It was a rough outing against the Rangers last week, though you can’t judge Noah Syndergaard too harshly for it. Things didn’t go his way for one inning, that’s all there is to it. I don’t anticipate him soaring into the top tier any time soon, but he’s still worth the start.
- It’s the second start for Blake Snell off the IL and here’s to hoping his fastball strike rate glides past the 60% mark against the Brewers. I think he has it in him.
- Can Sonny Gray find his breakers? He’ll get a cushy matchup against the Tigers to do so and I’d take the chance.
- In the third tier, I’m leading with Kyle Freeland as my streaming pick of the day. He’s outside of Coors facing a poor Pittsburgh offense after fanning eight in his last start. Seems like the time to stream Freeland.
- You may want to start Roansy Contreras in his 2022 debut instead and I don’t have an issue with that. Personally, I don’t start like starting pitchers in their debuts (this isn’t that, but may as well be) & Contreras has been a bit wild in the minors this season. That said, it is Rockie Road and Contreras has some legit stuff. It’ll be fun to watch either way.
- After a phenomenal outing against the Astros, are you trusting Nick Pivetta to dominate with heaters against the White Sox? I see it as a coin flip as Chicago has struggled against right-handers this season, but Pivetta has a history of volatility…even if he’s allowed just 2 ER across his last three starts.
- Both Kyle Gibson and James Kaprielian are Tobys who could come out on top on Tuesday. I wouldn’t be targeting them personally – there’s too low of a floor – but I can see both of these outings working.
- And hey, maybe Dane Dunning has his command against the strong Angels lineup, especially if they are still missing Taylor Ward. I’m a little nervous he’s too command-heavy and can sink your teams early in the week.
- In the bottom tier, I can see a world where Jonathan Heasley performs well against a poor Diamondbacks offense. Good luck figuring out if this is that world.
- If you’re looking for dangerous upside, Josiah Gray earned a ton of whiffs last time out with his slider (15/45!) and after the Dodgers just struggled with Zach Eflin’s curveball, they could slip against the Dodgers.
- Maybe Jordan Hicks has another gear left in him, but it’s been underwhelming to say the least thus far and the Jays are as dangerous as they come. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)