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: 35-22
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- It’s a small slate of games on Monday, making Robbie Ray the sole member of the top tier, and even that is slightly debatable. I understand Ray has run into the poor inning constantly as of late and now with the Astros ahead, some managers aren’t feeling great about it. I say throw away those fears, Ray is pitching to the level we want and you best be running him out there. His reward is worth the risk.
- The second tier is the largest as we have some solid plays for the day. Carlos Carrasco hasn’t been the sturdiest as of late, but the Padres are rough against right-handers, making this a simple start for Carrasco.
- Blake Snell is on the other side of it and while I haven’t seen the Snell we’re hoping for yet this year, I see it as an inevitability at this point. The Mets are no pushovers, but Snell is still worth it.
- I wish Cristian Javier was able to land breakers for strikes and keep his four-seamer at the top of the zone last start, but alas, here we are feeling a bit uneasy about this start against the Mariners. Don’t worry about it, that was a bad day and Javier should be able to bounce back.
- You have to love Jon Gray sitting 96 mph in his last start, propelling him to a double-digit strikeout game. Here’s to hoping the velocity is still there as he gets a delicious matchup against the Guardians.
- On the other side of Gray is the Toby of all Tobys, Cal Quantrill, who finds a way to go six frames with 3 ER or fewer nearly every outing. I don’t see why this game against the Rangers would be any different.
- I’m calling him a Cherry Bomb these days and a start against the Diamondback is likely to return more sweet than sour for Hunter Greene.
- In the third tier, it’s hard to figure out what to do with Noah Syndergaard. Two of his last three starts have been flat-out disasters and the Red Sox are no joke. It’s okay to bench him if you don’t want to take the chance to kick off your week.
- I can see Madison Bumgarner pulling off a solid outing against the lowly Reds, though the man is a Toby and still carries a fragile floor across the board.
- In the bottom tier, I’m forced to select Ross Stripling as my streaming pick of the day. I don’t know how long the Jays will let Stripling go for, nor do I feel confident that his stuff will be at a level to make this worthwhile against the Royals. Still, I have to pick someone each day and I like Strip more than the other two.
- Those other two are Michael Wacha and Daniel Lynch, each with tough opponents ahead of them. I don’t trust Wacha’s arsenal and I don’t trust Lynch’s command. Sit these out.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Not only do we have a handful of aces for Tuesday, but all have solid matchups and I don’t think there’s much contention here. Should make for a fun Tuesday of baseball.
- Fine, Yu Darvish is fresh off a frustrating outing against the Cardinals and now has to endure the Mets at home. Start the man each outing – he’s who he is regardless of the opponent.
- In the second tier, Jameson Taillon has been cruising lately and even against the strong Twins offense, you should stick him in your lineups. It’s too wonderful of a groove.
- I’m a little hesitant about both Edward Cabrera and Jeffrey Springs for Tuesday, but if you have them, you’re starting them. Cabrera had a marvelous changeup is his season debut, but will it stick? And Springs faces the red hot Cardinals offense as they have destroyed southpaws. It could be disappointing for both.
- In the third tier, keep in mind that these options are all legitimately Questionable. It means someone like Konnor Pilkington, who I’m not the largest fan of, becomes the top play of the tier and our streaming pick of the day. He’s fresh off an eight strikeout performance and with a great two-start week ahead, he could begin on a right note against the Rangers.
- I kinda dig Graham Ashcraft with his 97+ mph cutters and sinkers, though I don’t know if his slider will be able to find the zone for the second straight start. It makes for a wide range of outcomes, even if he’s facing the Sneks.
- The other options are all…suspect. Garrett Whitlock fanned zero batters in his last start, Taijuan Walker is simply not the dependable arm you want him to be, Michael Kopech didn’t have his velocity and gets the Dodgers, Bailey Ober faces the Yanks without momentum on his side, and Dakota Hudson…well you know he’s a toss up each start.
- I was tempted to put Kyle Bradish, José Quintana, and even Mitch White into the bottom of the Questionable start as well. Bradish and Quintana each face weak lineups (Quintana’s pitch separation is cool!) and White has some filthy breakers, but all of their floors are too low to chance the unlikely outcome of excellence.
- The rest of the bottom tier isn’t pretty. You have Chris Flexen and Cole Irvin as a pair of Tobys who face strong offenses in the Astros and Atlanta. Not something I’d consider for my rosters.
- And even names you know like Reid Detmers and Ranger Suárez aren’t guys I’d be trusting at the moment. Look elsewhere for your starts this week.
- Some are enamored with Keegan Thompson and want to start him against the Orioles. Go for it if you feel strongly about me, what do I know, I personally don’t think he does a whole lot and would limp into a productive start if it works out.
- And finally, maybe some are intrigued with a Joan Adon outing against the Marlins. Personally, his ceiling simply isn’t enough, even against the mediocre Miami crew.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)