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 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.
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:
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: 69-52
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- The top tier is a bit stranger than usual. We have guys like Tyler Anderson and Lance Lynn above the likes of Shane Bieber and Chris Bassitt, but the former matchups are tougher while Lynn gets the Tigers and Anderson has been a stud.
Spencer Strider, Cristian Javier, and Blake Snell are all high upside/more risk arms, but they all face poor offenses and are obvious plays for Sunday.
- Update: Atlanta is starting Bryce Elder instead of Spencer Strider today. There’s an outside chance Elder has his best start of the year against Miami after a wonderful Triple-A start two weeks ago, but it’s a very slim chance.
- The second tier begins with Alex Wood as he faces one of the weakest offenses out there with his 92+ mph heater and solid slider. Let him fly.
- I know Miles Mikolas just had his nightmare start, but he won’t allow near 14 hits against the Brewers. I’m starting him wherever.
- In the battle of Logan Gilbert vs. Martín Pérez, you could go either way. I’ll lean on Gilbert’s ceiling a bit more than Pérez needing to rebound from a tough day against the Astros.
- The third tier begins with Aaron Ashby, a Cherry Bomb against the Cardinals. We’ve seen what he can do, it’s a matter of having good enough command on a given day.
- The legend of Cole Irvin has grown massively over the last month, can he pull off another successful game against the Astros? It’s hard to believe but he’s done it before.
- The final three are all highly contentious but are decent chases on a desperate Sunday. Drew Rasmussen has been able to pull magic against anyone, Jordan Lyles has kept the ERA down since July 1st (streaming pick of the day against a mediocre Rays offense!), and Keegan Thompson has flashes of brilliance.
- In the bottom tier, I’m not confident in Jameson Taillon surviving against Boston. He can, but is the juice worth the squeeze?
- Brady Singer can do wonders for a fantasy team, but a date with the Dodgers seems like too much of a challenge.
- The bottom half of the final tier is nothing to look at, leaving just three more names as capable dart throws on Sunday. Braxton Garrett didn’t have his slider against a formidable opponent last time out (the Phils), but maybe it’s back against Atlanta.
- Chris Archer could give you five strong innings against the Angels, and Justin Dunn may have enough to survive against the Cubs in his second 2022 start.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- It may come as a shock to see Sandy Alcantara as the #5 play for Monday, but the four above him have far better matchups + Sandy isn’t quite at his prime at the moment. Ah, the luxuries of the top tier.
- Congrats to Julio Urías earning his AGA label recently, he sits firmly at #6 as I hope he’s tossing 94+ mph heaters again.
- The second tier begins with Spencer Strider, who should finally start after being expected to for three straight days now. He tossed just eight outs last week when he faced the Mets, but the ceiling is far too high to deny him the start again. Hopefully he’ll command his heaters better to not allow so many deep counts.
- I’m digging Alex Cobb’s splitter at the moment, pushing him up the ranks with his start against the Diamondbacks, right behind Strider.
- The likes of Carlos Carrasco, Marcus Stroman, and José Urquidy have been sturdy enough that you’re going to let them fly against middling matchups (Atlanta and Chicago are worse against right-handers).
- Joe Ryan and Aaron Civale have been blessed with cushy AL Central matchups and even if both of them have work to do inside their arsenals – Ryan with his slider, Civale with finding a curve + cutter groove – they deserve a lock in your lineups.
- The third tier begins with Josiah Gray’s ceiling against the Cubs and Noah Syndergaard’s Toby skills in a slightly uncomfortable date in Cincy. I think I’m fine with both, but there is a floor we don’t want to speak of.
- James Kaprielian is my streaming pick of the day once again, though I’m not thrilled about it. He has a weird history with the Rangers and he was rather unimpressive against the Angels last time out. His opponent is also of consideration – Glenn Otto who was able to survive against the Astros last time out – but he also has his own warts. These are coin flips.
- I’m not sure if I want to start Freddy Peralta against the Dodgers as he still figures out his command and is on a slightly limited pitch count. The ceiling is obvious, but the Dodgers have been roughing up many as of late.
- In the bottom tier, Madison Bumgarner may be able to provide 5+ frames of production against the Giants, but I wouldn’t go chasing after it.
- I like the recent trend of Kris Bubic as he sat 93 mph last time out, but I’d rather not chance it against the Twins. Just sit back, watch it, and see if there’s something to go after later.
- Konnor Pilkington isn’t someone I’d normally start, but the Tigers have been doing magical things to pitching lines and Pilkington could be the latest benefactor.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)