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. 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: 62-47
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- TODAY IS THE TRADE DEADLINE! It’s one of the most exciting days of the year and it means there will be plenty of players changing teams and some surprise expected starts on the horizon. Make sure to monitor Twitter (or our PL+ Discord!) to stay on top of who is starting and when.
- Things are getting messy at the deadline.
Frankie Montas is slated to get the Angels, but is that really happening?Or Noah Syndergaard against the Athletics? Expect some changes here. Update: Montas was traded to the Yankees and Cole Irvin will start instead. He’s a solid play in the third tier. Also, Noah Syndergaard should be dealt, so anticipate some random there too. Don’t start whoever that is. - On top of being a glorious day of the baseball season, we also get Corbin Burnes against the Pirates + Jacob deGrom making his first start of the season. WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY. deGrom isn’t #1 as he’ll likely go fewer innings than Burnes, Yu Darvish, and Kevin Gausman.
- In the second tier, I’m still rolling with Cristian Javier against the Red Sox and Lucas Giolito (and his depressed velocity) against the Royals. For Javier, the ceiling is too good to avoid, while Giolito’s floor is good enough against the Royals.
- I debated between Jameson Taillon and Brady Singer at the bottom of the tier and ultimately went with Taillon after his eight-strikeout performance and generally carrying less volatility than Singer. At the same time, Singer has more momentum currently and could soar against the White Sox.
- The third tier is a lonely one with just Logan Gilbert hanging out. He has a rough matchup against the Yankees ahead and I hope he can come through with his curve and slider to survive six frames.
- By the way, if you need some extra help choosing your starting pitchers, you should heavily consider getting PL+, which includes our Discord of 1,000+ members & staff. Sign up for PL+ Yearly today for just $70 for new members with coupon STREAMERPICKS – pitcherlist.com/plus.
- The bottom tier starts early with Keegan Thompson and Graham Ashcraft. I don’t trust Thompson’s sub 3.50 ERA to hold through the second half and the Cardinals can put up a whole lot of runs quickly.
- As for Graham Ashcraft, he’s the reluctant streaming pick of the day after utilizing all three pitches last time out. I don’t want to do this at all, but hey, I have to pick someone.
- I wish I could lean more on Alex Wood, but the Dodgers understandably give him fits and it’s best to sit this one out. Jump back in after, though.
- As for the rest of the tier…it’s rough. Drew Rasmussen isn’t in a place where I’d trust five solid frames against the Jays, Jordan Lyles is a difficult coin to flip, and Chris Archer is, at best giving you five okay frames. Blegh.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- The fog will clear by Wednesday morning and hopefully these starts will all stay intact. Why? Because we have twelve auto-start pitchers as it’s ace day. What a wonderful sight.
- At the bottom of that top tier are Blake Snell, Martín Pérez, and Miles Mikolas, all with cushy matchups and on a roll. I know you’re starting them all, I’m there with you.
- In the second tier, despite allowing five home runs in his last start and struggling to find a dependable #2 pitch, we’re confidently locking Joe Ryan into our lineups. He’s facing the Tigers, y’all. Start the dang man.
- I wish I could be more optimistic about Luis Castillo’s first start for the Mariners, but facing the Yankees out of the gate (and he’ll get them in his next start, too) is as rough as it gets.
- We’re all on the fence about what the future holds for Lance Lynn, and a start against the Royals will hopefully push us in a positive direction.
- On the other side of it, Brady Singer is in one of the best grooves I’ve seen him in, forcing managers to cross their fingers and start him against the White Sox.
- In the third tier, James Kaprielian is looking like a Toby and gets the floundering Angels, making him our streaming pick of the day. Here’s to 6 IP of 2 ER ahead.
- Consider Yusei Kikuchi against the Rays if he’s on your wire. Kikuchi’s command was stellar in his previous outing and the Rays offense doesn’t put up that big of a fight.
- I debated where to slot José Urquidy with the Red Sox possibly dealing JD Martinez, but I’m still cautious his BABIP will regress and the Red Sox are still a dangerous crew. It’s a toss up to me.
- In the bottom tier, Alex Cobb and Justin Steele feel like the only two I’d legitimately consider. Cobb looked fantastic against the Cubs, but his fortune may swing in the other direction against the Dodgers, a team who could be improving their offense even more by Wednesday’s game.
- As for Justin Steele, his slider has returned a surprisingly low amount of hard contact and as long as his fastball doesn’t get pummeled, he could find a way through 5+ frames against the Cardinals.
- Otherwise, I wouldn’t go after Kyle Bradish even if his breakers looked solid last time out, nor would I chase Mike Minor against the Marlins as he’s failed to piece together his repertoire effectively in 2022.
- And no, we have no idea who is starting for the Diamondbacks on Wednesday at the moment.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)