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: 75-57
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- It’s a larger top tier that’s effectively split in two. The likes of Jacob deGrom, Aaron Nola, Triston McKenzie, Kevin Gausman, and Lance Lynn are very clearly going into your lineups. We debated Gausman vs. Lynn a bit, but they are all defacto top-tier plays.
- The bottom three are your traditional “Probably Start” arms who have been elevated since the change I made earlier this week. You’re starting both sides of Patrick Sandoval vs. Drew Rasmussen given their hot stretches and poor lineups, while Jameson Taillon has a delightful matchup against the Athletics.
- In the second tier, Marcus Stroman has to endure the hottest offense in baseball and it makes for a difficult decision. If I have Stroman rostered, I’d lean starting Stroman, but for those who can be conservative, you may want to sit this one out.
- His opponent is the streaming pick of the day – Dakota Hudson. I don’t love relying on Dakota (who ironically doesn’t have a north-south approach) but he can carve up a Cubs lineup that struggles with fastballs.
- The third tier begins with Marco Gonzales facing the Guardians. He’s capable of six strong frames on a given night, but his days as a “lock and forget” Toby are behind him.
- I find it hard to depend on Jordan Lyles or even Luis Garcia these days. Garcia has struggled for a month, while Lyles has WHIP questions that may hurt any managers willing to roll the dice.
- I added James Kaprielian to the third tier as well, as he is working his way to Toby status. This third tier is essentially “guys I don’t want to start, but they are better than the bottom tier” and Jimmy Hat could survive against a struggling offense with his four-seamer and slider.
- Speaking of the bottom tier, there’s always a chance Kutter Crawford endures the Jays or Chris Archer goes five productive frames against the Astros, but you really don’t want to chance that.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- We have many clear options on Friday, though the top tier does contain a pair of arms some may want in the second tier. Joe Ryan hasn’t been pristine with his secondaries, but if you’re rostering Ryan, you’re starting him against the pedestrian Giants.
- There’s also Logan Gilbert facing the Guardians to end the week. Gilbert isn’t the stellar low-ratio arms we saw in the spring and Cleveland’s hot streak may give you hesitation, however, he’s worth the play with his stellar four-seamer.
- In the second tier, there’s an argument to be made that Johnny Cueto belongs in the top tier. After all, who isn’t starting Cueto against the Sneks? The thing is, he’s returned a sub 9% strikeout rate across his last six starts, making for a far worse floor than the options above. Despite the 2.22 ERA in that time, the downside is still prevalent.
- I’m not sure where to rank Spencer Strider. We all know the upside, but the Cardinals are as hot as any team out there. I’m starting him in my leagues, but I grasp the danger.
- Some waiver-wire options from a month ago are sitting at the bottom of the second tier. I’m all for riding both Justin Steele and Michael Wacha during their marvelous stretches, Lance McCullers Jr. didn’t have his command last time out and may make the adjustment to fend off the Orioles, and the truly difficult one here is Reid Detmers. He was unable to take advantage of a date with Detroit as his pristine command disappeared. The Jays will be more punishing if he doesn’t make a tweak.
- Kicking off our third tier is our streaming pick of the day – Glenn Otto. You can stream any pitcher who has the opportunity for 85+ pitches against the Tigers these days and Otto has been at his peak as of late. Just 2% rostership makes this the clear choice.
- I wrestled with Alex Wood vs. José Quintana, ultimately favoring Wood as the Twins are without Byron Buxton. Quintana also slipped with his repertoire last time out and now has to endure a powerful Atlanta offense that feasts on southpaws. Be careful.
- Some may want to chase Mitch White against the Angels, but he has two things going against him – a poor fastball and the Jays’ tendency to pull him early. He won’t face the lineup a third time and he’s failed to go five frames in his three games with Toronto.
- I’m excited to watch the debut of Cade Cavalli, who has fanned nineteen batters in his last two Triple-A starts. He’s someone to add today in 12-teamers and I don’t blame anyone streaming him here. That said, I generally avoid MLB debuts – jitters & unknown ability – so be careful.
- In the bottom tier, well, the bottom tier these days is full of “hey, do not start these guys. Seriously.” Sure, you could take a chance on Kris Bubic getting his velocity back or Tyler Alexander squeezing out five frames against the Rangers, but you really don’t want to do this.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)