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: 63-47
Today’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 dealingJD 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.
- Update: It looks like it’s Freddy Peralta instead of Brandon Woodruff. Peralta tossed just 3.1 innings in his final rehab start, making this look like a 4-5 inning affair against the Pirates. Seems worthwhile to go for, but don’t expect ace production.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- With Justin Verlander, Joe Musgrove, and Brandon Woodruff all squaring off against weak lineups, Thursday is a good day to watch some pitching dominance.
- Kyle Wright has the toughest job in the top tier as he faces the Mets and it’s an important step toward a possible AGA label in the near future. If you have him, you haven’t stopped starting him since you picked him up.
- The Tigers and Nationals are two of the weakest offenses around (I updated the offense rankings table at the top of the article after the trade deadline passed), making Jeffrey Springs and Noah Syndergaard clear plays for Thursday.
- Marcus Stroman and Carlos Carrasco don’t have the easiest days at the park against the Cards and Braves, but we’re still letting them fly. Six innings from each is easily attainable.
- In the third tier, I feel fortunate I can select José Quintana as my streaming pick of the day. He’s a Vargas Rule and gets a poor offense in the Cubs and now has a winning club and improved defense behind him. I was tempted to slot him at the end of the second tier, but there is something to be said about jitters in the first start pitching for a new club.
- I had a tough time deciding where to rank Sonny Gray as he’s the only arm facing a strong lineup in the tier. He could escape with a bevy of strikeouts and a Win…or fall flat on his face. Let’s hope the curve and slider are cooking.
- Paul Blackburn and Janson Junk are going head-to-head and both arms came through in their last outings. There’s a chance both provide fantasy value here, though I think Janson’s eight-strikeout game against the Royals was a bit of smoke and mirrors.
- And then there’s Nick Pivetta as he faces the Royals. I’ve been open about my lack of faith in Pivetta…but he gets the Royals who just traded away both Benintendi and Merrifield. There’s a decent chance he comes through and gets a Win in the process.
- In the bottom tier, there’s not a whole lot to look at. Zach Plesac, Kris Bubic, and Ross Stripling have a shot of being their best selves and succeeding against stellar lineups, while Glenn Otto may have the slider and curve missing bats against the White Sox. Far too much risk to let loose in 12-teamers, in my view.
- It gave me no joy to place Jakob Junis at the very bottom, but he isn’t going too deep into games, the Dodgers are destructive, and Junis isn’t fully locked in at the moment.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)