Here are today’s daily SP Streamer rankings.
Every day of the 2023 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 10am – 12pm 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. This includes “if I have them rostered, I’m starting them” pitchers.
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-not-elite pitcher or a weak lineup for a volatile arm. These pitchers have a 50% or greater chance of performing well in my view.
Questionable Start – Think of this tier as “I don’t want to start these pitchers in a vacuum, but you could do worse.” Streamers found in this tier are not pitchers I’m targeting and are only if you are in dire need of one. To play it safe with streaming, just start the Probably Start streamers.
Do Not Start – The reward is not worth the risk. Don’t do it. Seriously, these pitchers have a very slim chance of success or sometimes none at all.
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. Those in Yellow in the third tier and should be okay if you’re searching for something on a given day, but I don’t recommend streaming unless you’re in need. 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 works as a general table that y’all should keep in mind.
Alright, let’s get to it.
This year, with our new daily fantasy baseball projections powered by PLV, I’ll be competing against PL Bot to pick the best streaming option each day.
To get access to PL Bot’s picks each day, sign up for PL Pro here.
Nick’s 2023 Streamer Record: 9-4
My pick yesterday: Chris Flexen vs. CHC
PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 5-8
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Kyle Muller @ BAL
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- The top tier is easy as always and given the poor lineups facing our top four options, Brandon Woodruff has to take the short stick and land at the #5 spot. I know, such a rough life.
- Logan Gilbert and Nathan Eovaldi are definitively below the premier options but are still clear starts against the Cubs and Royals.
- I want to put Hunter Greene in the top tier, but I recognize his volatility + the Atlanta lineup isn’t fun to deal with. Still very much worth the start in the majority of leagues, of course.
- Sonny Gray is coming off a fantastic outing and is a clear play, though we all recognize his tendency to be a Cherry Bomb throughout his career.
- He hasn’t gotten into a full groove yet and I expect Chris Sale to improve as the season goes on, making him a Top 10 play for Wednesday’s games.
- José Urquidy and Marcus Stroman are casual plays on Wednesday, while Lucas Giolito and Blake Snell are a bit more contentious. I trust Giolito’s blowup to be more of a one time thing, while Snell is likely to figure out getting strikes with his breakers to make his strikeouts worth the gamble.
- The Questionable Start tier leads with our streaming pick of the day in Dean Kremer hosting the Athletics. Win potential? Check. Poor lineup? Check. Decent enough stuff to not hurt ratios? Check. Good park to pitch in? Check. I’m gonna stop with the checks now, but you get the point. Only 2% rostered…
- MacKenzie Gore is also a considerable option against the Angels as he’s done well despite tough opponents early in the season. I question if Gore has actually mastered his arsenal yet, but his heaters have performed well and his breakers are coming together. This could be a major outing for the southpaw.
- I question how many pitches the Diamondbacks will let Drey Jameson toss against the Brewers, but this should be a generally favorable start…right?
- Zach Eflin doesn’t thrill me against the Red Sox, but I understand letting him fly and figuring it out later.
- I don’t love the matchups for Alex Cobb and Tylor Megill, making this a case where I’d rather play it safe instead of risking a disaster on the ratios.
- With the way Edward Cabrera can’t find strikes, it’s not in your best interest to start the man against a Philadelphia offense that put up 15 runs on Monday.
- I’ve lost interest in Clarke Schmidt as his new slider isn’t doing enough to carry his pedestrian arsenal. The ceiling isn’t high enough here.
- Griffin Canning is getting the start for the Angels and while he did fan 10 in his last rehab start, it was in Single-A. But the Nationals are a Single-A team! Stop that. It’s too risky to start Canning here.
- I have to wonder if Brad Keller actually figured something out this off-season and he can become Rad Keller for most of 2023, but we’re going to watch this one from afar as wise people do.
- The rest is far too dangerous to pursue. Eduardo Rodriguez against the Jays makes me uncomfortable just staring at it, Rich Hill is over the…hump, Ken Waldichuk’s command is shaky and it’s Jack Flaherty vs. José Ureña inside Coors. Yeah.
- Today’s Updates: Three pitchers are getting replaced. Konnor Pilkington isn’t starting for Aaron Civale, that honor is going to Peyton Battenfield. Yes, that’s a real name and it’s spectacular.
- Brandon Woodruff is on the IL for hopefully a minimum stint, with Janson Junk taking his spot today, and Taj Bradley is making his hotly anticipated MLB debut in place of Zach Eflin. It’s a good rule of thumb to not start guys in their MLB debut, especially ones on the Rays where they’ll get the hook far quicker than usual.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- It’s a slow Thursday and fortunately a third of our arms can be set-and-forget with Jeffrey Springs leading the way against Boston. It isn’t the best matchup, but the man deserves the top spot with the performances he’s had so far this year.
- Nick Lodolo has earned 37 whiffs in his first two starts and could continue that trend against the Phillies.
- The best floor play may be Jordan Montgomery hosting the Pirates, while the most volatile is between Joe Ryan against the Yankees (HRs?) and Chris Bassitt against the Tigers (9 ER in his first start). We’re going with all of them, though.
- The second tier belongs to one man – Nick Martinez. I believe in his stuff and the Brewers aren’t a team to fear, making him the streaming pick of the day. This is the outing people start celebrating Martinez, I can feel it.
- In the third tier, Cole Irvin isn’t the worst stream this week as he gets the Athletics. It hasn’t been smooth sailing thus far, but Irvin has the Toby in him to come through here.
- Bailey Falter isn’t a bad option either with his fastball playing well up in the zone. Pitching in Cincinnati is always a risk, though, and it’s up to you if you need to chase it.
- I’d likely avoid Corey Kluber if I could, and he’s awfully close to the bottom tier with the HR rates the Rays are putting up, but Kluber could come through here with his curve and cutter.
- In the bottom tier, there’s very little to chase. Spencer Turnbull has the most upside but gets the Jays and that’s asking for all kinds of trouble.
- The Yankees seem to be going with a bullpen game, Eric Lauer’s fastball is down three ticks, Vince Velasquez has an outside shot at 6+ strikeouts, but how much of a ratio hit will it be against the Cardinals?
- And Adam Oller makes his first start of the year for the Athletics in Camden. I won’t rule out a productive start here, but Oller’s stuff leaves us all asking for more.
Featured Image by Drew Wheeler (@drewisokay on Twitter)