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 that day’s streaming pick in the second tier and I’d roll with them everywhere. Those in Yellow are 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 (in Alphabetical order):
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: 20-19
My pick yesterday: Sean Manaea vs WSH
PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 19-20
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Rich Hill vs COL
Want PL Bot’s pick today? Sign Up for PL Pro here.
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- Just six games on Thursday with a trio of clear top tier starters in Yu Darvish, Drew Rasmussen, and Nathan Eovaldi. Pretty dang obvious that you should be starting all of them.
- In the second tier, Alex Cobb is a bit of a Cherry Bomb and holds the fort for the entire tier. As long as he has his splitter, he should help your fantasy teams against the Diamondbacks.
- The third tier has three debatable arms and…Brady Singer. He’s been a huge mess this season, however – and this might sound weird – I don’t think he’s all too different from previous seasons with his command. He’s at the bottom of questionable for a reason, but the ceiling is still very much present.
- The other three would all be in the second tier if not for tough opponents. Kodai Senga will do his best to avoid the longball, the Padres are sure to make Bailey Ober labor, and Domingo Germán will do everything he can to replicate his last start against the Rays.
- The bottom tier carries our streaming pick of the day (I have to select someone y’all) in Mike Clevinger against the Royals. Maybe he has his best stuff here, but I really don’t want to test the waters.
- Tommy Henry has a shot against the Giants, but he could also toss three innings and call it a day. Ken Waldichuk has flashed his ceiling over the last few starts, but hasn’t polished it and has a horrific challenge against the Rangers, and it’s the return of Raggedy Anne as Lively faces the Mets. I haven’t used that nickname in six years.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- It’s unfortunately a small top tier for Friday’s games. Corbin Burnes hasn’t been as dominant as Gerrit Cole or Spencer Strider this year, but the wide gap in opponent slots Burnes as our #1 play for the day.
- Sonny Gray is vying for an AGA label this year, though facing the Cubs after his first shellacking of the year isn’t ideal. Here’s to hoping that was a brief trough in his 2023 campaign.
- In the second tier, Graham Ashcraft and Martín Pérez are the Toby types with fantastic matchups that deserve a high ranking.
- Under them are a few arms who I’m going with despite rough lineups in their crosshairs. Blake Snell is still working out the kinks of his arsenal, Dustin May is giving me all kinds of fits (despite his great start last time out) and Chris Bassitt feels like a Holly who has healed himself of the maladies that plagued his April.
- The streaming pick of the day is J.P. France as he squares up against the drab White Sox. I don’t see France as a rising star, but his repertoire has enough depth to produce for trusting managers.
- Finally, there’s Logan Allen, who I hovered between Tier 2 and Tier 3. On one hand, he’s only had one truly disappointing outing, though his stuff isn’t overpowering and the Angels have ruined many days for starters this season.
- In the third tier, I am so excited to watch Eury Pérez as he makes his debut for the Marlins, but I have to stick to my rule of not putting MLB debuts in the second tier or higher. Still, pick him up now and if you want to start him because”what is fantasy baseball without a little fun?” then you’ll be joining me in the party.
- Marco Gonzales has been far from what you want, but his pitch execution has been great as of late. An evening against Detroit may be the one start we circle and get production out of him.
- The rest of the tier is a minefield. Ryne Nelson gets a good matchup but hasn’t executed his secondaries, MacKenzie Gore has shifty command and faces the Mets, Tyler Megill is far from trustworthy, Matthew Boyd doesn’t get slider whiffs, Drew Smyly didn’t have his curve last time out, but could recover against the Twins, and Tyler Anderson’s changeup is back and faces a weak Guardians crew.
- Johan Oviedo is a Cherry Bomb who may have his best command against the Orioles, while Kyle Bradish on the other side may have his two breakers and earn a Win.
- In the bottom tier, James Paxton makes his return to the bigs after, checks notes, 1.1 innings in 2021. Wild. Apparently he’s sitting mid-90s and it would make me so thrilled to see him have his renaissance. Keep your health expectations very low here.
- Alex Wood is returning from the IL and while there could be some value during the year, it’s a very clear Still ILL situation.
Featured Image by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram)