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: 21-20
My pick yesterday: J.P. France vs CHW
PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 19-22
PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Matthew Boyd vs SEA
Want PL Bot’s pick today? Sign Up for PL Pro here.
Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
- At the top are the easy calls, but you may be surprised by Bryce Miller sneaking in at #5 against the Tigers. I trust his heater plenty and Detroit isn’t a team I expect to jump on his heater a whole lot.
- On top of that, Joe Ryan is a similar arm at his core (great heater, meh secondaries) and gets a tougher matchup, placing him below Miller.
- I want Joe Musgrove to have his AGA label back, but he has to endure the Dodgers and I want to see him obliterate once first.
- At the start of the second it may be a shock that it’s Jon Gray against Oakland over Dylan Cease against Houston. Gray showed up with his best slider and fastball last time out and now faces one of the weakest lineups around, while Cease has been all kinds of volatile and has to face the Astros again. Rough times for those with Cease on their rosters.
- Continuing with the second tier, Chris Sale jumped up to 96 mph in his last start (he hit 99!) and now faces the struggling Cardinals. Like Jon Gray, I hope Sale’s outing wasn’t a one-time affair.
- Nick Lodolo has effectively removed hair off the heads of trusting managers, though the Marlins should be a lovely palate cleanser as regression to the mean is sure to come.
- I’m still a believer in Reid Detmers‘ repertoire and a start against the Guardians is the type of floor you want with a chance to produce massively in the box score.
- Anthony DeSclafani closes out the tier with a start against Arizona. It didn’t go well last time out, but I imagine he won’t chuck everything down the middle this time around.
- In the third tier, Hayden Wesneski is a decent option against the Twins, but I’m not sure if he’s getting enough whiffs with his breaker.
- The rest of the tier are all Toby types in questionable matchups. If you’re chasing six frames or a Win, they are decent enough plays but I’d avoid them in any scenario where ratios need to be protected.
- The bottom tier has a boatload of arms. José Berríos still can’t be trusted as he faces Atlanta, Roansy Contreras only has one good pitch, Zack Greinke has a good matchup (but does it matter?), Steven Matz did fine against the Tigers and now gets the Red Sox, Adrian Houser isn’t worth your time against a heating-up Royals crew, and you don’t want to Still ILL Ranger Suárez in Coors. That’s just silly.
- Our streaming pick of the day for the second time in three days goes to a member of the bottom tier – JP Sears. I need to pick someone and I do like Sears’ fastball and slider…just not against Texas. At all.
Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
Auto-Starts
Freddy Peralta vs. KCR – Easy matchup.
Logan Gilbert @ DET – Easy matchup.
Max Scherzer @ WSN – He’s been rough, but it’s the Nationals. You have to believe.
Logan Webb @ ARI – High QS chance against a middling offense.
Probable Starts
Marcus Stroman @ MIN – High QS chance and how good are the Twins?
Aaron Nola @ COL – It’s Coors and that’s all kinds of annoying. Looking better recently, though.
Lucas Giolito vs. HOU – Velo was back and so was the changeup, but was it just for one start? And it’s the Astros. Ugh.
Hunter Brown @ CHW – He’s been a bit off as of late (no whiffs on breakers). The White Sox are a good enough floor to still go for it.
Mitch Keller @ BAL – It’s been a marvelous season thus far and you have to roll with it. Hopefully the hard contact stays low.
Zach Eflin @ NYY – The Yankees are heating up a little and Eflin isn’t destined for dominance each start with a repertoire that needs to be precise.
Andrew Heaney @ OAK – High risk/reward, but it’s the Athletics. Rooker can’t do everything.
Patrick Sandoval @ CLE – I haven’t seen Sandoval truly locked in this season, but the Guardians don’t scare me.
Tony Gonsolin vs. SDP – The splitter was worse last time, though velocity was up and the slider was excellent. Could be questionable given the matchup.
Tanner Bibee vs. LAA – The Angels are rough and so was Bibee last time out. However, the arsenal is great and he should be better.
Questionable Starts
Louie Varland vs. CHC – I’m kinda falling for the fastball/slider approach, though the Cubs are good and I’m not sure what to believe from the small sample thus far.
Kyle Gibson vs. PIT – He’s kinda a Cherry Bomb as you don’t know what he’ll have working on a given night.
Miles Mikolas @ BOS – Always a QS chance, but outside of QS leagues, I’m not interested.
Braxton Garrett vs. CIN – Yes, we know about the terrible outing. The slider was great last time and the Reds aren’t scary.
Brandon Pfaadt vs. SFG – It has been rough thus far…but it’s the Giants and Pfaadt is better than what we’ve seen. Or maybe his fastball just isn’t good anymore.
Do Not Starts
Yusei Kikuchi vs. ATL – He’s highly volatile, didn’t have his command last time, and it’s Atlanta. Don’t you dare use Chris Bassitt’s start to justify this.
Clarke Schmidt vs. TBR – The Rays aren’t as scary as they once were, but I really don’t trust Schmidt going deep save for extreme situations.
Jake Irvin vs. NYM – You know, I have a small feeling this works given the Mets being the Mets and Irvin having solid control. Too low of a ceiling, though.
Corey Kluber vs. STL – Sure, whatever Kluber.
Kyle Freeland vs. PHI – I won’t buy it.
Joey Wentz vs. SEA – His velocity has come up, but there isn’t enough here.
Jordan Lyles @ MIL – Deep league stream for QS, but he’s more often bad than good.
Luke Weaver @ MIA – Naaaaah, not polished enough.
Drew Rucinski vs. TEX – No way.
Ryan Weathers @ LAD – Not a chance.
TBD Braves SP @ TOR – I wouldn’t touch this game.
Featured Image by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram)
Love the mini review of every game dude, Nice Work!