Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings Fantasy Baseball – 5/8 & 5/9

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: 20-16

My pick yesterday: Hayden Wesneski vs MIA

PL Bot’s 2023 Streamer Record: 18-18

PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Hayden Wesneski vs MIA

Want PL Bot’s pick today? Sign Up for PL Pro here.

 

Today’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• All familiar names in the top tier with many facing weak opponents on Monday. Freddy Peralta gets the toughest challenge against the Dodgers, but like Darvish, Peralta performs regardless of opponent. Let it ride.
• With the season Marcus Stroman is having and the inconsistencies of the St. Louis Cardinals, Stroman is a clear play to kick off your weeks.

 

• In the second tier, Mitch Keller and Anthony DeSclafani are obvious plays against Rockie Road and the Nationals.
• Logan Gilbert is giving me fits lately and while I’d normally place him in the top tier, the Rangers are too dang good against right-handers.

 

• I don’t believe that Hunter Brown is destined for disappointment after last week’s game, while Tony Gonsolin should get better with more starts as he faces the Brewers. Still don’t love him, though.
• Our streaming pick of the day is JP Sears as he faces the Judge-less Yankees. I’m digging Sears’ new fastball and slider and I’m all for stealing an early stream this week.

 

• In the third tier, Miles Mikolas is a basic Toby facing a tough Cubs squad. I’d pass on that one, while Patrick Sandoval has to endure the mighty Astros and Jon Gray’s middling repertoire faces the Mariners. All of these are too dangerous for me to endorse.
• The final tier carries little excitement. I can see ways for each of these starters to find 5+ innings of production on Monday, but their ceilings are far too low to put yourself in harm’s way.

 

• Updates: The Tigers are starting Joey Wentz instead of Michael Lorenzen. Same situation – don’t start Wentz.

 

Tomorrow’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

 

• Ayyy, (two) aces have returned! Shohei Ohtani gets the nod despite a start against the Astros with Max Scherzer’s laborious 2023 season hopefully getting righted by the Reds. I’m not as concerned as others about his shaky year thus far and given a normal routine, I’d expect the slider to return and excellence to follow.
• With the rest of the tier, none of these guys have the AGA label and yet, you’re starting them all regardless. I have some anxiety about Aaron Nola against the Jays and George Kirby against the Rangers, but it’s unwise to overthink this. Let them fly.

 

• In the second tier, Charlie Morton and Zach Eflin don’t have the easiest matchups, but are still a step above those in tier three. You’re going to start them if you have them rostered.
• The streaming pick of the day may surprise some with a green light going to Brandon Pfaadt. His MLB had all the marks of why we don’t start pitchers in their MLB debuts and a date with the Marlins after dealing with the Rangers is destined to get his confidence back. Don’t write him off yet.

 

• The third tier begins with two underperformers in Alek Manoah and Andrew Heaney. After Heaney destroyed your ratios last week, it’s a risky proposition to allow this Cherry Bomb to get the keys to the car. The same goes for Manoah as his command has been wonky, to say the least. The Phillies could do some damage in a hurry.
• It hasn’t been the season we dreamed of for Clarke Schmidt, though the Athletics give him a great opportunity for a Win (Judge should be back) and decent ratios along the way.

 

• I was pretty down on Louie Varland’s last outing after he sat 1.5 ticks lower than expected, though the line was worse than the actual underlying ability. Sadly, the Padres are in the way of his redemption and it’s too risky for me to chase.
• We have no idea what we’re going to see from Jack Flaherty against the Cubs, Michael Wacha’s command shifts start-to-start, Noah Syndergaard may fail to strike out a single Brewer, and Michael Lorenzen has an outside shot to go six strong against the Guardians.

 

• You may be surprised at the Jameson Taillon and Luis Ortiz (the Pirates are calling him up, right?) rankings. Both arms have unclear pitch counts ahead – Taillon tossed just over 40 in his Still ILL outing and we don’t know how much he’ll go on Tuesday, while Ortiz would be pitching on three-days rest.
• The rest of the bottom tier isn’t too fun. Jordan Lyles could find a PQS against the ChiSox, Nick Pivetta’s new slider focus may keep his head above water against Atlanta, Grayson Rodriguez is a clear sit against the Rays, and Eric Lauer…sure whatever Lauer. Hang out with your 90/91 mph fastball all you want.

 

Featured Image by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram)