We’ve made it to the final week of the fantasy baseball season! Congratulations to everybody for grinding this long, whether you’re playing for a title, trying to earn some money, or just playing for pride.
At this point, you know that there is no reason to hold onto somebody who won’t help you over these final five days, so we should be churning our roster as much as possible. To help you do that, I’m going to rank and break down my favorite streaming matchups for the remainder of the week. Below you’ll find multiple tables that rank streaming starting pitchers based on those I have a strong preference for, those I’m fairly confident in, those I’m hesitant about, and those I like but have questions about their usage. Within the tiers, you can make some changes based on your own needs. If you need strikeouts more than ratios, you can bump up the two-start pitchers over the pitchers with one good matchup, etc.
Your decisions will change based on your league type and settings, but I’ll do my best here to give you the information that will help in your formats. As is usual with my articles, a streaming starter pitcher is rostered in less than 40% of Yahoo formats, so just keep that in mind as we’re going through.
Offenses to Attack
Before we get into our rankings, just a quick note about the offenses we want to attack. I used FanGraphs team stats over the last month, searching for metrics like wRC+, strikeout rate, OPS, etc., and narrowed down the list of offenses to ones that have struggled in those areas.
To stream starting pitching, we want to target pitchers going against the Guardians, Rays, Nationals, Cardinals, and Rockies/Reds on the road only. Think of these as HIGHWAY OFFENSES - not stopping at all.
I also am more than comfortable using pitchers against the Orioles, Tigers, Angels, Marlins, Giants, Rangers, Red Sox, White Sox, Pirates, Athletics on the road, and Mariners in Seattle. Think of these as GREEN LIGHT OFFENSES - you can’t open it up like you can on a highway, but you’re good to go.
IMPORTANT RANKINGS NOTE: Pitchers within the same tier can be treated almost interchangeably. If a pitcher is under 40% rostered on YAHOO and does not appear below, then I have no interest in starting him this week.
Streaming Starting Pitcher Rankings: Wednesday, September 24th to Sunday, September 28th
Weds Sept 24th to Sun Sept 28th | ||
Strong Preference | ||
There’s not much to say about these arms. They’re all either really talented pitchers or in good spots.
I have no idea how Bubba Chandler still qualifies to stream. The Pirates’ PR about his poor command has really damaged his fantasy roster rates. He has looked really good, and so I’m not going to bench him now. Same for Tyler Wells, who has just been lights out since coming off the IL and gets to face the Rays away from Tampa Bay. Being away from Tampa should also help Shane Baz, who has seen his velocity kick back up late in the season.
Justin Verlander and Jameson Taillon are veterans in tremendous matchups here. I think they can each go at least five innings with a good chance of a win and solid ratios against bad offenses. Similarly, I expect Will Warren, who has really struggled in the second half, to bounce back against the White Sox, and he also has a great chance at a win.
Brandon Sproat has looked good, and he gets to face the Marlins, while Joey Cantillo has shown real strikeout upside and gets a solid matchup against a banged up and struggling Rangers offense.
Fairly Confident | ||
Let’s get the better pitchers out of the way early.
Eury Perez, Tyler Mahle, Max Scherzer, and Slade Cecconi are all pitchers I trust to a certain extent. Cecconi the least, but I like his matchup, so I’m OK with that. However, he has the risk of being pulled early if the Guardians really need to scratch out a win. I’d have put Mahle in the tier above if I were sure he’d go five innings, and I don’t love Perez’s matchup against a desperate Mets team.
We have streamed Joey Wentz, Colin Rea, Chad Patrick, Luis Morales, and Parker Messick for long stretches this year, and they all get good matchups. The Tigers are left-handed heavy and struggling, so I don’t mind using Messick there, and the Reds are on the road, so I think Patrick is a solid pick against them.
Cristian Javier, Cade Povich, and Jack Leiter are all talented but inconsistent arms. We really kind of have no idea what we’re going to get some there, but the matchups are good, especially since Povich is facing Tampa Bay in Baltimore, so I think you can roll with all of these guys. I have more concerns with Trey Yesavage because I’m not yet sure what his true talent level is. Still, he’s facing Tampa Bay in Toronto, so I’m OK with the matchup.
Stephen Kolek has been pitching well of late and gets a matchup against a team that loves to strikeout, so I think you can roll the dice there, and I’m going to try and overlook much of Connelly Early’s game in Tampa Bay, especially since he gave up a home run that would not have been a home run in any MLB park. That stadium is a disaster for pitching. Lastly, Shane Smith is at risk of missing this start since he’s thrown so many innings over his career high. However, if he does make this start, I like how his changeup profiles against the Nationals.
Some Hesitation | ||
Nick Pollack was very into Trevor McDonald when we recorded On the Corner on Monday, so maybe you want to move him up a tier. I just don’t trust him enough to do that. I’d also love to move Kyle Harrison up a tier because I do like the changes the Red Sox have made, but he’s far too volatile. We have no idea how well he’ll pitch, and we just saw Lucas Giolito pulled after 4.1 innings because the Red Sox need to win every single game. They will absolutely do that with Harrison as well.
Jonah Tong really bounced back in his last start, but this matchup is not good. Similarly, JT Ginn looked impressive against a mediocre Red Sox lineup, but I can’t recommend him against the Astros, nor can I truly recommend Taj Bradley, even though Texas is really banged up offensively, and it’s a good pitcher’s park. I’d be far more into Taijuan Walker, but I have no idea what his role will be. Is he an opener, a bulk reliever, a traditional starter? That makes him risky despite the good matchup.
Ian Seymour just pitched on Tuesday in relief, so I now have no idea what the plan is for him over the weekend. I can see myself using Adrian Houser if the Blue Jays have locked up a bye, but I likely won’t use him if the Blue Jays have something to play for. The same goes for Joe Boyle on Sunday. If that game is meaningless for both teams, I could absolutely see something absurd like him striking out 12 in five innings to end the season.
Yoendrys Gomez, Bryce Elder, Patrick Corbin, and Jason Alexander get good matchups, but they’re hard to trust for both wins and results. Still, I can see the argument if you really need a win or to roll the dice. I do like Kai-Wei Teng if you need strikeouts and have no problem picking on the Rockies when they’re on the road. If I had any faith that Teng would go five innings, he’d be in the tier above.
Desperation Play | ||
I like Ryne Nelson, but this feels like s start to avoid, and Walker Buehler will likely be only pitching 3-4 innings again, so I can’t trust him.
The others are likely guys I wouldn’t consider unless I really needed to hunt for strikeouts.
