Starting Pitcher Streamer Rankings Fantasy Baseball: 8/29 & 8/30 | Pitcher List (2024)

Here are today’s and tomorrow’s daily SP Streamer rankings for fantasy baseball.

Every day of the 2024 baseball season, I’ll be looking at today’s 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 Playback.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 Playback 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 and I’m starting them in the majority of situations.

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 sometimesnone at all.

Obviously, there will be circ*mstances 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’sstarting pitcher matchups as well, helping everyone get a jump on their nightly pickups. Please note that these matchups are subject to change, though, and therewillbe 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 somethingon 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 according to Fantasy Pros. This reallyemphasizes 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 those picks would be 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 by tier):

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.

To spice up these streaming recommendations, I’ve included our new daily fantasy baseball projections powered by PLV, and I’ll be competing against PL Bot to pick the best streaming option each day.

These projections are different from your typical projections as they incorporate our pitch quantifier, assessing pitcher and hitter skills at a much more granular level than your standard box score.

To get access to PL Bot’s picks each day, sign up for PL Pro here.

The streaming record is determined by “Was this a productive game for 12-teamers if I started them?” Roughly a PQS with a Win and a strikeout per inning with a sub 1.20 WHIP, with a minimum of 5 IP. Close calls are decided by Playback chat.

Nick’s 2024 Streamer Record: 83-67

My pick yesterday: Jack Leiter@ CHW – L

PL Bot’s 2024 Streamer Record: 84-66

PL Bot’s Pick yesterday: Jack Leiter@ CHW – L

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

My streaming pick of the day is Underlined and Italicized.

Thursday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

Auto Starts

Michael King @ STL –Aces gonna ace.

Nathan Eovaldi @ CHW –It’s the White Sox.

Sonny Gray vs. SDP –Gray has a 30% strikeout rate. The home runs are to blame for the 4.07 ERA and even though he’s gone through more turbulence in the summer, you can’t afford to bench him.

Probably Starts

Hunter Brown vs. KCR –He’s on a roll, even if there isn’t a straightforward approach.

Ryne Nelson vs. NYM –The four-seamer is just too dang good. Hopefully the cutter supports it enough.

Cristopher Sánchez vs. ATL –It’s the final questionable matchup for Sánchez and his elite O-Swing% should carry him through the game.

Kutter Crawford vs. TOR –We all feel weird about Crawford, especially inside Fenway. The Jays lineup is pretty dangblegh,though.

Bowden Francis @ BOS –It’s been a stupid good run and I imagine you’re going for it…even in Fenway. Be careful, the skills haven’t matched the elite results.

David Peterson @ ARI –Peterson looks like a major regression candidate. Up to you to decide if you want to follow the Vargas Rule or not.

Questionable Starts

Bobby Miller vs. BAL –He returned nine strikeouts, but the slider is the major gap in his approach that may come to bite him against the Orioles.

JP Sears @ CIN –Sears was on a heater, then got burned last time out and you’re in a tough spot. His four-seamer was still well-located despite the poor results, which makes me inclined to believe he can pull it off here.

Charlie Morton @ PHI –He’s a Cherry Bomb, regardless of opponent.

Brady Singer @ HOU –He’s a Cherry Bomb, regardless of opponent.

Keider Montero vs. LAA –I find Montero’s four-seamer/slider approach pedestrian, though the Angels lineup is far below that. This may work across 5-6 frames.

Aaron Civale vs. SFG –Civale’s breakers haven’t been there and even against the Giants, I have little confidence he can come through.

Hayden Birdsong @ MIL –This is a strikeout upside play. Birdsong’s command just isn’t that great.

Do Not Starts

Jack Kochanowicz @ DET –He’s a sinkerballer with good command at 96 mph, which leads to few walks, an inflated hit rate, a minuscule strikeout rate, and a prayer for ratios. Here’s your dire QS option.

Cade Povich @ LAD –It’s the Dodgers. Sorry Cade, we’ll be back in on this in a few weeks.

Julian Aguiar vs. OAK –Maybe this works? Aguiar is a 94 mph sinkerballer, but the Athletics in Cin City terrifies me.

Bradley Blalock vs. MIA –Blalock may be intriguing if he weren’t pitching for Colorado.

Nick Nastrini vs. TEX –Oh snap! He’s back! PLEASE THROW YOUR HEATER FOR STRIKES. Seriously, his fastball and slider are legit stuff pitches, and it seemed as though he had the yips during his trials earlier in the year. If he has them fixed…

Valente Bellozo @ COL –He’s a Canibal McSanchez arm without good stuff and command that fluctuates. In Coors. For the Marlins.

UPDATE: J.T. Ginn @ CIN –The rookie has appeared twice this season in relief as recently as Saturday and will get his first career start against the Reds. He’s a sinker/slider arm at 93/94 (in the pen…) who isn’t stretched out, heading to Cin City in what should be treated like an MLB debut. That’s a clear pass.

Enjoy these rankings? Support my work and Pitcher List by getting PL+ or PL Pro! You’ll get an Ad-Free website, access to our incredible non-toxic baseball Discord community, my weekly PL Pro exclusive SP FAAB Forecast podcast, a full suite of fantasy baseball tools, and much more. Get 10% off yearly with code SPSTREAMERS here.

Friday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings

Auto Starts

Blake Snell vs. MIA –Aces gonna ace.

Shota Imanaga @ WSN –Aces gonna ace.

George Kirby @ LAA –It’s a great matchup and Kirby’s floor is still high…even if the fastball/slider combo isn’t at its peak.

Pablo López vs. TOR –His velocity is up and he has a better feel for his sweeper and change than we’ve seen for most of the season.

Framber Valdez vs. KCR –The curve is still legit.

Reynaldo López @ PHI –ReyLó returned ten strikeouts last time he faced them. He’s good to go.

Kevin Gausman @ MIN –You may want him higher after returning double-digit strikeouts against the Angels, but this is a different squadandthe splitter isn’t returning an elite number of whiffs. Still.

Tanner Houck @ DET –He’s been awfully shaky with his splitter, but it’s the Tigers and Houck is certainly good enough to roll with here, outside of Fenway.

Probably Starts

Ben Lively vs. PIT –Don’t question the Lively.Feel the Lively.

Martín Pérez @ TBR –It wasn’t his best display of command in his last outing, but this is Tampa Bay and he pitches for a winning club. The Rays are better against LHP.Ehhh, I’m still doing it.

Questionable Starts

Seth Lugo @ HOU –It may seem strange, but Lugo has a 5.58 ERA and 1.34 WHIP across his last eight starts with multiple blowups. Now he gets the Astros and hasn’t had his best command is months.

Marcus Stroman vs. STL –This is a solid Win chance at the cost of middling ratios and few strikeouts.

Ranger Suárez vs. ATL –I didn’t love Suárez’s precision in his return from the IL, though I expect better in his second game. A start with Ranger is believing that the Atlanta offense is a step down without Riley, despite their recent showcases of power.

Clayton Kershaw @ ARI –I worry that Kershaw’s slider can’t do it all. He’s not TATIAGA anymore.

Zac Gallen vs. LAD –This hasn’t been the premier Gallen season we’ve wanted, rooted in his inability to find a consistent four-seamer. We saw an extreme BSB approach last time that could be the answer, yet I don’t want to experiment with it against the Dodgers.

Taj Bradley vs. SDP –He’s a Cherry Bomb.Good luck.

JP Sears @ TEX – Sears was on a heater, then got burned last time out and you’re in a tough spot. His four-seamer was still well-located despite the poor results, which makes me inclined to believe he can pull it off here.

Carson Fulmer vs. SEA –He performed well last time out and now gets the Mariners. It could work with a decent ratio floor but not a ton of length.

Jake Irvin vs. CHC –He’s a Cherry Bomb against a Cubs team that is kinda good offensively…?

DL Hall @ CIN – He’s throwing 94/95 mph in the minors (and in his one start back!), but is the command there? Are the changeup and slider ready to go? I’m super curious about what we get. That heater wasn’t quite good enough in his last tune-up across 65 pitches, but it could wake up here. I’m just sad Jacob Misiorowski only threw 20 pitches in the same game.Sigh…

Tylor Megill @ CHW –He’s back! He had a great outing in Triple-A on the 18th with consistent four-seamers gloveside to return ten whiffs…then it was chaotic in the zone the following outing, failing to record five full frames. We’ve also seen cutters and sliders get us excited in the past and sadly, it’s mostly middling sliders as his #2 pitch around 20-25% of the time. This start is a gamble for a Win in hopes of his four-seamer finding enough outs.

Adam Oller @ SFG –If he’s able to spot four-seamers Oller round the zone, he can go through a pedestrian lineup.

Do Not Starts

Colin Rea @ CIN –He was on a roll, then ran into trouble in his final two frames last time out, doing his ole thing of fastballs well over the plate + cutters and sweepers in the mix. You could find six frames here, though the ceiling seems limited for the risk you’re taking.

Erick Fedde @ NYY –Hey, the Yankees haven’t been destroying a ton of poor pitchers lately…

Casey Mize vs. BOS –He’s returning from the minors and the slider isn’t fixed yet.But the splitter!He did earn ten whiffs on the pitch in his last outing, but is that enough? CAN WE TRUST IT?

Albert Suárez @ COL –It’s Coors, sadly.

Bailey Falter @ CLE –Falter is a borderline streamer and Cleveland doesn’t help.

Rhett Lowder vs. MIL –He’s the #1 prospect for the Reds and I’m…not that hyped? His heater didn’t grade well in his sole Triple-A outing last week [94.7 mph, 6.1 extension (poor), 14.7 iVB (below average), 0.7 HAVAA (steep = bad for high four-seamers)]. That’s an average four-seamer that may not perform well sitting upstairs, which he did achieve in this outing. The slider was located down effectively and paired well with the heater, and the changeup went 50% strikes with 0/14 whiffs. But it was 6 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 0 BBs, 7 Ks!I know, right? Maybe he’s a command specialist who’ll churn more strikeouts than we’d expect in the majors. Without an electric heater and wielding a slider that isn’t the dopest of dope (4/27 whiffs but good locations down to make the BSB), I’m cautious with Lowder, before even considering Cin City as his home park. I’m curious to see his debut and see if this assessment changes at all.

Jonathan Cannon vs. NYM –He has moments of brilliance, and maybe it will last for six innings here.

Jon Gray vs. OAK –He isn’t stretched outandthe slider isn’t back to elite status yet.

Austin Gomber vs. BAL –It’s Coors. And the Orioles.

Nick Martinez vs. MIL –How long is he going to go? Does it matter?

Enjoy these rankings? Support my work and Pitcher List by getting PL+ or PL Pro! You’ll get an Ad-Free website, access to our incredible non-toxic baseball Discord community, my weekly PL Pro exclusive SP FAAB Forecast podcast, a full suite of fantasy baseball tools, and much more. Get 10% off yearly with code SPSTREAMERS here.

Photos Courtesy of IconSportswire | Adapted by Aaron Asbury (@aarongifs on Instagram)