September 27 Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Jacob deGrom, Jameson Taillon, JP Sears and Reid Detmers

We have officially entered the last weekend of the Major League season. Teams are all in their final series of the season as of today, though the Mets and Braves have their own complications. Everything should hopefully be settled by the end of Monday, allowing us to dive into the playoffs headfirst, like Pete Rose.

Let’s run through Friday’s probable starters (according to MLB.com) who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups, creating streaming value. Most stats and rankings are from MLB. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.

One note before we start: As of this writing, the Tigers and Mariners haven’t announced their starters. When those pitchers are decided, they will both have fantasy value because of their matchups against the White Sox and Athletics, respectively.

Jacob deGrom, Texas Rangers @ Los Angeles Angels

Reid Detmers, Los Angeles Angels vs. Texas Rangers

Five series on this final weekend include two teams that are out of the playoff race; this is one of them. It’s not a big surprise that the Angels will fall short of the playoffs after losing Shohei Ohtani in the offseason, but Texas was coming off a World Series victory. Injuries and more went against the Rangers, and even in a down year for the division, they have been out of the race for a while.

deGrom has made two appearances since returning from an injury that cost him most of the season, both times throwing around three innings and 60 pitches against the Mariners. The results were good in that short time: 6.2 innings, one run allowed, nine strikeouts and one walk. Owners are tasked with balancing the good stats and short starts.

Detmers spent some time in the minors, and when he’s been in the big leagues, his strikeout and walk rates are both higher than average. Part of his demotion was finding better control, a necessity as he is walking over 10% of the batters he has faced. With a strikeout rate over 26%, though, there’s some room for error with the young lefty still finding success.

deGrom and Detmers are both low- to mid-level streamers. The worry about a short start is what holds deGrom down, while Detmers has given up a lot of runs to go with high strikeout totals.

JP Sears, Oakland Athletics @ Seattle Mariners

Sears is good at limiting walks, but he’s also a below-average strikeout pitcher. It’s evened out to an ERA just a little over 4.00 in his career, putting Sears in the muddled middle of the league. His two starts against Seattle this season had mixed results:

• June 6 vs Seattle: 6 innings, 2 runs allowed, 8 strikeouts, 2 walks
• September 4 vs Seattle: 6 innings, 5 runs allowed, 5 strikeouts, 1 walk

The Mariners are officially eliminated from playoff contention, a big disappointment given their pitching staff. Seattle might have the best pitchers in baseball, but the lack of offensive acumen sunk this team in a season in which no one in their division played particularly well and multiple wild cards will win less than 90 games. Their playoff hopes are over, but we can get a few more days of fantasy value out of them.

Sears is a low- to mid-level streamer. His strikeout work leaves him without the highest ceiling, so the good matchup gets him only so far.

Jameson Taillon, Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds

The Reds aren’t a great target. They are close to league average in a lot of stats, really only falling toward the bottom in contact hitting. Cincinnati is listed here today because we are short on streamers (especially until Detroit and Seattle announce starters).

Taillon helps make the Reds worth targeting in this one, though, because he has been a strong performer all season. His strikeout rate is a little lower than average, but Taillon’s walk rate is approaching half the league average. It has all led to an ERA under 3.50. Taillon did struggle in his one start against Cincinnati this season: 4.1 innings, six runs allowed, four strikeouts and one walk.

Taillon is another low- to mid-level streamer. He has a higher ceiling than anyone else here, but the matchup is middling rather than good, lowering his fantasy value a little bit.

Friday’s Streamer Rankings

1. Jameson Taillon, CHC
2. Jacob deGrom, TEX
3. JP Sears, OAK
4. Reid Detmers, LAA