MLB Teams to Target with Fantasy Baseball Streaming Pitchers

Every few weeks or so, I like to go through the baseball teams that are regularly ranking in the bottom 10 in offensive box stats. 

The goal is to identify the best targets for streaming pitchers in fantasy baseball. Only getting innings from aces and guys pitching against the worst offenses is a strong strategy early in the season, and this process helps with making sure guys are in a position to succeed.

The Process

To identify those worst teams, I used nine offensive box stats: runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs, strikeouts (most), batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. Then I went through and tallied how many times each team was in the bottom 10 in one of those stats.

It's not perfect, and it doesn't deal in advanced stats much. We're only about three weeks into the season, so small samples mean some of these teams won't actually be great targets. I'll weigh what we've seen so far with last year's stats and preseason expectations when actually targeting teams.

This is a quantitative way to find low-achieving teams, though, and there's not much arguing with a lot of these numbers so far, even if we do expect some of the groups to improve.

Teams to Target

Every time I do this exercise, there are close to 10 teams that stand out as targets. Some of those units are better matchups than others, but it's a nice group to seek out when looking for the best matchups.

There were 10 teams again that stood out this time with a few others that were on the border:

• Chicago White Sox
• Cincinnati Reds
• Colorado Rockies
• Houston Astros
• Kansas City Royals
• Minnesota Twins
• New York Mets
• Pittsburgh Pirates
• Seattle Mariners
• Texas Rangers

The Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants are the teams on the line. Both of those squads could quickly hit themselves off of this list, and they aren't teams I'll go after every day.

The White Sox, Reds, Rockies, Pirates, Mariners, and Rangers were also teams that were on my initial target list back before the season. Those are the squads that I'm really excited about going after because both long-term and short-term numbers point toward them as among the worst offenses in baseball.

The Twins have been one of the most disappointing teams to start the season. They were lauded as a possible division champion, but they have started off 5-11, tied for the fourth-worst record in baseball (and it's the second worst in the American League ahead of only the White Sox). They are in the bottom 10 in seven of our nine stats, so until they show sustained success, Minnesota will be one of my targets.

Kansas City took a big jump forward last season; it's not a surprise to see them regressing a little bit naturally, which could take them to a bottom-10 level when on a slump. A lack of power is hurting the Royals as much as anything else.

Houston would seem like a team who will figure things out and turn it around, but they lost both Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman over the offseason, and middle-of-the-lineup guys like Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker have started the season ice cold, with one homer apiece and batting averages below .235 (.164 for Walker).

I'm most skeptical about the Mets staying on this list; I will be targeting them very sparingly and only as a last resort, along the line of the Braves and Giants probably. New York is very borderline in several of their bottom-10 stats and could be off the list with one or two good days.

That's true of any of these teams, really. With the sample so small that the next week will increase each team's game total by about half, this list is going to change a lot. This is more of a snapshot of the early season and the teams who are showing vulnerability than a season-long indictment of any squad.

Other Previous Targets

The Tigers, Rays, Marlins, Angels, and Athletics were previously on the target list but have played themselves off of it early. Detroit, Tampa Bay, and the A's were squads who were on watch that they could improve to a level of not being targets, so it's not too much of a surprise to see them playing better so far.

Miami and Los Angeles were among the worst teams in baseball last season, though, and groups that I figured would stay on the target list most of the season. This doesn't mean that they won't be worth targeting moving forward, but the Marlins and Angels are each in the bottom 10 in only two of the nine statistics.

Conclusion

This is an early-season snapshot of offensive ineptitude. Things will change before we get to Memorial Day, and there will be even more shuffling before we get to the end of summer and the playoff stretch.

For the sake of being adaptable, we have a list here of teams who are worth going after with fantasy pitchers. Until further notice, I will be looking to target the teams listed above with streamers.