Saturday's Fantasy Baseball Streaming Pitchers: Is Clayton Kershaw Worthy in His Season Debut?

Today is the first day since the NBA playoffs started that there are no basketball games on the schedule. There's a major Game 7 tomorrow, followed by the start of the Conference Championship Round, but this is a nice chance for a palate cleanser of baseball before jumping into the final (still long) stretch of NBA.

Let's look at five starting pictures in action on Saturday who have good matchups and are widely available in fantasy leagues. Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable pitchers. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.

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Matthew Boyd, Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox

Continuing rivalry weekend, the Chicago teams match up for their second of three games at Wrigley Field (they play three more that the White Sox's home park at the end of July). This is part of an easy (on paper) stretch of games for the Cubs, and they took care of business yesterday, winning 13-3. The Sox are one of the worst teams in baseball and a good matchup for every pitcher.

Boyd is better than average with both strikeouts and walks in 45.1 innings this season, matching his career work. After a very good short stretch with Cleveland last year, Boyd has continued to excel with the Cubs, currently holding an ERA under 3.00.

Boyd is a high-level streamer. He couldn't ask for a much better matchup, and Boyd's own performance is good enough that he might start getting picked up in more fantasy leagues. His next three starts will probably be against the Reds, Rockies (in Chicago), and Nationals, so Boyd has a chance at a nice stretch over the next few weeks.

Jake Irvin, Washington Nationals @ Baltimore Orioles

Irvin is right at average with walks, but he's below that mark with strikeouts. That's especially true in 2025: Irvin has just 34 Ks in 54 innings. His 15.3% strikeout rate is about seven percentage points below league average. He's been near the middle in run prevention, maybe a hair worse.

Baltimore is in the bottom 10 in everything on offense except for home runs. A team can be successful when not hitting well if they slug a ton, but the Orioles have topped out in the middle in power. They have fallen well short the standard they set the past few seasons offensively. Gunnar Henderson, an MVP candidate last year, is batting .260 with nine walks and 42 strikeouts. This unit has to pick it up if Baltimore wants any hope of competing for the playoffs.

Irvin is a low- to mid-level streamer. He's a very middling pitcher, one of many guys who are worth considering in the right matchups. His ceiling is modest due to the lower strikeout numbers.

Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Los Angeles Angels

Another crosstown rivalry with a big disparity between the teams. The Angels have the best record among the last-place teams in each division, but they are worse than the other 24 franchises. The offense is a huge part of that, ranking in the bottom 10 in most offensive box stats.

Kershaw is making his season debut in this one. We know the story: former Cy Young, well above-average career numbers in pretty much everything, and a storied career that began way back in 2008. He threw just 30 innings last year, and it was the first time his strikeout rate had ever been worse than average. We can't expect him to ever be what he was, but there is intrigue given his previous level of play.

Kershaw is a low- to mid-level streamer. I can't recommend him highly until we see something positive, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him have a little success early, especially considering the matchup.

Miles Mikolas, St. Louis Cardinals @ Kansas City Royals

Mikolas will turn 37 in August. It doesn't seem like he has been around that long, but Mikolas played in Japan from 2015-17, so it's easy to forget that he debuted in 2013. Mikolas is great at limiting walks but is also well below average with strikeouts.

The Royals don't strike out, but they also don't walk or hit for power. They are last in home runs and in the bottom 10 in slugging percentage and OPS. Power isn't a prerequisite for success, but the team has to be great hitting for contact and running the bases. KC is the inverse of Baltimore, who had middling power but nothing else.

Mikolas is a low-level streamer. The matchup is good, but he's the worst strikeout pitcher of our group today and needs more to go right for a successful fantasy day.

Reese Olson, Detroit Tigers @ Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays aren't a daily target; they're one of the teams who are as close to average as they are the bottom and don't fail as often as some of the other groups we've talked about here. Toronto is another team that is better with batting average than power, though they aren't completely inept hitting home runs. Toronto isn't a great target.

Instead, this is more about Olson. He is owned in a little less than half of leagues, and that number might keep growing. Both in 2025 and through his career (258.2 innings), Olson has been better than average with both walks and strikeouts. He has given up just 16 runs in 42.2 innings this season. Olson is a player to add and consider keeping if you don't have a really strong pitching staff; he is likely to continue striking guys out if nothing else.

Olson is a mid- to high-level streamer. He gets knocked down a notch because the matchup is middling, but Olson is a worthy pitcher to get into your lineup.

Saturday's Streamer Rankings

1. Matthew Boyd, CHC
2. Reese Olson, DET
3. Jake Irvin, WSH
4. Clayton Kershaw, LAD
5. Miles Mikolas, STL