Thursday's Fantasy Baseball Pitching Streamers: Are there any High-Level Options on a Light Schedule Day?
Four starting pitchers in action on Thursday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups.
The MLB schedule is a little short today, as we have nine games on the docket. That means more than one-third of the league is off, making it a little tougher to put together a fantasy lineup. It also lowers our chances at streamers, especially with teams like the White Sox and Royals out of action, limiting the teams to target.
Let's look at four starting pitchers in action on Thursday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups. Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable pitchers. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.
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Mike Burrows, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Burrows pitched in one game last season (his debut), allowing two runs in 3.1 innings in his only big-league action. Burrows has done good strikeout work in the minors, and he has allowed just nine earned runs in 32.1 minor league innings in 2025 with 41 strikeouts. There's a little intrigue here.
The Brewers have seen their season-long numbers fall below average or even to the bottom 10, and that has been driven by a really poor recent performance. Over the past two weeks, Milwaukee is in the bottom five in runs, hits, doubles, home runs, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS.
Burrows is a low- to mid-level streamer. This could be a sneaky place to find value, as Burrows is surely off the radar for all but the most hardcore fantasy baseball owners. We must temper expectations given that it will just be his second appearance in the majors, but Burrows is an interesting play here.
Lucas Giolito, Boston Red Sox vs. Baltimore Orioles
Giolito missed all of 2024 after undergoing elbow surgery. His return this season hasn't gone well, as Giolito has allowed 16 runs and 25 hits in 20.1 innings (ERA over 7.00). Both his walk and strikeout rates are a little lower than average this year. Giolito has been a high-level strikeout pitcher in his career, but it might take some time to find that magic again.
Every day, I pretty much say the same thing about the Orioles: they're the most disappointing team of the season so far, they are in the bottom 10 in most offensive box stats, but they do hit some home runs. There are just so many players struggling for Baltimore; there's no way they can overcome a team-wide slump.
Giolito is a low- to mid-level streamer. There is upside because of his past strikeout work, but Giolito has been uneven in his return from major injury.
Luis Severino, Athletics vs. Los Angeles Angels
Over his career, Severino has been better than average with both walks and strikeouts. He's still doing good at not putting guys on base, but his K rate is about 3.5% worse than it was last season and well below average. While there's plenty of time for that number to come back up, Severino was also down in 2023 before a bounce back last year.
LA's power prowess has been impressive early in the season. Seven players have hit at least five home runs, and three players (including the injured Mike Trout) have nine homers or more. They rank in the top five in total team home runs. The problem is that the Angels don't do anything else well, ranking in the bottom 10 in most other offensive categories. They are also tied for second in most batter strikeouts.
Severino is a mid-level streamer. His strikeout numbers are a little down this year, but he has a history of good K work, and the matchup is a nice one.
Ranger Suarez, Philadelphia Phillies @ Colorado Rockies
Usually, I don't like to include any teams playing at Coors Field for our purposes here. Colorado has been an offensive hotbox since the Rockies became a team (over 30 years now!), and that means most pitchers aren't going to find sustained success in that ballpark. When finding streamers, we're looking for lesser players in good situations; pitching in Coors Field isn't a good situation.
We have a short schedule today, though, and Suarez is a worthy pitcher to consider. He's at least average (maybe a little better) with both walks and strikeouts, and Suarez has generally been good with run prevention (career ERA below 3.50). He's given up a few more runs to start the season (10 runs in 17.2 innings), but his rates are still good, setting him up to find more success.
The Rockies are also a bad offensive team at home. When considering only games that teams have played at their home parks, Colorado is clearly a below-average offensive team and borders on being a bottom-10 group. The most enticing thing is that Rockies hitters have struck out more than any other team.
Suarez is a mid- to high-level streamer. He gets docked just a little because the game is at Coors Field, but Suarez is still a worthy player to consider, even after an uneven start to the season.
Thursday Streamer Rankings
- Ranger Suarez, PHI
- Luis Severino, ATH
- Mike Burrows, PIT
- Lucas Giolito, BOS
