Teams to Stream Against with Fantasy Pitchers: Mid-June Update

Every two to four weeks, I like to go through the MLB stats to see which teams are doing the worst offensively by the box-stat numbers. The goal is to find which squads are worth going after with streaming fantasy pitchers who get bumps from facing these poor offensive groups.

Let's look at the teams currently populating the bottom of MLB's offensive stats who are the most valuable to seek out when looking for opposing pitchers. I'll give you the process I went through to find these teams, the groups that are worth targeting, and what might change moving forward.

All stats are from MLB.com, and the rankings are correct before Wednesday's results.

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Process

I used 10 offensive box stats: runs, hits, doubles, home runs, walks, strikeouts, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. I tallied how many times each team showed up in the bottom 10 in those stats (or very close to it) and looked for the teams that stood out among the worst.

It's not perfect; there aren't many advanced stats, and I usually use season-long numbers as the main indicators rather than any recent performance. Melding more of those aspects could create a more analytical look, but teams who are often in the bottom 10 in most stats usually aren't hiding some underlying level of performance that will cause them to suddenly jump to an above-average unit.

Teams to Target

Each time I do this exercise, there are around 10 teams that stand out. This time, we have 11:

Daily Targets

• Baltimore Orioles
• Chicago White Sox
• Cleveland Guardians
• Colorado Rockies
• Pittsburgh Pirates
• Texas Rangers

These six teams have been on our target list all season (Cleveland wasn't here to start the year, but they quickly claimed their spot and have been regulars the past few months). The Orioles, White Sox, Rockies, and Pirates are all in last place in their division, seeing the poor performance show up in their results. Those teams are each more than five games behind the next closest team in their division, with Chicago, Colorado, and Pittsburgh at least 10 back.

Cleveland and Texas are both right around .500, being carried to moderate seasons so far despite the offenses tanking. The Rangers have an easy top-five pitching staff; the only place they aren't to that level is with strikeouts, where they are closer to average. The Guardians, on the other hand, top out as an average pitching staff and have been more lucky than good: Cleveland has a run differential of -25, worse than any team above fourth in any division (the Guardians are second in the AL Central).

Each of the six rank among the bottom 10 in at least seven of the 10 categories offensively, with the Rockies, Pirates, and Guardians topping out at nine. They don't hit for power, they don't hit for average, and they don't make up for in by forcing their way on base and finding their way home. Our six “Daily Targets” provide value to every single pitcher in fantasy.

Second Tier

• Kansas City Royals
• Milwaukee Brewers
• Los Angeles Angels
• San Francisco Giants
• Washington Nationals

These are the teams I'm going after most days, but I won't push it, especially when we have plenty of streaming options against the top group. Each team here ranks in the bottom 10 in at least six of the 10 stats, with the Angels leading this group with eight bottom 10s.

That might seem like enough to bump LA up to the Daily Targets, but they hit for massive power, ranking in the top five in home runs. They are also in the top five in most batter strikeouts, making them a team worth targeting, especially as they struggle in every non-power category.

The Royals are the anti-Angels (the Devils?): KC does other things well but hits for NO power, ranking last in home runs. They don't strike out, but they also don't walk; Kansas City is in the bottom 10 in six categories, the fewest among our targets, but they don't scare anyone.

Milwaukee, San Francisco, and Washington are all in the same boat in that they haven't been on our radar often but have made brief appearances previously this season. Each of the three currently has seven bottom-10 numbers, but there are more intriguing players here than on some of the other teams, especially the Daily Targets. The Giants trading for Rafael Devers might single-handedly take them off this list; I'll be watching that carefully.

The Minnesota Twins and San Diego Padres are fringe teams that I will look at when the schedule is very short or if we just have a dearth of streamers on a certain day. While Minnesota was on the target list most of the season and has worked its way off, San Diego was not at this level previously and has instead seen their performance drop, pushing them toward the bottom 10 offenses.

Conclusion

Many of the usual suspects are back, and they are the teams to really jump on. Those Daily Targets are the worst that baseball has to offer, and the second tier has plenty of upside for opposing pitchers, especially young, blossoming players who aren't yet owned in many fantasy leagues.

Focusing on these teams with opposing pitchers other than your fantasy aces is a good strategy to rack up high-quality innings against inferior opponents. Streamers are inherently riskier than high-level players and should only be used when needed, but teams like the Pirates, Rockies, and White Sox turn pitchers into ace-level guys often, even if only for one day.