Sunday's Fantasy Baseball Streamer Pitchers: Can Will Warren Match Clarke Schmidt's Big Outing for the Yankees?

This is a baseball article but today is also the final game of the NBA season. The Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder face off in OKC in Game 7. A series that initially looked like it could be a blowout, Indiana made a signature comeback in Game 1 and dominated Game 6 on the way to this ultimate contest.

The Thunder were the best team during the regular season; their 68 wins were four more than anyone else and 16 more (!!!) than anyone else in the Western Conference. They would be a fitting champion. Indiana is a fun story and would be a memorable champion after their run, but an OKC win would be a fitting bow on the 2024-25 season.

Moving to fantasy baseball, let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Sunday 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.

Bailey Falter, Pittsburgh Pirates vs Texas Rangers

Jack Leiter, Texas Rangers @ Pittsburgh Pirates

I like series that feature two really bad offensive teams; it makes for easy pickings for our streaming purposes. Both the Pirates and Rangers rank in the bottom 10 in essentially every offensive box stat and don't have much reason to expect improvement from their current rosters. Pittsburgh is devoid of talent, and the supposed talent on Texas is severely underperforming. Only one Ranger with at least 100 at-bats is hitting over .250: infielder Josh Smith, who is outperforming his career numbers in every stat.

Falter is a below-average strikeout pitcher, but he helps make up for it by limiting walks. He is having his best season from a hit- and run-prevention standpoint, though, giving up just 64 hits and 31 earned runs in 80 innings. He had previously allowed more hits than innings pitched in all but one season of his career (138 hits in 142.1 innings last season).

Leiter has big-time pedigree as both the son of a big leaguer and a college ace who was drafted second overall in 2021. The start of his pro career has been uneven, as Leiter has been worse than average with both walks and strikeouts and has an ERA over 6.00 in 97 career innings. There's upside here, but Leiter hasn't looked like the promised ace so far.

Falter and Leiter are both low- to mid-level streamers in this one. The matchup makes them worth considering, but neither has done enough to merit a big projection. They are both closer to “mid” than “low” on the streaming spectrum and aren't terrible guys to go with, especially in deep leagues.

Lucas Giolito, Boston Red Sox @ San Francisco Giants

Giolito missed all of 2024 due to injury and got a late start to 2025, but he has had an OK start in his return, though he's been hit a little hard: 45.2 innings, 50 hits, 25 runs (24 earned, 4.73 ERA), 41 strikeouts, and 15 walks. It's reasonable to expect that he will look better as he works off more of the rust, and I'm really intrigued by a guy with a career strikeout rate over 25% (versus league average around 22%).

The Giants rank in the bottom 10 in hits, doubles, homers, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. They are in the top five in most walks drawn, and they have a new slugger in Rafael Devers, but San Francisco has been playing like a bottom-10 offense in the first half.

Giolito is a mid-level streamer. The strikeouts are nice, and the Giants are right around 10th in most batter strikeouts, so there's upside. Giolito doesn't quite make the top tier, though, as he continues working to his best.

Ryan Gusto, Houston Astros @ Los Angeles Angels

Gusto has been very good with strikeouts in his short time while walking just a few too many guys. He was also decent with Ks in the minors, so there's a good chance he can keep up this level moving forward. That presents a higher floor and ceiling than a lot of guys who end up on our streaming list, as he can give up a few runs and still have a successful fantasy outing.

The Angels hit for power, but they don't do anything else well. They rank in the bottom 10 in pretty much every box stat, pushing toward the bottom five in many of them. I don't often look at stolen bases as a major stat for our purposes, but the Angels are in the bottom five in that category too, which makes sense since they're near the bottom in base runners.

Gusto is a mid- to high-level streamer in this one. I'll temper expectations just a bit because he's a rookie, but this is a good strikeout pitcher against one of the teams that strikes out most, so there's a big ceiling here (with a bit of a lower floor).

Will Warren, New York Yankees vs Baltimore Orioles

Yesterday's Yankee starter, Clarke Schmidt, was listed here as a must-start player due to his level of play and the ineptitude of the Orioles. Well, Schmidt threw seven no-hit innings before the Yanks took him out with 103 pitches and a 9-0 lead. (I get it, for the sake of keeping a guy healthy who started the year on the IL, but it always sucks when a guy is taken out of a no-hitter.) The Orioles ended up with just one hit and didn't score.

Today's starter, Warren, is an excellent strikeout pitcher who is just a hair worse than average with walks. He has been hit a little hard, allowing 96 hits in 91.2 innings and holding an ERA over 6.00, but Warren has big fantasy upside. In his last start against the Angels, Warren struck out 11 with no walks in six innings; this is set up with the potential for a similar stat line.

Warren is a mid- to high-level streamer. I'll keep expectations just a little lower than they were for Schmidt yesterday because Warren hasn't been untouchable, but I love the ceiling enough to call Warren a borderline must-start guy today.

Sunday's Streamer Rankings

1. Will Warren, NYY
2. Ryan Gusto, HOU
3. Lucas Giolito, BOS
4. Bailey Falter, PIT
5. Jack Leiter, TEX