Thursday's Fantasy Baseball Streaming Pitchers: Eury Perez Leads the Pack, Plus Teams to Target With Fantasy Pitchers
Three starting pitchers in action on Thursday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups. We also look at current teams to target with starting pitchers in fantasy baseball.
We are one week removed from the trade deadline and about seven weeks from the final weekend of the MLB season. Some teams are rolling: Milwaukee has the best record in baseball by two games over Toronto and the best in the National League by four games over the Dodgers.
Others are struggling at the wrong time: the Yankees and Mets are a combined 16-21 since the All-Star break and now both sit in the final wild card spot in their respective league, looking at a dog fight the rest of the way.
It's a good time to see where teams stand offensively, both by full-season numbers and recent performance, to find the squads that are most vulnerable against opposing fantasy pitchers.
Let's identify those bottom-10 offensive teams that we can target in fantasy baseball. Most stats below are from MLB.com. I'll go through the process I used and the teams to target, then I'll give you three streaming pitchers for Thursday on a day with only four games on the schedule.
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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 the number of times each team showed up in the bottom 10 (or very close to it) in each of those stats to identify the teams that stood out as regularly among that worst group.
I usually do this just by the full season numbers, but with over three weeks having passed since the All-Star Game and seven days since the trade deadline, I also looked at the past 30 days and past seven days to see who else stands out.
Teams to Target
Full Season
- Chicago White Sox
- Cleveland Guardians
- Colorado Rockies
- Kansas City Royals
- Los Angeles Angels
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- San Francisco Giants
- Texas Rangers
- Washington Nationals
- Atlanta Braves*
- Baltimore Orioles*
- Minnesota Twins*
The bottom three teams with the asterisks are more fringe teams by the season-long numbers. They have each spent time on our target list during the season, though, and I'm still comfortable targeting all three. Baltimore and Minnesota sold off solid pieces before the trade deadline, and the Braves are in something of a lost season and dealing with injuries.
The other nine teams are all usual suspects who have been on our list all year. The White Sox, Guardians, Rockies, Pirates, and Rangers might be the five best targets of the year when we look at the last week of March through the first week of August. The Angels and Nationals have bounced on and off a bit, while the Royals and Giants are later additions who have stuck around for an extended period now.
I like the idea of going after any of these teams in the right circumstances, even if some of them have been better over the past month and/or week. We'll also add a few others based on those more recent numbers.
Last Month/Week
- Chicago Cubs
- New York Mets
- St. Louis Cardinals
- Tampa Bay Rays
I'm not excited about going after the Cubs and Mets. Make no mistake: they have been slumping recently. Both teams have stars in the lineup and better season-long numbers, though, and I'm treating this more as a blip than a trend. I won't be targeting Chicago or New York, but I will keep an eye on their performances.
The Cardinals and Rays are a different story. St. Louis overachieved during the first half of the season and were a playoff contender, but they have dropped to .500 now, 5.5 out of the wild card. The offense has been a bottom-10 unit in both the past month and past week, and I expect them to continue at that level rather than up to the prior success they had. They are only a fringe target, though, below the others listed in this section and above.
Tampa Bay is part of the target list now. Over the last month, they are in the bottom 10 or very close to it in all 10 offensive box stats I used for this exercise. They reach the same low marks in eight categories over the past week. The Rays are 7-12 since the All-Star break and have scored three or fewer runs in eight of those games. I will be looking to go after Tampa when the circumstances are right.
Thursday's Pitching Streamers
Let's finish up by looking at three 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.
Jacob Lopez, Athletics @ Washington Nationals
Lopez completes a triumvirate of A's pitchers who have been listed here in three games against Washington, following Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs. Severino was OK, and Springs was even better yesterday, giving up just one hit (a solo home run) in six innings with no walks and five strikeouts. Washington fits on the streaming list based on season-long numbers, the past month, and the past week, the only team to stand out in all three.
Lopez walks a few too many guys, but he has been fantastic with strikeouts this season, holding a K% of 27.3% (versus league average around 22.5%). He has also allowed fewer than one hit per inning and has an ERA just a shade under 4.00, showing good work in his rookie season (he did throw 22 2/3 innings over the past two years).
Lopez is a mid-level streamer. His strikeout work gives him a nice ceiling, but Lopez also has a very short track record, so we have to temper expectations a little bit. The matchup is very good, though, so this could be another strong Athletics outing.
Eury Perez, Miami Marlins @ Atlanta Braves
Perez has performed well enough that he is owned in more than half of fantasy leagues now and has probably graduated from the streaming world. On a day without many true streamers, though, and with availability in about 40% of leagues, I'll mention him here because he has been fantastic. He missed all of 2024 after Tommy John surgery, but Perez has totaled 141 1/3 innings between 2023 and 2025, allowing just 101 hits during that time with 49 walks (an average rate) and 159 strikeouts (a well above-average rate). He has an ERA under 3.00.
Atlanta is more of a fringe target, but they fit perfectly into the group with so few teams in action today, and Perez has been good enough to expect him to take care of the Braves. Perez started against Atlanta once back in June, and he was just middling, allowing four hits and three runs in 4 2/3 innings, though he did have six strikeouts to just two walks.
Perez is a mid-to-high-level streamer. The matchup is good but not great, but I trust Perez to have a quality outing and maybe rack up strikeouts against an Atlanta team who is 11th in most batter Ks.
Brady Singer, Cincinnati Reds @ Pittsburgh Pirates
After being the second-worst team in the National League most of the season ahead of only Colorado, the Pirates now have a better record than both the Braves and Nationals. They have also shown a little life offensively, but this lineup is bereft of high-level talent and more likely to falter over the finals months than continue a “hot” streak. I'm still looking to go after the Pirates every day until further notice.
Singer is pitching right to his career averages in most areas this season. That means an average strikeout rate, but his BB% is both higher than his career rate and worse than league average, something that he has helped offset a bit by allowing less than a hit per inning. It all leaves Singer as a pretty average pitcher.
Singer is a mid-level streamer. The matchup is right, and Singer pitching like a middling guy puts him squarely on the streaming radar, especially as he continues sporting an average K rate.
Thursday's Streamer Rankings
- Eury Perez, MIA
- Jacob Lopez, ATH
- Brady Singer, CIN
