Wednesday's Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Eury Perez, Ryan Bergert, and More

Run differential is often looked at as a better indicator of true performance than simple record. Those teams who regularly outscore their opponents are often better, which isn't a groundbreaking statement, but it shows how some teams will win/lose close games at a much higher rate than everyone else, putting their record out of line with their true performance.

The NL West is one of the oddest collections of run differentials you will ever see: four teams have positive differentials, and the only team who doesn't, the Rockies, are at minus-359, nearly 200 runs worse than any other team and over 250 runs worse than everyone except for the Nationals. If you needed any more proof that Colorado was historically awful, that should tell you everything you need to know. (Last year's White Sox were minus-306 for reference.)

Let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Wednesday 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.

Remember to use our FantasySP rest of season rankings to build the best roster for the final month of the season!

Ryan Bergert, Kansas City Royals vs. Los Angeles Angels

Bergert is in his first season, just 64 innings into his career. He has been good, walking a few too many guys but also holding an above-average strikeout rate. Bergert also did good strikeout work in the minors, so there's hope that number will hold. On top of the solid rates, he has been very good limiting hitters, allowing just 45 hits and eight home runs on the way to a 2.67 ERA.

The Angels lag behind most of the league in every offense area aside from power; they rank in the top five in home runs. A team can be successful by simply bludgeoning their way to wins, but LA is severely lacking everywhere else, holding them back from even approaching an average offense. Most notably for our purposes, Angel hitters rank in the bottom 10 in walks but have struck out more than any other squad.

Bergert is a mid-level streamer. He has looked good for the most part, particularly limiting hitters when they make contact, and the matchup is very good, with LA's strikeouts matching up well with Bergert's average-or-better K stuff.

Nestor Cortes, San Diego Padres vs. Baltimore Orioles

It's easy to let a small sample creep into our minds and poison our view of a good player because of what we've seen recently. Cortes is a great test case: He missed much of 2023 with injury, and his last stand with the Yankees included giving up the game-losing home run in Game 1 of the World Series in the 10th inning. He is also “old.” Well, Cortes is only 30 years old, and his 2024 numbers were positive by pretty much every metric, so it's pretty clear that he's not nearly as cooked as one could make you believe by cherry picking a few recent moments.

The Orioles were bad for much of the season, went through a good stretch where they played much better (especially on offense), and now are back down among the worst offenses, playing like a bottom-10 team over the past month or so. That inconsistency will be the biggest question this offseason as they try to reload with a roster that looked like one of the best in the AL heading into the season.

Cortes is a low-to-mid-level streamer. He has missed most of this season with injury and has been decent but not great when on the mound, making him more of a pitcher with a little upside than someone I want to trust regularly. The matchup is also more middling than truly a top opportunity.

Zebby Matthews, Minnesota Twins vs. Chicago White Sox

I'm getting a little skeptical of targeting the White Sox. I recently took one last look at the teams to target with fantasy pitchers over the final month of the season, and Chicago has poor season-long numbers but has been much better over the past 30 days. Specific to this series against the Twins, the Sox have so far won 6-5 and then 12-3 yesterday, putting a hurting on Minnesota. Could Chicago really play their way off the streaming list?

Matthews is better than average with both walks and strikeouts in his short career (96 1/3 innings) by several percentage points in both categories. That's a baseline pointing toward success. He hasn't been as good when batters make contact, though, allowing 120 hits and 20 home runs in that time, both numbers far worse than average in his innings pitched. That's the main reason he is holding a career ERA near 6.00.

Matthews is a low-to-mid-level streamer. I am giving him a little bump because of his walk and (especially) strikeout work, but Matthews has been hit hard, and the matchup doesn't look as good as it would have around a month ago.

Eury Perez, Miami Marlins @ Washington Nationals

Perez is one of the stronger pitchers to show up somewhat often on our streaming list, and his ownership rate matches that, as he's only available in about 60% of leagues (50% is generally an unofficial cutoff). He was owned in even more leagues before a recent stretch in which he struggled: in his past five starts, Perez has allowed 20 hits and 19 runs in 21 1/3 innings with 19 strikeouts to nine walks. His strikeout work is generally very good, but he has lost his control a bit, walking more hitters than average.

The Nationals don't scare anyone: they rank in the bottom six in runs, home runs, slugging percentage, and OPS. They are one of just five teams who have bottom-10 numbers over both the full season and the past month, and there isn't much hope for better performance the rest of this season. There is some young talent, but the Nats have way too many holes in the lineup to put together even an average unit.

Perez is a mid-level streamer. Despite recent struggles, there's still a lot of upside here, particularly with strikeouts, and Perez could jump right back into his near-dominant ways with a strong matchup against Washington.

Jeffrey Springs, Athletics @ St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis is maybe the most appealing target based on recent numbers. Since the trade deadline, they rank in the bottom 10 in runs, hits, doubles, home runs, walks, strikeouts (most), batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. It has been a team-wide collapse after a decent start to the season, and we can't just blame the deadline, as the Cardinals were faltering before shipping players out.

Springs has been good with walks every year since 2020, and he was always an above-average strikeout pitcher. His Ks are way down this season, though, sitting at a rate of 19.4% versus his career rate of 24.7% and league average around 22.5%. He has done fair with limiting batters, but he has been a little home run prone, allowing a long ball every 5.8 innings. Springs is fine as a middling pitcher, but the lower strikeouts cap his fantasy ceiling.

Springs is a low-to-mid-level streamer. The matchup is good, and Springs has often been good during his career, but the drop in Ks lowers his fantasy value.

Wednesday's Streamer Rankings

1. Eury Perez, MIA
2. Ryan Bergert, KC
3. Nestor Cortes, SD
4. Jeffrey Spring, ATH
5. Zebby Matthews, MIN