Fantasy Baseball Streaming Pitchers: Saturday Waiver Wire Rankings and Analysis

Both the NBA and NHL playoffs are in full swing, and the NFL Draft has taken place the past two days (and finishes today), so baseball has taken a bit of a backseat despite being the only sport with its regular season in progress. MLB will have its time alone in the spotlight during the Dog Days of Summer, but it's presently a packed calendar for American sports.

Moving to fantasy baseball, let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Saturday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups. Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable starters. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.

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Jake Irvin, Washington Nationals @ Chicago White Sox

Irvin has generally been average with walks but below average with strikeouts in his career. While he doesn't give up a lot of hits, Irvin has been highly susceptible to home runs, allowing one every 5.6 innings (average is closer to 7). Though his strikeouts are up early in 2026, he's also walking more batters, and he is giving up runs at a career-high rate (ERA of 6.00).

The White Sox have hit home runs but generally fallen short in most other offensive areas. They have a years-long track record among the worst teams in the league, so it's more likely that they will continue to struggle rather than seeing their home run prowess carry them to even an average performance. We will continue to target Chicago until they prove that we shouldn't over an extended period.

Irvin is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His strikeout work keeps his ceiling a little lower, even though it has been better this year. The matchup makes Irvin a feasible streaming option.

Matthew Liberatore, St. Louis Cardinals vs. Seattle Mariners

Seattle's best attribute for our purposes is that they strike out a lot, ranking among the top five in that area. They have otherwise been below average in most offensive areas, and though they could easily improve that performance given the names in the lineup, the Mariners have started the season slowly and are vulnerable to opposing pitchers.

Liberatore is another guy who is good with walks but below average with strikeouts, a common type on our streaming list any given day. Liberatore has done fine limiting hitters, including finishing with an ERA just over 4.00 last season and doing better than that in 2026. There's not a high ceiling, but Liberatore is a decent player to consider when the matchup is right.

Liberatore is a low-to-mid-level streamer. The lack of Ks keeps him down a bit, and the matchup might not be great, but there's a little intrigue here.

Jose Quintana, Colorado Rockies @ New York Mets

Kodai Senga, New York Mets vs. Colorado Rockies

These two pitchers face off against each other today, and they also fit together alphabetically, so let's group them here. It helps that this game is in New York instead of Colorado, giving these guys an advantage they wouldn't enjoy if home and away were flipped. The Rockies were expected to be bad, but the Mets are one of the most surprising teams of the early season for all the wrong reasons, failing offensively on their way to one of the worst records in baseball.

Quintana has remained at least an average pitcher as his strikeout rate has fallen over the past half-decade, losing fantasy value but remaining valuable to his real-life team. The beginning of 2026 hasn't been great, though, as Quintana has allowed 15 hits, 11 runs (nine earned), and three home runs in 13 innings with nine walks and just four strikeouts. Home games in Colorado don't help, but Quintana has struggled hard on the road also.

Senga keeps striking guys out, but that's the only thing he has done well this season, totaling 17 1/3 innings, 23 hits, 18 runs, four home runs, and 10 walks. He began with two decent starts against the Cardinals and Giants but has been beaten up the past two games against the A's and Cubs. I want to believe he will bounce back, but it's impossible to ignore the numbers so far.

Quintana is a low-level streamer and Senga a low-to-mid-level streamer today. Quintana has been on the way down for a while, and the 37-year-old might be on his last legs. Senga still has a little upside due to his strikeout numbers, and the matchup is heavily in his favor, but risk-averse owners won't want to touch him right now.

Walbert Urena, Los Angeles Angels @ Kansas City Royals

Urena made two relief appearances in March before getting his first career start on Sunday. In that brief major league time, he gave up nine hits and eight runs in 7 2/3 innings, though six of those runs were unearned. Unearned runs can be deceiving because it could mean he has been a victim of bad luck or it could mean that his ERA should be much worse but a few timely errors made his overall numbers look better. He has walked too many guys but also been good with strikeouts, though Urena did below-average strikeout work in the minors, so there might not be much upside there.

Kansas City was tied for the worst record in baseball entering Friday with the second-worst run differential (both marks were worst in the American League). There was hope for more improvement heading into the season given some of the young talent on the roster, but only DH Carter Jensen and outfielder Kyle Isbel have really been excelling with the bat, with everyone else middling or worse for the most part. It will take a big turnaround for the Royals to get to an average offensive level.

Urena is a low-level streamer. He has virtually no track record and wasn't great in the minors, so I'm not expecting much from him until we see him string together a few good starts.

Saturday's Streamer Rankings

1. Jake Irvin, WSH
2. Kodai Senga, NYM
3. Matthew Liberatore, STL
4. Walbert Urena, LAA
5. Jose Quintana, COL