Grab These Wednesday Fantasy Baseball Pitching Streamers Now
Five starting pitchers with good matchups on Wednesday who are widely available in fantasy leagues.
Last season, only seven qualified hitters batted at least .300. That number is at 14 right now, continuing the trend of batting averages falling off a cliff. It's the age of the strikeout and the low batting average; the arguments over which way is better will never cease, but it's unquestionable which route MLB teams see as their best chance at winning.
Moving to fantasy baseball, let's look at five starting pitchers in action on Wednesday who have good matchups and are widely available in fantasy leagues. Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable starters. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.
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Sean Burke, Chicago White Sox @ Seattle Mariners
Burke has been very average this season, putting up some great outings and some rough ones. His past four starts are a perfect example: on April 26 and May 2, Burke combined for 13 1/3 shutout innings with seven hits allowed, 12 strikeouts, and just one walk. In his past two starts on May 8 and 15, though, he combined for 8 2/3 innings with 10 runs, 14 hits, nine strikeouts, and three walks.
His K and BB work have mostly remained good, but Burke's ability to limit hitters when they make contact has wavered, leaving him closer to the middle.
Seattle ranks in the top 10 in home runs and walks, but they are in the bottom 10 in most other offensive box stats and sit in the top five in most batter strikeouts. A team can succeed by walking and mashing at a high rate, even if they falter elsewhere, but that hasn't been the case for the Mariners so far. Their swing-and-miss tendencies only raise the ceiling for opposing fantasy pitchers.
Burke is a mid-level streamer. There's some risk, and you could argue that he should be a half-notch lower, but Burke has done good strikeout work throughout his career, and the Mariners offer a decent matchup here if they don't get hot.
Aaron Civale, Athletics @ Los Angeles Angels
The Angels were no-hit through eight innings on Monday. Then they got a single and a walk-off home run in the ninth, beating the Athletics 2-1. Sure, the A's would rather have had the win than the near-no-hitter, but that is a great example of LA's struggling offense, which falls short in most areas outside of hitting home runs. Most importantly for our purpose, the Angels have struck out more than any other team.
Civale has been good with walks but below average with strikeouts this season. He has given up more than a hit per inning, but a little luck matched with not giving free base runners has helped him limit runs (2.70 ERA). His career strikeout rate is right at average, so that could improve in 2026 a little bit, and though he will give up more runs, it's reasonable to think that Civale could be slightly better than average in that area.
Civale is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His lower K rate is what brings him down just a bit below the middle, but the matchup is right, and given the Angels' struggles with making contact, there is a nice ceiling here for Civale.
Zack Littell, Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets
Littell has been average with walks in 2026, but his strikeout rate is about half of the league average, as he's sitting down just 10.7% of the batters he faces. His career rate is 19.1%, a little below average (which is 21-22%) but not unreasonably low. His current rate will improve, but until it does, it seriously caps Littell's fantasy value, especially as he has given up too many runs, hits, and home runs.
The Mets scored five runs in the first nine innings on Monday. Then they got one run in the 11th and a whopping 10 runs in the 12th inning, eventually winning 16-7 in one of the weirdest scoreboards you'll ever see. New York has been on a run of more success, but they still rank in the bottom 10 in most offensive categories, and I feel good targeting them every chance we get.
Littell is a low-level streamer. No matter the matchup, his performance just hasn't been up to a fantasy level this season even in the deepest leagues. Skip the Washington hurler in this one.
Merrill Kelly, Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Francisco Giants
Tyler Mahle, San Francisco Giants @ Arizona Diamondbacks
We'll finish today with a game in which we can target both teams with streaming pitchers. San Francisco remains at the bottom of the league in runs and walks and near the bottom in home runs and OPS. Arizona is lowly in more areas, though they have one quirk: they rank near the bottom five in home runs but in the top five in doubles, and the Diamondbacks lead the league in triples. Arizona could be argued as closer to middling than the bottom of the league offensively.
Kelly has generally been around average with both walks and strikeouts in his career, but both numbers are far on the wrong side of the middle in 2026, particularly his 14.8% K rate. He has also given up too many hits, runs, and home runs, dropping his fantasy ownership to about one-third of leagues instead of most leagues, as he had been at previously.
Mahle is less accomplished in his career, but he does good strikeout work, including holding an above-average rate this season. He has also been hit too hard, though, allowing 52 hits, 29 runs, and nine homers in 46 2/3 innings. His walk rate is also several percentage points worse than average this season, leaving him laboring often with runners on base.
Kelly is a low-level streamer and Mahle a low-to-mid-level streamer today. Mahle gets the small advantage because his strikeout work is better this season, and he has the better matchup, but it's hard to trust either of these guys right now given their struggles with limiting hitters.
Wednesday's Streamer Rankings
- Sean Burke, CWS
- Aaron Civale, ATH
- Tyler Mahle, SF
- Merrill Kelly, ARI
- Zack Littell, WSH
