Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: 4 Sunday Starting Pitcher Streamers

With less than a week left in July, we have no choice but to trust what we are seeing from players and teams. There will still be changes in performance over the final two months, but what we have seen over the initial four months will tell most of the story of the 2026 season.

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

Use FantasySP's waiver wire tool to find the players who are being added to fantasy rosters most often!

Luinder Avila, Kansas City Royals @ Detroit Tigers

The Tigers rank in the bottom 10 in most offensive box stats over the full season. They are better with walks and home runs, and that combination can help lead to a successful offense, but when they are in the bottom third in runs scored, it means things aren't working. They rate out a little better when looking at just the past 30 days, but even that timeframe leaves Detroit as a middling group (other than a top-two mark in home runs). The Tigers also strike out at a top-10 rate, setting a decent ceiling for opposing pitchers.

Avila has made 19 appearances this season (10 starts) after making 13 out of the bullpen last year. In those 77 combined innings, he has been average with strikeouts while walking too many guys. He has mostly been very middling this season with the BB issues persisting, but Avila has excelled at keeping the ball in the park, an important skill in today's MLB. He was just OK in the minor leagues, so it's tough to expect a big ceiling for Avila until we see it at the highest level.

Avila is a low-to-mid-level streamer. Though his strikeout work has been good, it has (predictably) fallen when he has been starting instead of working as a reliever, so his middling work elsewhere leaves plenty of risk in this one.

Janson Junk, Miami Marlins vs. San Diego Padres

Junk does well limiting walks, but he is a well-below-average strikeout pitcher, limiting his fantasy upside most days. He has been a little worse than average this season with allowing hits, runs, and home runs, mostly matching his career work, so there doesn't seem to be much missing that will suddenly pop up. It seems like what you see is what you get with Junk, and that means an underwhelming fantasy player who is OK to consider when the matchup is right.

Based on full-season numbers, the Padres are maybe our favorite target. They have been much better over the past month, though, probably qualifying as a top-10 offense over that time, and that makes our evaluation here a little tricky. I still prefer trusting the season-long numbers; a longer timeframe almost always tells the real story. We can't ignore what San Diego has done recently, though, so their spot on our streaming list could be a bit tentative.

Junk is a low-level streamer. He hasn't been very good, and his lack of Ks holds down his fantasy value every time he takes the mound. With the matchup questionable compared to what it was just a month ago, we can keep Junk's outlook at the lowest level.

Kyle Leahy, St. Louis Cardinals vs. Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati is another team that ranks in the bottom 10 in most offensive box stats over the full year, but unlike the two teams listed above, the Reds have kept that lowly performance going over the past month. Cincinnati does mirror Detroit in that they walk and hit home runs, but they perform worse than the Tigers everywhere else, keeping them another notch lower offensively. The Reds also strike out a lot, setting a nice ceiling for opposing pitchers.

Leahy has done very well limiting runs and home runs, holding a 3.59 ERA and giving up just one homer every 9.5 innings. He has been average with walks and a little below average with strikeouts, both matching his career numbers, but Leahy finds ways to keep runs from crossing the plate. It would be easy to chalk it up to being a little lucky, but he has done it his whole career, so there might be something more to it.

Leahy is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His numbers are good, but the slight lack of strikeouts keeps his ceiling down just a bit. Cincinnati's struggles could push Leahy up a half-notch, but I'm showing a little restraint in this one.

Miles Mikolas, Washington Nationals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

Mikolas has mostly been working as a bulk reliever, taking over after an opener. That type of player can be a little more valuable because they face the top of the lineup one fewer time and don't need five innings to qualify for the win, but Mikolas hasn't been very good. He has struggled to limit hits, runs, and home runs, and though he always does well with walks, Mikolas has been far worse than average with strikeouts, even worse than his paltry career number (12.2% strikeout rate this season versus 16.8% for his career and league average near 22%).

Many of Arizona's numbers have crept toward average after sitting in the bottom 10 most of the season, though their rate stats are mostly still in the bottom 10. Their improvement is built upon an above-average performance over the past month, threatening to take the Diamondbacks off our streaming list. They also don't strike out much, so Arizona sets a lower ceiling than some of our other targets; this is another tentative target that might change soon if they keep it up.

Mikolas is a low-level streamer. He hasn't been good enough, and the matchup isn't as strong as the full-season numbers make it seem.

Sunday's Streamer Rankings

1. Kyle Leahy, STL
2. Luinder Avila, KC
3. Janson Junk, MIA
4. Miles Mikolas, WSH