Sunday Fantasy Baseball Pitching Streamers and Waiver Wire Targets

The last day of the MLB season is exactly eight weeks from today. We will be several weeks into the football season by that time, and the northern states will be preparing for winter; it seems far away. That final stretch will be here before we know it, though, even as every team has around 50 games remaining. Time flies, as they say.

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!

Mitch Keller, Pittsburgh Pirates @ Cincinnati Reds

Many of Keller's numbers are good this season, but his strikeout rate is down and his ERA is up from previous levels, turning him from a strong fantasy pitcher to nothing more than a streamer. He is coming off two strong starts, when he combined for 10 1/3 innings, nine hits, two runs, three walks, and 10 strikeouts, one of his best two-outing stretches of the season. Keller is fine but has a lower ceiling given his lower K rate this year.

The Reds have been a bottom-10 offense all season, hitting for some decent power but failing elsewhere. A team can be successful when power is their main asset, especially if they draw a lot of walks, like Cincinnati does, but they are in the bottom five in hits and batting average, leaving them in that same lowly group in runs scored. Most importantly for our purposes, the Reds rank in the top three in most batter strikeouts, setting a high ceiling for opposing pitchers.

Keller is a low-to-mid-level streamer. With his previous K%, Keller would be a very intriguing option here, but with that number down, Keller's ceiling is lower than we'd like. There is some upside given how often the Reds strike out, and Keller is worth consideration, especially in deeper leagues.

Merrill Kelly, Arizona Diamondbacks @ Cleveland Guardians

Kelly has had a rough season. He was previously a guy who was owned in almost every fantasy league, but his performance this season has him in streaming territory, particularly his strikeout rate (15% versus his career rate of 21.3%, which is right around average). He is also giving up too many home runs (one every five innings versus his career rate of one every 7.4 innings). Kelly had by far his best month in July, giving up just nine runs (six earned) in 27 2/3 innings with 24 strikeouts to nine walks. That brings intrigue, but Kelly's season-long numbers leave plenty to be desired.

Cleveland has been one of the worst offensive teams all season, ranking in the bottom five in many areas, including runs scored, home runs, and all four slash categories. This has been an ongoing issue with the Guardians since last year, meaning this is now a trend, not an oddity. A small-market team that likes to churn players before they get expensive, it's not necessarily a shock to see Cleveland faltering offensively, but they generally find a way to figure things out. That hasn't been the case over the past two seasons, though, and we'll take advantage while we can. (They are still in playoff position, but the Guardians don't look anything like contenders with an offense this poor.)

Kelly is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His recent performance is enticing, as is his past work, but his numbers this season leave his fantasy value a little lower than usual.

Michael McGreevy, St. Louis Cardinals @ Toronto Blue Jays

Max Scherzer, Toronto Blue Jays vs. St. Louis Cardinals

We'll finish today with a game in which we can target both teams with streaming pitchers. Toronto has been one of the worst offensive teams recently, leaving their season-long numbers clearly in the bottom 10. While they were previously hitting OK minus power, they have now been struggling everywhere, making them one of our best targets. The Cardinals are more modestly bad rather than truly a basement offensive team, but they are still a group we can go after often, just ranking closer to 20th than 30th in most areas.

McGreevy has been good most of the season, but he is far below average with strikeouts, leaving him a lower fantasy ceiling. Before his last two starts, McGreevy was on a strong run, racking up four straight quality starts in a row. In those past two outings, though, he gave up 15 hits and 11 runs in eight combined innings with five walks and five strikeouts. McGreevy is worth considering but has a lower ceiling.

Scherzer has been injured much of the season and has struggled when on the mound, giving up 31 hits and 26 runs in 24 2/3 innings. He lasted just 2 2/3 innings in his return last Monday, giving up four hits and three walks but only one run (while striking out four). Scherzer is far past his best days, and his numbers reflect that fact. It's impossible to trust Scherzer for anything right now, and that includes staying healthy.

McGreevy is a low-to-mid-level streamer and Scherzer a low-level streamer. McGreevy is worth consideration, but his terribly low strikeout rate seriously limits his ceiling. Scherzer hasn't been on the mound enough to believe that he can have a long outing, and he hasn't been good when healthy, leaving him as a non-option in almost every league.

Sunday's Pitching Streamers

1. Merrill Kelly, ARI
2. Michael McGreevy, STL
3. Mitch Keller, PIT
4. Max Scherzer, TOR