Monday Fantasy Baseball SP Streamers and Rankings: Elder Leads the Way
Four starting pitchers with good matchups on Monday who are widely available in fantasy leagues.
With seven weeks remaining in the MLB season, we still have far more questions than answers. No division is separated by more than 8.5 games; one good or bad week (depending on team perspective) could change the whole outlook, bringing plenty of intrigue with every team having more than 40 games still to play.
As fans, all we can ask is for an exciting finish down to the end, and it looks like we have a chance to get that outcome this season. Throw in at least seven teams in each league being within five games of the Wild Card (including the teams that currently hold those spots), and it appears that it will be a dog fight to the very end.
Moving to fantasy baseball, let's look at four starting pitchers in action on Monday 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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Hunter Dobbins, St. Louis Cardinals vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Andrew Painter, Philadelphia Phillies @ St. Louis Cardinals
We'll start today with a game in which we can target both teams with streaming pitchers. Philadelphia is only on the fringe as a target, as they have gotten up closer to an average level offensively, particularly in recent games; they're here more out of necessity than as a truly strong target.
The Cardinals, on the other hand, fit nicely onto our streaming list, but they are more below-average than truly pitiful. St. Louis sits closer to 20th than 30th in most box stats, and they simply just rate out as a poor offensive team rather than the basement performers we prefer to attack. This is a game of OK targets, not great ones.
Dobbins has spent much of this season in the minor leagues, making 13 appearances at that level and eight in the major leagues. He has been very average at both levels, something that is true of his whole big league career (101 innings between last year and this one). Dobbins is good with walks but a below-average strikeout pitcher who has been in the middle in terms of allowing hits, runs, and home runs. There could be better performances in the future, but he's a streaming-level pitcher right now.
Painter is in his first big-league season, and it hasn't gone well: 75 innings, 89 hits, 54 runs (6.48 ERA), 15 home runs, 28 walks, and 63 strikeouts. His BB number is fine, but everything else there is much worse than average, leaving him as a tough pitcher to trust in any matchup. The 13th overall pick in 2021, Painter has plenty of upside, but the numbers haven't been there early in his career. He was better in the minor leagues, so there's reason to believe he will improve with more seasoning (especially his Ks), but I'm not expecting much for the rest of 2026.
Dobbins is a low-to-mid-level streamer and Painter a low-level streamer. The latter does have the better matchup, but he has struggled hard in his first taste of the major leagues, necessitating caution. Dobbins is fine, but the matchup might not be that good, leaving him a lower floor than we'd like.
Bryce Elder, Atlanta Braves vs. New York Mets
Elder is owned in around 50% of fantasy leagues, sitting more as a fringe streamer who had been owned more heavily earlier in the season. He was strong through most of the first two months, but Elder went through a rough patch from May 27 through the All-Star break, making seven starts and allowing 49 hits and 34 runs (32 earned) in 34 innings. He is good with walks and just a little below average with strikeouts (a very common type among streamers), and Elder is doing better lately, as his past four starts have combined for just 14 hits and six runs allowed in 24 innings. There's intrigue here.
We've talked a lot recently about how the Mets were a bottom team for most of the season before going on a hot streak of sorts offensively and making their numbers look just bad and not basement-level. They are back on the wrong side of things, brought on by team-wide poor play and the injury absence of Juan Soto, whose return is still in question. I'd bet that we will see New York continue to struggle the rest of the season, and until they show otherwise, we will keep targeting them in fantasy.
Elder is a mid-level streamer. He has shown very effective work this season, and though his strikeout work is a little below average, it's close enough to the middle, especially for a starter. With him on a hot streak and the Mets going the opposite direction, Elder is a good bet today.
Dean Kremer, Minnesota Twins vs. Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore went off for 10 runs yesterday, but they had scored one run apiece in the three games before that and were averaging three runs per game in August before yesterday's outburst. The Orioles have been closer to middling than truly bad for most of the season, and their rankings in the offensive box stats show that, as they sit in the middle or worse in pretty much every area. They do draw a lot of walks, sitting in the top three, but they also strike out a top-five rate, setting a nice ceiling for opposing pitchers.
Kremer spent his first six-plus big-league seasons with the Orioles before getting traded to Minnesota at the deadline. His debut with the Twins was good, going five innings with three hits and one run allowed against the Royals (Kansas City won 2-1). Over his career, Kremer has been a little better than average with walks and a little worse than average with strikeouts while doing middling work allowing hits, runs, and home runs; he's fine to consider in the right matchups, though he missed more than two months on the IL this season.
Kremer is a low-to-mid-level streamer. This is another case of a decent pitcher with a matchup that is just good, not great. I'm not too excited about counting on him, but you could find a worse situation if you're in a deeper league (and starting against his old team brings intrigue, if nothing else).
Monday's Streamer Rankings
- Bryce Elder, ATL
- Dean Kremer, MIN
- Hunter Dobbins, STL
- Andrew Painter, PHI
