Fantasy Baseball Starting Pitcher Streamers: Top Friday Waiver Wire Matchups

And just like that, summer has essentially come to an end. The official “summer” season still has a month remaining, but schools are either back in session or close to it, and preseason football has started; the phenomenon we generally call summer is gone away until next year. We still have a month-and-a-half of baseball left, though, so let's keep powering through the long, grueling fantasy season.

Let's look at four starting pitchers in action on Friday 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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Andrew Alvarez, Washington Nationals @ New York Mets

Alvarez has put up decent numbers in 17 appearances working as a starter, reliever, and bulk pitcher taking over after an opener. He has walked a few too man guys, but Alvarez also has an average strikeout rate, helping offset the mild control issues. He has been good limiting hits and runs, but Alvarez has been especially fantastic at keeping the ball inside the park, allowing just two home runs in 69 1/3 innings (after just one in 23 1/3 innings last season). After not showing much length, Alvarez has gone more than five innings in each of his past two starts, giving up six hits and three runs in 11 2/3 combined innings.

The Mets started the season terribly, looking like maybe the worst offensive team in baseball over the first few months. They had a better stretch that made their season-long numbers look more reasonable, but New York still ranks in the bottom 10 in pretty much every box stat, showing a team-wide lack of prowess that has them with the third-worst record in the National League and the sixth worst in all of baseball. The matchup isn't as fantastic as it was earlier in the season, but it's still worth targeting with opposing pitchers.

Alvarez is a mid-level streamer. The matchup is good, not great, but Alvarez has shown that he can be relied on for five-ish innings with decent results, including average K work. You could do much worse two weeks into August.

Clay Holmes, Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis isn't basement-level bad, but they are below average across the board and wholly uninspiring statistically. They rank close to 20th in many offensive box stats, and though we would prefer a team closer to the bottom in all those areas (like the groups we are about to talk about), we could do a lot worse than a below-average team that doesn't excel in any area. We'll keep going after the Cardinals, but this is more about a decent floor than a high ceiling.

Holmes came over from the Mets at the trade deadline, but he only made nine starts in New York this season due to a fractured right leg after being hit with a comebacker in mid-May. While Holmes has generally been a good pitcher in his career, much of that came as a relief pitcher. He has been successful as a starter also, but his strikeout rate has fallen to a below-average level, lowering his ceiling. Holmes struggled in his Cubs' debut (and return from the IL), allowing six hits and four runs in four innings against the Royals, but there's reason to believe that he will perform better moving forward.

Holmes is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His career numbers are good, but he might still be working his way back after two-and-a-half months out, and the matchup is more good than great today.

Peter Lambert, Houston Astros vs. Seattle Mariners

Lambert is owned in over 50% of fantasy leagues, making him a tenuous pick as a streamer, but there's enough availability to make it worth checking to see if you can pick him up with such a great matchup. Lambert has been just a hair higher than average with walks but also above average with strikeouts; he is also doing very well limiting hits runs and home runs, making Lambert a real success story after struggling earlier in his career.

Seattle won against the Yankees yesterday, but they had to hold New York to zero runs to do it, winning 1-0 thanks to a second-inning home run from Weston Wilson, a soon-to-be 32-year-old with 311 at-bats over the past four seasons and just 12 homers. It has been a rough go for the Mariners, who rank last in runs scored and in the bottom 10 in pretty much every offensive box stat (and the bottom five in many areas). Throw in their propensity to swing and miss, and Seattle is one of our favorite fantasy targets right now.

Lambert is a high-level streamer. There aren't usually many strong pickups this time of year, and though Lambert won't be available to everyone, those lucky enough to grab him will be getting a guy with a fantastic matchup here who is worthy of keeping on your roster unless you have a stacked rotation.

Seth Lugo, Kansas City Royals @ Los Angeles Angels

The Angels are one of the few teams that can put up a fight with Seattle for our best matchup right now. LA has been especially bad lately, ranking last in runs over both the past month and past two weeks, and they don't do anything at a high level. We love pitchers who strike guys out, so it only makes sense that we would also gravitate toward those teams that K a lot, and there aren't many teams that do so more than the Angels, who are averaging 9.5 strikeouts per game. We will look to target Los Angeles every time we can.

Lugo has been mostly average this season, clocking in around that level in most box stats. His strikeout rate is down from his career rate (18.2% versus 22.7%) and has dropped each season since 2023, a bad sign for a pitcher who will turn 37 in November. His 4.41 ERA would be the second worst of his career in any season in which he threw at least 40 innings, but it could be even worse, as eight of his 74 runs are unearned (nearly 11%). Not all unearned runs are created equal, but it can sometimes point toward a pitcher who has been worse than his ERA indicates (or it could just be chalked up to bad luck/fielders).

Lugo is a low-to-mid-level streamer. The matchup couldn't be much better, but Lugo has been down from his best self, including with strikeouts, leaving him as a more mild fantasy player (though he's still worth considering).

Friday's Streamer Rankings

1. Peter Lambert, HOU
2. Andrew Alvarez, WSH
3. Clay Holmes, CHC
4. Seth Lugo, KC