Fantasy Baseball Saturday Pitcher Streamers: Scherzer, May, and Top Waiver Targets

We're going to jump right in today and look at four starting pitchers in action on Saturday who are widely available in fantasy leagues and have good matchups. 

Most stats are from MLB.com, as are the probable pitchers. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.

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Yusei Kikuchi, Los Angeles Angels @ Pittsburgh Pirates

Kikuchi missed nearly four months while dealing with a shoulder injury, returning on August 23. He has made two starts since coming back, first giving up seven hits and five runs in five innings against Texas and then allowing just two runs in seven innings against the Phillies (with six strikeouts). It's best to expect inconsistent performances after such a long layoff, but it is encouraging that Kikuchi looked good against a Philadelphia team that has been hot later in the season.

Pittsburgh has been on our streaming list recently because they have completely fallen off offensively over the past month. While they have many top-10 numbers over the full season, the Pirates rank in the bottom 10 (or very close to it) in essentially every box stat over the last 30 days. Pittsburgh is also one of the most strikeout-prone teams in the entire league, setting a big ceiling for opposing pitchers on the right days.

Kikuchi is a low-to-mid-level streamer. He has been a very average pitcher throughout his career, and that includes just a tick better than the middle with strikeouts. Against a team that swings and misses as often as the Pirates, there's some upside to Kikuchi today (along with plenty of risk after missing most of the season.

Dustin May, Milwaukee Brewers @ Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati is closer to the middle in many box stats over the past month, but that mostly comes in their counting stats, which are affected more by the Reds playing 28 games in that time (while most other teams have played 26 or 27). Their rate stats still show them as a bottom-10 offense, a group that hits home runs but doesn't do much else at even an average clip. Cincy has also struck out more than any other team during that 30-day stretch, putting them right on pace with the Pirates for the biggest strikeout rate in the league.

May has struggled a bit since joining the Brewers at the trade deadline, most recently giving up six hits and four runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Rangers. In five starts with Milwaukee (one that he left after just one batter when he was struck by a line drive), May has given up 20 hits and 14 runs in 19 2/3 innings, though his first two outings were much better (seven hits and three runs in 13 innings). May is generally at least an average pitcher (a little better than that at times), and he's likely to improve over a longer period, so the good matchup here might help put him back on track.

May is a low-to-mid-level streamer. I like his chances of pitching better the rest of the way, but we can't ignore that May has struggled a bit the last few times out, leaving him with a little bit lower floor.

Max Scherzer, Toronto Blue Jays @ Kansas City Royals

Seth Lugo, Kansas City Royals vs. Toronto Blue Jays

We'll finish today with a game in which we can target both teams with streaming pitchers. Toronto has worse numbers than Kansas City in most areas, largely a product of spending more than a month as maybe the worst offensive team in baseball. They have done OK getting hits, but the Blue Jays have shown no power all season. The Royals are more of a middling offense, having stretches of poor play but also times when they looked much better. Kansas City is a very tentative target that is here more because of circumstances than their own continued shortcomings.

Scherzer was listed here as a streamer before his previous start against the Mariners, and though he had been doing well recently and had a great matchup, I was still skeptical that Scherzer would put up a great outing, as he had struggled more over the past few seasons. Well, Scherzer threw seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit and one walk to go with 10 strikeouts. I don't want to count on starts like that because Scherzer is well past his prime, but he had a very good August and is worth considering here.

Lugo was also listed here before his last start but had the opposite experience: 3 2/3 innings, nine hits, nine runs, two walks, and two strikeouts. He was much better in the start before that against these same Blue Jays, though, giving up just one run and one walk with six strikeouts in five innings. Lugo has been a below-average pitcher this season, doing fine with walks but giving up too many hits and runs while holding a well-below-average strikeout rate. He's OK to consider, but there's a low ceiling here.

Scherzer and Lugo are both low-to-mid-level streamers. While Scherzer has been very good lately, the matchup here isn't great, leaving him with a little lower floor than we would like. Lugo has struggled more this season, and while the matchup is better than what Scherzer has, Toronto still doesn't present the best outlook for opposing pitchers.

Saturday's Streamer Rankings

1. Max Scherzer, TOR
2. Dustin May, MIL
3. Yusei Kikuchi, LAA
4. Seth Lugo, KC