Need Late-Season Fantasy Baseball Wins? Stream These 4 Pitchers With Dream Matchups Today

Counting this one, we only have three weekends left in the MLB season. Football is officially in motion, and those who were swept up in the two NFL games on Wednesday and Thursday have a one-day reprieve for baseball today before we hit another college football Saturday and our first NFL Sunday. Don't take it for granted, though; you'll be sad that you ignored baseball the final few weeks if it comes down to a great finish.

Moving to fantasy baseball, 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 pitchers. The full streamer rankings are listed at the bottom.

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Mason Adams, Colorado Rockies @ Detroit Tigers

The Tigers might be the most disappointing team of the past month. They were 59-60 on August 11 but have lost 19 of their past 27, putting them eight back in the division and 6.5 in the Wild Card. Just going a game over .500 in that time would have them a half-game behind Cleveland in the Wild Card and two back in the division. The offense has been as major problem in that recent timeframe, as Detroit ranks in the bottom 10 in everything aside from doubles over the past 30 days.

Adams made his major league debut a few weeks ago and has made three starts with the Rockies. He has found some success in that time, combining for 13 2/3 innings, 16 hits, six runs, six walks, and 17 strikeouts. He has also given up four homers, which is worrying, but his K work has been strong, and he was decent with strikeouts in the minors, so some of that could stick. While it's too early to know what Adams will be in the majors, the results so far are encouraging.

Adams is a low-to-mid-level streamer. He has upside if he can keep that strikeout rate, and Adams is helped by the fact that this game is being played in Detroit and away from Coors Field. The matchup makes him intriguing.

Shane Drohan, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Cincinnati Reds

Drohan was listed here before his last start, which came against these same Reds in Cincinnati. He was coming off two successful starts and had a good matchup; what could go wrong? Well, Drohan allowed five hits, six runs, and two homers in four innings in a game his team eventually won 10-7. He did have five strikeouts and just two walks, and that matches the work of his rookie season so far, as he has been a little better than average with both Ks and BBs while doing average or better work limiting hits, runs, and home runs. We'll go back to the well again with hopes for a better outcome this time.

The Reds have been a little better recently than their season-long numbers indicate. They are still hitting plenty of home runs, but they lack in other areas, notably not stringing together many hits. While they do well drawing walks, they also strike out as much as any team in baseball, setting a high ceiling for opposing pitchers. I still view Cincinnati as a team to target about any day that we can with streaming pitchers, even if they do have the occasional outburst with the long ball.

Drohan is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His numbers are good enough to bump him up another level, but as a rookie with limited experience, it's also prudent to show a little restraint. Drohan did face Cincinnati twice earlier in the season, combining for 10 innings with just two runs allowed, so we've seen him have success against this club.

Max Scherzer, Toronto Blue Jays vs. Baltimore Orioles

Scherzer is in the midst of maybe his best stretch of the past several years, having allowed three runs or fewer in six of his past seven starts. The only time he failed to go five innings in that stretch was the one game when he gave up more runs, allowing seven in four innings against the Rays about three-and-a-half weeks ago. He's not striking out a ton of batters (other than 10 Ks against the Mariners two starts ago), but Scherzer is finding success and can be considered in the right matchups.

Baltimore has very middling counting stats over the past month, with some of those numbers looking even better than the middle. Their rate stats (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS) are all in the bottom 10, though showing a team that has been struggling more on a per-at-bat basis. Their season-long numbers are essentially all middling or worse; the Orioles do good work drawing walks, but they also strike out at a top-five rate, setting a juicy ceiling for opposing pitchers.

Scherzer is a low-to-mid-level streamer. The matchup is more good than great, though the Orioles strike out a lot, setting a decent ceiling. Scherzer has been good recently, and you could do worse if you need to use innings before the season ends.

Jeffrey Springs, Athletics vs. Seattle Mariners

The Mariners continue as one of our favorite streaming targets, striking out at a top-10 level while ranking in the bottom five in runs, hits, doubles, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. They have continued those woeful ways over the past month, and Seattle also strikes out at a top-10 rate, setting a nice ceiling for opposing pitchers. While the Mariners have won three of their past four games, they only scored nine total runs in those three wins.

Springs was listed here as a streamer before his last start, which was against these same Mariners. He threw seven scoreless innings with just two hits and two walks to go with six strikeouts, his best start since early April. It has been a rough season for Springs, but he has been just a little below-average on the road while getting pounded at home (one of the best hitter's parks in baseball). This game is in Sacramento rather than the pitcher's haven of Seattle (which is where his last start took place), so the floor is much lower.

Springs is a low-to-mid-level streamer. His last start was encouraging, but the location of this one is against him, and Springs hasn't been good very often this season, including a below-average strikeout rate. At least the matchup is in his favor.

Friday's Streamer Rankings

1. Shane Drohan, MIL
2. Mason Adams, COL
3. Max Scherzer, TOR
4. Jeffrey Springs, ATH