Fantasy Baseball SP Streamers: Top Sunday Pitching Pickups and Rankings

One week from today is the final day of the MLB regular season. It's a bitter-sweet time of year, as the end of baseball is sad, but having a still-fresh NFL season mixed with MLB playoffs is unquestionably my favorite time of the sports year. The next month and a half will give us excitement, drama, highs, and lows until the World Series ends, and we have to look forward to a possible lockout situation this offseason.

Baseball's playoffs also go fast compared to the other sports, notably basketball and hockey. Even if your team makes it to the Divisional Round of the postseason, their season could be over in four days; it's jarringly fast compared to the NBA, where even a sweep can take a week and a half. I keep saying it, but I mean it: Appreciate the next six weeks before baseball leaves us for the winter.

Moving to fantasy baseball, 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.

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Davis Martin, Chicago White Sox vs. Detroit Tigers

Troy Melton, Detroit Tigers @ Chicago White Sox

We'll start today with a game in which we can target both teams with streaming pitchers. Detroit's playoff hopes are probably already shot, but the White Sox have a chance to win the division or make it as a wild card; the problem is that they keep losing winnable games, including multiple late-inning losses to division foes over the past week. Both teams have struggled offensively over the past month, leaving value for a pair of starters who have found success this season.

Martin missed about three weeks with a blister issue and has made three starts since returning. He has been very good in that time, allowing just three runs (two earned) in 16 innings, though he has just four strikeouts during that stretch. Martin is a below-average K pitcher who does well limiting walks and home runs; that's a recipe that can work, though it leaves him with a lower fantasy ceiling than we might like.

Speaking of missed time, Melton didn't make his season debut until late May due to an elbow issue, but he started hot once he hit the field, allowing two earned runs or fewer in 11 of his first 12 starts. Things haven't been quite as good since then, and Melton's fantasy ownership has dropped closer to 50% as a result, allowing us to talk about him as a streamer. Melton is another guy who is a little below average with strikeouts but also limits walks, and he has done a great job limiting hits and runs in 156 1/3 innings, leading to a 2.65 ERA in that time.

Martin and Melton are both mid-level streamers. Though their strikeout work is a little below average, both guys have found plenty of success limiting runs, and the matchups are both positive based on recent numbers. I'll give Martin the slight edge because Detroit has been worse offensively over the full season.

Dean Kremer, Minnesota Twins @ Los Angeles Angels

While Kremer has had an uneven season, he has looked better with the Twins than he did with the Orioles before moving near the trade deadline. He has kept up above-average strikeout work with an average K rate, but Kremer's main problem was getting hit a little too hard in Baltimore. He has seemingly figured those issues out (or just gotten luckier) and looks like a very average pitcher with the Twins, a fine guy to consider in the right matchups.

There aren't many better matchups than there are against the Angels. LA ranks in the bottom five in runs, hits, homers, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. They are also virtually guaranteed to finish among the top two in most batter strikeouts, setting a high ceiling for opposing pitchers. There's not a whole lot else to say here; the Angels are one of the worst teams in the entire league and have a long path back to relevance. (Could this finally be the offseason that Mike Trout is moved? Probably not.)

Kremer is a low-to-mid-level streamer. He is fine, and the matchup is fantastic, so he could be argued to bump up a level, but his performance is middling enough to not expect too much even against the worst teams.

Jonah Tong, New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia has big offensive upside, but they haven't shown it consistently this year. Based on full-season numbers, they are 15th or worse in runs, hits, doubles, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS, not near the bottom in most areas but looking like a wholly below-average offensive team. They have been similarly uninspiring over the past month, leaving them as a decent target but not one of our favorites.

Their spot here is as much about the upside of the pitcher as it is Philly's own failings. Tong entered the league as a seventh-round pick, not necessarily a guy you'd look for to break out, but he has had a fantastic minor-league career, striking out 503 batters in 354 2/3 innings with a 3.15 ERA. His debut in the big leagues last season wasn't very good: 24 hits and 20 runs (16 earned) in 18 2/3 innings. Things have gone better in 21 innings this year (16 hits and eight earned runs allowed), and Tong has big K upside, making him an appealing option.

Tong is a low-to-mid-level streamer. I love his upside moving forward, but that's probably a conversation more for next season than right now. He is a decent option in a deeper league or if you're near the end and still need to use up innings over the next week.

Sunday's Streamer Rankings

1. Davis Martin, CWS
2. Troy Melton, DET
3. Dean Kremer, MIN
4. Jonah Tong, NYM