This Waiver Wire Ace Could Win Your Fantasy Baseball Championship on Thursday

With four days left in the MLB regular season, the postseason picture is starting to take shape. Four divisions have been decided, and the three current wild cards in both leagues have at least three games between them and any team outside the playoff picture. It'll take something crazy for one of those teams to sneak into the field, but it's not impossible; there could still be some excitement on the final day.

The AL Central and AL West are both within one game as well, so we might see some fireworks there, especially while the Astros and Rangers fight to finish above .500 on top of making the playoffs.

Moving to fantasy baseball, let's look at four starting pitchers with good matchups on Thursday 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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Kyle Leahy, St. Louis Cardinals @ Pittsburgh Pirates

Leahy has worked more like a long opener than a starter in his last five outings, not lasting more than four innings in any of those games despite allowing one run or fewer in three of them. That lowers his value a little bit because he won't be eligible for a win, but Leahy has looked good when on the mound this season, doing average or better with both walks and strikeouts while holding a 3.65 ERA. St. Louis may just be trying to limit his innings, as he has hit a career-high 138.

The Pirates were a strong offensive team for much of the season, ranking high in many box stats based on full-season numbers. They have been much worse over the past few months, though, ranking in the bottom 10 (or very close to it) in runs, hits, home runs, and walks over the past 30 days. Pittsburgh doesn't present a great matchup, but they are OK to target late in the season. They also strike out at a top-five rate, setting a nice ceiling for opposing pitchers.

Leahy is a low-to-mid-level streamer. We could knock him down another notch because of his likelihood to make a short start, but Leahy has also looked good much of this season and can give you a few good innings.

Tyler Mahle, Atlanta Braves vs. Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati was one of our clear targets for much of the season, hitting for plenty of power but faltering elsewhere. The story has been much the same over the past month, as the Reds rank in the bottom 10 in runs and hits but the top five in home runs over that time. Much like the Pirates, our favorite thing about going after Cincinnati is how much they strike out, as they have ranked in the top three in most batter strikeouts for most of the season and will likely finish among the top two.

Randy Johnson, CC Sabathia…Tyler Mahle? That name might not fit, but Mahle has been phenomenal since joining the Braves at the trade deadline, joining those Hall of Famers as guys who pitched like aces after changing teams late in the season. Mahle has allowed just 37 hits and nine runs in 49 1/3 innings with 44 strikeouts and seven walks with Atlanta, setting up a phenomenal one-two punch with Chris Sale in the postseason. He is only owned in around 50% of leagues, so you might be able to grab Mahle for his last start of the season.

Mahle is a high-level streamer. He has been fantastic the past few months, and the matchup sets a high ceiling today.

Grayson Rodriguez, Los Angeles Angels @ Seattle Mariners

Rodriguez may never reach the ace-level potential that his first-round draft status portended, but if he could find some of the form that made him an average-or-better pitcher before he missed all of 2025 recovering from elbow surgery, he would be an intriguing fantasy player. That hasn't been the case in his return, though, as Rodriguez has a below-average strikeout rate and an ERA over 6.00. There's always next year (though if he remains on the Angels, things could be just as ugly).

Seattle was one of our favorite targets for most of the season, hitting like one of the worst offensive teams in baseball as they nose-dived out of the postseason race in the worst division in baseball. The Mariners rank in the bottom five (or very close to it) in runs, hits, doubles, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS while striking out at a top-10 rate. They have been a little better in some of those areas over the past month, but Seattle is still a team to target with opposing pitchers.

Rodriguez is a low-to-mid-level streamer. He hasn't been very good, but there is a little upside, and the matchup couldn't be much better. He also gets a boost from this game taking place in Seattle, one of the best pitcher's parks in baseball.

Zac Thornton, New York Mets @ Texas Rangers

Speaking of extreme pitcher's parks, Globe Life Field in Arlington is one of the few that could rival Seattle's T-Mobile Park for the most heinous on offensive numbers. Texas has been a better offensive team overall, but when looking only at games that a team has played at home, the Rangers rank in the bottom 10 or right near it in essentially every box stat. That makes me confident in going after Texas when they play at home, including in this game today.

Thornton made his big-league debut in May and has made 14 starts, doing very well with walks but below average with strikeouts in that time. He has done well limiting both runs and hits, but Thornton was also just average at best with Ks in the minor leagues, so he's probably not going to make a huge jump there. That keeps his ceiling a little lower, though he has been good enough to trust for at least some decent innings.

Thornton is a low-to-mid-level streamer. The matchup is in his favor given the location, and Thornton has found some success early, though his ceiling is a little lower than we might like.

Thursday's Streamer Rankings

1. Tyler Mahle, ATL
2. Zac Thornton, NYM
3. Kyle Leahy, STL
4. Grayson Rodriguez, LAA