Fantasy baseball pitcher rankings, lineup advice for Sunday’s MLB games

Look for our fantasy baseball starting pitcher rankings, hitter upgrades and downgrades daily to help you make smart fantasy baseball lineup decisions and for MLB betting tips. Game odds are provided by Caesars Sportsbook, and fantasy advice is geared toward ESPN 10-team leagues with standard scoring.

For an in-depth look at what to expect in this daily article and how to best use the information, check out our handy primer here.

Note: This file will be updated with any overnight pitching changes or weather-related game postponements, along with the addition of the latest MLB game odds as of the indicated time of publication.

By Todd Zola

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Sunday’s action gets underway at 12:05 PM ET in Progressive Field with Xzavion Curry and the Cleveland Guardians hosting Jesse Scholtens and the Chicago White Sox. The Sunday night ESPN contest features a pair of deadline acquisitions pairing off with Rich Hill and the San Diego Padres hosting Lance Lynn and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

There are a few streaming options on the final day of the scoring period, with the top two squaring off against each other.

Chase Silseth (1.8% rostered) gets a home start when the Los Angeles Angels wrap up a weekend set with the Seattle Mariners. Even after adding Lucas Giolito, the Angels are staying with a six-man rotation, in large part due to how well Silseth has pitched in his two efforts since joining the starting corps. In 10 2/3 innings, the 23-year-old right-hander fanned 14 while walking just two. Last time out, he limited the Atlanta Braves to one run over five frames. The Mariners lineup is far less formidable. Given that Seattle did some deadline tweaking, but for the season they have the second-highest strikeout rate facing righties, along with the 11th-lowest wOBA.

Opposing Silseth will be rookie Bryce Miller (32.4%). Miller could be hitting the rookie wall as he’s surrendered six runs over each of his last two outings, yielding six homers in those 11 1/3 innings. However, heading into those hiccups, Miller posted a 2.32 ERA and 0.97 WHIP over 31 stanzas, covering six starts. He fanned an impressive 31 in that span. Based on his recent performances, there is some risk, but the rankings are designed to temper recency bias. Even so, Silseth is the safer play, though sometimes Sunday calls for risks, putting Miller in play. Miller is also an intriguing play for DFS GPP action.

Lately, Alex Wood (2.0%) has been used as a bulk reliever. He’s had mixed results, but not starting means he has a better chance at earning a win, though he may not rack up as many innings and strikeouts as a traditional starter. On Sunday, a date with the Oakland Athletics is the main allure, as Wood can generate useful points in limited innings, not to mention that if he’s effective, more innings will follow. The Athletics sport the fourth-worst wOBA versus lefthanders with an above average strikeout clip.

With one more win, Taijuan Walker (41%) will set a new personal best in that department. He has 12, which was tied with three others for the most in the league heading into Saturday’s action. Walker has a solid chance of setting a new career high with a home date against the Kansas City Royals.

Texas Rangers starter Andrew Heaney has been historically generous with the long ball, including this season as he’s surrendered 19 homers in 107 1/3 innings. The reconstructed Miami Marlins lineup has more power, led by Jake Burger (8.3%) who sports the second-highest average fly ball distance, bettered by only Aaron Judge. Burger, along with Bryan De La Cruz (18.2%) enjoys the platoon edge over Heaney. Jorge Soler (69.1%) could also be available in some 10-team leagues.

Pitchers are ranked in order of their Forecaster/Daily Notes projected fantasy points (FPTS), using ESPN’s standard scoring system (2 points per win, minus-2 per loss, 3 per inning, 1 per K, minus-1 apiece per hit or walk allowed, minus-2 per earned run allowed).

T: The pitcher’s handedness. OPP: Opposing team. RST%: The pitcher’s roster percentage in ESPN leagues. ML: Caesars Money Line. O/U: Caesars Over/Under for runs scored. For the projected stat line, W% is the team’s win probability using ESPN projections, IP is innings pitched, ER is earned runs allowed and K is strikeouts.

If a team is planning on using an “opener” to start their game, but will rely on a “bulk pitcher” to follow him on the mound after 1-2 innings, the bulk pitcher is listed and indicated with an asterisk.

Best and worst hitters from the day are generated by THE BAT X, a projection system created by Derek Carty using advanced methods like those used in MLB front offices, accounting for a variety of factors including player talent, ballparks, bullpens, weather, umpires, defense, catcher pitch-framing and lots more.

Joey Votto (CIN, 1B — 10%) vs. Jake Irvin

Joc Pederson (SF, LF — 6%) at Luis Medina

TJ Friedl (CIN, LF — 13%) vs. Jake Irvin

Jarren Duran (BOS, CF — 26%) vs. Chris Bassitt

Andrew Benintendi (CHW, LF — 16%) at Xzavion Curry

Triston Casas (BOS, 1B — 43%) vs. Chris Bassitt

Christian Encarnacion-Strand (CIN, 3B — 13%) vs. Jake Irvin

Austin Hays (BAL, LF — 27%) vs. Jose Quintana

Jurickson Profar (COL, LF — 9%) at Andrew Suarez

LaMonte Wade Jr. (SF, RF — 12%) at Luis Medina

Michael Harris II (ATL, CF — 84%) at Justin Steele

Josh Jung (TEX, 3B — 61%) vs. Sandy Alcantara