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. MLB game odds are provided by Caesars Sportsbook, and fantasy advice is geared towards ESPN 10-team leagues with standard scoring.

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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.

What you need to know for Sunday’s MLB Games

By Todd Zola

• Sunday’s full slate begins at 1:10 PM ET in Motown with Matthew Boyd (5.8% rostered in ESPN leagues) and the Tigers hosting Logan Webb and the Giants. Webb opened the season with a dozen strikeouts in Yankee Stadium, but since then he’s only fanned 10 in 11 frames. Detroit’s K% is the second highest in MLB, so look for Webb to revert to racking up strikeouts. Boyd has whiffed only seven in nine innings, but the Giants are the only team with a higher strikeout rate than the Tigers. There’s risk, but if you are behind and aren’t going to win your head-to-head matchup without some help, Boyd is in play as a streaming option.

• A pair of Lone Star State teams are featured in the slate-ending, Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. Andrew Heaney (29.5%) and the Rangers visit Framber Valdez and the Astros. There is never a good time to face the Astros, but with Jose Altuve out, and Chas McCormick questionable due to blurred vision, the Houston lineup will be missing a couple of key pieces from the right side. Further, with the platoon advantage, Heaney has a chance to neutralize Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, a pair of first-round fantasy picks. The southpaw was roughed up to begin the season, but rebounded last time out, at one point fanning nine consecutive Royals.

• Finding more pitching to stream is difficult with half of the card composed of starters with 95% rostership or higher. Everyone still widely available has a blemish or two. Mitch Keller (17.1%) and his new part cutter/part slider is worth a look as the Pirates wrap up a series in St. Louis. The Cardinals lineup can be dangerous, but Keller has 22 punch outs over 13 frames. His first two games were in Boston and Cincinnati, a pair of hitter-friendly venues, with his last effort being at home against Houston.

• A pair of hurlers drafted as staff aces, but off to slow starts will be on the hill to close out the fantasy week. Starting Alek Manoah is usually a no-brainer, but his velocity is down and he has been displaying spotty control. Manoah and the Blue Jays finish a three-game series with AL East leaders Tampa Bay. A drop in velocity is worrisome, so taking the safe route is defensible, but only if you’re in a very tight ratio battle. Meanwhile, Aaron Nola‘s 15 strikeouts (three walks) in 15 1/3 innings is acceptable, but he’s usually sharper than that, which helps to explain his 16 hits and 12 runs allowed. There is no sign of injury, however, and even though The Great American Ballpark is a challenging place to pitch, Cincinnati’s offense isn’t scary enough to bench Nola.

• During the preseason, shortstop appeared to be top-heavy, but lacking depth. That’s beginning to become even more of a true statement after injuries to a pair of highly drafted shortstops in Corey Seager and Tim Anderson. Others, such as Dansby Swanson and Carlos Correa, have also missed at least one game recently. Some help could be on the way. Vaughn Grissom needs a few more games to gain eligibility, but the Angels’ Zach Neto is eligible immediately. The 22-year-old has been on the fast track to the bigs and, with David Fletcher off to a horrid start, Neto was called up. He’s probably not going to light up the scorebook, but he’ll contribute across the board. Hitting towards the bottom of the lineup isn’t ideal, but with Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout at the top of the lineup, Neto could score some runs.

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Starting pitcher rankings for Sunday