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This weekend, Max Scherzer was one pitch away from baseball immortality. Instead, he had to settle for his first career no-hitter. With two outs in the ninth inning, Scherzer plunked Jose Tabata on a 2-2 count to get the first baserunner of the day for the Pirates. Mad Max was able to pull himself together for the final out on the next batter and record the second no-no in Nationals history. This was one of the rare occasions in which fans were disappointed for a home team no-hitter.
Last weekend, Scherzer flirted with a perfect game for seven innings before giving up a bloop single to Carlos Gomez in the eighth. Mad Max finished the game with 16 strikeouts, a team record, for a complete game one-hit shutout. If you’re keeping score that means in his last two starts, he has gone 18 innings with 26 strikeouts, one walk, one hit, and zero earned runs. Looks like Mad Max was able to make that switch from the American League to the National League without any problems.
Below are some of my starting pitcher streamer sleepers for the first half of Week 12 to consider adding off your league’s waiver wire. Some of these SP options can be considered sleepers for your team depending on the league format and depth, including NL-Only, AL-Only and head-to-head formats.
Monday Starting Pitcher Streamers
Drew Hutchison (TOR at TB) – Ownership: 47% Yahoo!, 23% Fleaflicker
Toronto pitchers should normally be avoided at all costs. Hutchison is the odd ball of the rotation as he is an exceptional pitcher at home and atrocious on the road. He has a road FIP of 6.17 as compared to his home number of 2.49. If you use your imagination, you could argue that he is pitching in similar conditions in Tampa, as it is a dome and Rogers Centre is dome-like. At the very least, he should pile up some solid strikeout numbers. Tampa is striking out in 20.8% of at-bats and they own a sub-par wRC+ of 96 against right handed pitchers.
Matchup Rating: Risky Stream
Tsuyoshi Wada (CHC v. LAD) – Ownership: 6% Yahoo!, 5% Fleaflicker
Wada has a sexy 24.4% K rate and a somewhat on-par FIP of 4.06. Rarely is it ever a good idea to stream the Dodgers, but as a unit they have struggled against southpaws. Los Angeles is at or near the bottom third in most advanced offensive categories, including wRC+ (91), on base percentage (.310), slugging (.370), and isolated power (.126). Wada had previously struggled after coming back from last season’s injury, but he went seven strong innings in his last start and has started to regain his command.
Matchup Rating: Solid Stream
Joe Blanton (KC at SEA) – Ownership: 3% Yahoo!, 3% Fleaflicker
The good news for Blanton is that he will be facing a favorable lineup that does not hit right-handed pitchers and strikes out in nearly a quarter of at-bats. The bad news is that he will try to go toe-to-toe with a King. Blanton should put up some quality numbers, but his win probability against arguably the American League’s best pitcher is not great.
Matchup Rating: Risky Stream
Tuesday Starting Pitcher Streamers
Chi Chi Gonzalez (TEX v. OAK) – Ownership: 37% Yahoo!, 20% Fleaflicker
Don’t let Oakland’s record fool you. There are a few bats in that lineup that pack a punch against righties. Chi Chi, other than having a great name, has been hit rather hard by left-handed bats this season. He won’t be available in most deep leagues, but Gonzalez may be available in fourteen team leagues. Stream with care.
Matchup Rating: Desperate Stream
Mike Pelfrey (MIN v. CHW) – Ownership: 19% Yahoo!, 13% Fleaflicker
It’s becoming the same old story with the White Sox this season. Stream a pitcher against them knowing that their offense is poor right now, but their bats could wakeup at any moment. Something like that has probably been written at least 10,000 times already. As true as it may be, I’m going to go ahead and target any pitcher that is starting the White Sox and their wRC+ of 83. Add in Pelfrey and his excellent home splits of 1.41 ERA, .209 BAA, and 1.02 WHIP, and he makes for a great streaming option until Chicago proves otherwise.
Matchup Rating: Solid Stream
Jon Niese (NYM at MIL) – Ownership: 9% Yahoo, 9% Fleaflicker
Now, before anyone bashes the author for another Niese sighting, just know that Milwaukee has been dreadful against LHP this season. The Brew Crew are 13th in K rate, 27th in OPS, 27th in weighted run creation, and 29th in OBP. I’ll take Niese’s inflated numbers against the Brewers’ bats.
Matchup Rating: Solid Stream
Wednesday Starting Pitcher Streamers
Marco Estrada (TOR at TB) – Ownership: 6% Yahoo!, 11% Fleaflicker
Estrada is coming off his best start of the season in which he went seven innings and gave up one earned while striking out six against a hot Orioles lineup. He even flirted with a no hitter. That’s about the ceiling for Estrada and his owners shouldn’t expect a better start from him in the future. The Rays aren’t quite the Orioles in terms of offensive production, but they do possess enough firepower and batters that are capable of giving Estrada fits.
Matchup Rating: Risky Stream
Wandy Rodriguez (TEX v. OAK) – Ownership: 10% Yahoo!, 10% Fleaflicker
If fantasy owners are going to stream a Texas pitcher in this series, Wandy is the guy to pick. Oakland has struggled at times with lefties, mainly because their big hitters are left-handed bats that struggle with the lefty-lefty matchup. Rodriguez should continue his usual not-so-quality start starts against Oakland. Expect somewhere in the vicinity of five innings with a few hits and one or two earned runs.
Matchup Rating: Risky Stream
Ryan Vogelsong (SF v. SD) – Ownership: 9% Yahoo!, 11% Fleaflicker
I know that Vogelsong is a giant wild card, but there are some good pieces of information that can work in favor of a strong start on Wednesday. Vogelsong has been a much more effective pitcher at home than on the road, and it has been that way ever since he came back to San Francisco in 2011. He’s inducing a healthy portion of ground balls while starting at home and gets backed up by a solid defense. The Padres will come to town with a poor BABIP of .297 and a road wRC+ of 88. This makes for a nice quality start for Vogelsong.
Matchup Rating: Must Stream
Roenis Elias (SEA v. KC) – Ownership: 11% Yahoo!, 10% Fleaflicker
Elias is really starting to get into a groove and makes for a great addition in deep leagues. He’s clearly a must add in AL-only leagues and eight to ten team leagues as well. As for his next start, the Royals share some of the same hitting woes as the A’s when facing left-handed pitchers. Though KC has solid numbers for the year against southpaws, most of the production comes from the first month of Royal domination against every pitcher. They have since regressed back down to the mean. Elias should give another six to seven strong innings for the Mariners on Wednesday.
Matchup Rating: Solid Stream
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