Mar 24, 2025; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Taijuan Walker (99) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at BayCare Ballpark. Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
We have our first slow day of the baseball season: There are only 10 teams in action today, one-third of the league. That makes for a lack of options if you're trying to watch a game, but it's even worse for your fantasy team. With just 33% of the players in action, it's hard to fill every slot in your lineup.
It also makes starting pitcher streamers harder to find because many of the worst offensive teams aren't in action. Of our 10 starting pitchers on the mound today, only two of them are facing a team that I am looking to target.
Before the season, I went through the 2024 stats and identified teams who regularly finished in the bottom 10 in most offensive categories. The purpose was to find the teams who were best to target with opposing fantasy pitchers early this season. Not every group who did poorly in 2024 will also fail in 2025, but most of those franchises didn't make major changes during the offseason that point toward much improvement.
Without many pitchers to talk about, I thought it was a good day to look at how those 11 target teams are doing early in the season. A good start over six games isn't enough to change my mind on its own; if a team has reason for hope, though, and is also excelling early in the season, it's worth keeping an eye to see if they play their way out of target status within the first few weeks.
After looking at those squads, I will then give you two pitching streamers for Thursday (though I'm not recommending either for your lineup). Stats and team rankings are from MLB.com, as are the probable starters.
2025 Early-Season Target List
Detroit Tigers
Pittsburgh Pirates
Tampa Bay Rays
Chicago White Sox
Los Angeles Angels
Athletics
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers
Cincinnati Reds
Miami Marlins
Colorado Rockies
Detroit is right around 10th in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. They have been very average overall, though they do sit in the top 10 in most batter strikeouts. Detroit gives plenty of reason to believe they won't be a regular target.
The Pirates are performing like a bottom-10 offense in the small sample, providing a great group to target daily.
Tampa Bay has been an above-average offense, but they have hit only three home runs in six games. That matches last season, when the Rays hit the third-least homers.
The White Sox have been closer to average so far, but they were the worst offense in baseball in 2024. They are a prime target until they prove differently over an extended period.
The Angels are another team that has stuck as a bottom-10 unit, keeping them as a group to go after every day.
The Athletics have been about as average as it gets, sitting near the middle of the league in most offensive box stats. They hit for a lot of power last season and are tied for fourth in homers in 2025, so there's a chance for the A's to score big any day. They could move out of the target group.
Seattle is faltering on offense again and striking out a lot, as they have the past two seasons. They also hit for some power, but the Mariners are a team to target regularly.
Texas dealt with a lot of injuries last season, a major part of the reason their lineup fell to the bottom-10 group. They have high-level offensive players, but the numbers are against the Rangers early: they rank in the bottom 10 in runs, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. Texas is a team to tentatively target, though I'm still leery.
The Reds were on the border of the target line. They also have a star in Elly De La Cruz and a few other good hitters, and Cincinnati could play themselves off the target list early. The Reds have been very average so far.
Miami has been above average in many stats in the small sample. That has helped them to a 4-3 record, but the Marlins might have been the worst offensive team in the National League last year. It's going to take a lot more of this for me to stop targeting Miami.
The Rockies are the one oddity because we target them when they play on the road but not when they play in Coors Field. They have been away from home for all five of their games so far; they may have been the worst offense in baseball in that time, scoring just 10 runs. Stay the course of targeting Colorado on the road and avoiding them at home.
Mar 29, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Nestor Cortes (65) pitches in the first inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Thursday Streamers
Neither guy here is a great option for your fantasy lineup. Both have had recent struggles (either this year or in 2024) and seem to have low ceilings and floors today. You can consider one of them if you're truly desperate, but most owners can skip our streaming pitchers on this light day.
Nestor Cortes, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Cincinnati Reds
Cortes had as bad a start to his immediate season as you can imagine: His first three pitches were all hit for home runs. He was down 3-0 after three pitches. His old team, the Yankees, ended up hitting four homers in the first inning and five total off Cortes, who gave up eight runs in two innings.
The matchup is nicer here. Cincinnati wasn't as moribund as some of the other teams on the target list, and they started the season with a decent performance. They have been shut out the past two games, however, losing 1-0 in both contests to Texas (after scoring 14 runs on Monday).
It's tough to trust Cortes after that opening start. The Yankees can mash, and they will make a lot of pitchers look bad, but with a less-than-stellar matchup, Cortes is nothing more than a low-level streamer who should be skipped in most cases.
Taijuan Walker, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies
The Rockies finally go home on Friday, so this will be their last appearance on this list for at least a week. We saw above that Colorado is moribund; they are a team to target whenever they are on the road as long as the pitcher is reasonable.
In each of the past two seasons with Philadelphia, Walker has been worse than average at walking batters and well below average with strikeouts. He fell to a career-worst 15.2% K rate last year, an untenable mark for anyone hoping to find success. That helped lead to an ERA over 7.00 in 83.2 innings.
Walker is another low-level streamer. Even with the matchup heavily in his favor, his performance has fallen off to the point that he can't be trusted for success. Walker is a can't-touch player until he proves he can find his old magic (which probably won't happen). If you don't have an innings limit, it is OK to consider Walker, but I'm still not recommending him.
