Welcome back to the final edition of Streamer Tidd-Bits for the 2024 season! I know I’ve expressed it several times already, but it’s a relief that the grind of the regular season is over, although I will say that the thought of starting up a winter draft-and-hold draft is definitely exciting. But that is a few months away for me. I typically turn off my fantasy baseball brain for the rest of the fall, except for listening to the handful of fantasy podcasts that continue to come out at the start of the offseason. Enough of that though, let’s shift gears back towards the 2024 season. If you weren’t already aware, this was my first year creating written fantasy baseball content and I think it went pretty well. I would’ve definitely preferred my season long records for the series to be better (especially for the Merit-Based recommendations), but I really made it challenging for myself by limiting the player pool to players rostered in no more than 30% of NFBC Main Event leagues (most of the time at least 😉 ).

First, let’s review the Merit-Based portion of the series. For the 2024 season, my picks went a combined 16-28-2. When looking back on a three-week lag, these players accumulated 112 starts and pitched to a 4.67 ERA and 1.38 WHIP. These numbers could’ve definitely been better, but I think they also could’ve been much worse. In a vacuum both statistics don’t mean a whole lot. I mean, I think it’s safe to say you rather not accumulate those stats for your fantasy team(s), but when we compare them to the Matchup-Based portion of the series I think there is a good lesson to learn here.

Before we get to that lesson, let’s go over our final record for our Matchup-Based recommendations. This season our picks accumulated 53 starts, and pitched to a combined 4.34 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. The first takeaway I have is that compared to the Merit-Based recommendations, our Matchup-Based picks shaved roughly .30 of ERA off their yearly total and almost .1 off their WHIP. In a fantasy baseball league those differences are not inconsequential. Additionally, our record for the Matchup-Based adds was one game short of a .500 record, as we went 24-25-3. So, if we wanted to summarize one lesson that the 2024 season taught us about streaming (besides to try to avoid it lol), is that you’re probably better off attacking single start streamers versus trying to find someone that you can keep on your roster for an extended stretch of the season. Of course, sometimes you may walk into someone like Bowden Francis who I’m sure helped many managers in winning their leagues, but always be ready to drop a fringe starter the moment they start showing any cracks, especially in a 15-team format.

The second major takeaway from the data we’ve accumulated is that streaming wins is EXTREMELY difficult to do. You know how I know? Well, our Matchup-Based starters made a total of 53 starts and accumulated a measly seven wins. Now, let’s break that down a little bit further. Remember how I said 24 of our 52 recommendations were considered “wins”? Well AT MOST seven of those 24 “wins” were because the starter earned a win for the week they were recommended. So, in a deep league you better make sure you get your wins at the draft table, or if you play in a trade league maybe you can get a deal done mid-season, but don’t bank on trying to churn and burn starters in order to get a boost in that category. I know I heard on numerous podcasts countless complaints about how some very good fantasy players were struggling to accumulate wins for their fantasy teams. I had a couple teams that struggled in the category myself so I know the feeling. This is something to remember as you do your research in the offseason and then when you start formulating your draft strategies come the Spring.

As for the rest of the recommendations that we have to review, I won’t say a whole lot more here. I have them listed out below as always, as well as the final stat lines for both types of recommendations. Our Merit-Based adds for the final week went 0-2, but our last two weeks of Matchup-Based adds (eight total) ended doing very well, going a combined 5-2-1. Hopefully a couple of them helped you to win your league or just finish in the money.

Well, that’s all I have left to say for this season. I want to thank anyone who took any time to read any of my articles for supporting my work. It really means a lot to me that you gave my brand-new series a chance. If you didn’t play in a deep league like an NFBC 15-teamer, or a deep AL-/NL-only, then maybe you’ll consider joining one next season. I still run and play in my own 12-team home league, but there’s something about the challenge of a 15-teamer that I really love. If you’ve never ventured into a league that deep, I think it’d be worth it to give it a shot. You may see NFBC and think leagues with astronomical buy-ins but that’s not the case. Yes, some leagues have buy-ins in the thousands, but the NFBC has 12-team draft-and-holds for a $50 entry fee, as well as various 15-team satellite leagues that aren’t much more than $100. I know not everyone can allocate that much money to a fantasy baseball league, but if you ever get the chance to do so give it a shot. You may just get hooked.

9/9 – 9/15 Merit Based Results:

Davis Martin: 3 GS, 11.7 IP, 16 H, 10 ER, 8 BB, 12 Ks, 7.71 ERA, 2.06 WHIP, 0 Wins

Grade: Loss

Adam Oller: 4 GS, 20.7 IP, 29 H, 15 ER, 9 BB, 14 Ks, 6.53 ERA, 1.84 WHIP, 1 Win

Grade: Loss

Year-to-date Merit Based stats: 112 GS, 578.7 IP, 606 H, 300 ER, 191 BB, 464 Ks, 4.67 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 29 Wins

Year-to-date Merit Based record (W-L-N/A): 16-28-2

9/16 – 9/22 Matchup Based Results:

Davis Martin @ LAA: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 Ks, 5.40 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, Loss

Grade: Loss

Joey Cantillo vs MIN: 4.3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 Ks, 2.08 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, No Decision

Grade: Win (6+ Ks)

Samuel Aldegheri @ HOU: N/A (Placed on IL)

Grade: N/A

Jack Kochanowicz vs CHW: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 Ks, 1.29 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, No Decision

Grade: Win (QS)

9/23 – 9/29 Matchup Based Results:

Jack Kochanowicz @ CHW/vs TEX: 14.0 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 Ks, 1.93 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, No Decision/Loss

Grade: Win (2 QS)

Grant Holmes vs KC/vs NYM (was vs KC): 5.7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 Ks, 0.00 ERA, 0.35 WHIP, No Decision

Grade: Win (6+ Ks)

Brady Basso vs TEX (was vs TEX/@ SEA): 3.0 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 Ks, 15.00 ERA, 2.33 WHIP, Loss

Grade: Loss

Tyler Alexander @ DET: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 Ks, 0.00 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, No Decision

Grade: Win (6+ Ks)

Year-to-date Matchup Based stats: 53 GS, 275.7 IP, 268 H, 133 ER, 90 BB, 253 Ks, 4.34 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 7 Wins

Year-to-date Matchup Based record (W-L-N/A): 24-25-3

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