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Fantasy baseball pitcher rankings, lineup advice for Thursday's MLB games

Everything you need to know to place your MLB bets and set your fantasy baseball lineups for Thursday, May 9.

Adell homers, Angels rally past Pirates 5-4 to earn first series victory since early April

— Jo Adell hit his fifth homer of the season and added an RBI single and the Los Angeles Angels slipped by the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 on Wednesday.

Marlins place Cabrera on IL, reinstate Garrett

The Marlins placed right-hander Edward Cabrera on the 15-day IL and reinstated left-hander Braxton Garrett.

Mizuhara wired Ohtani money to reality TV star

Ryan Boyajian of "The Real Housewives of Orange County" is the bookmaker's associate to whom Ippei Mizuhara wired money to pay his gambling debts, sources told ESPN.

Congressmen pitch bill to legally protect NCAA

Two Republican Congressmen introduced a bill that would provide the NCAA, college conferences and member schools federal protection from legal challenges that stand in the way of their ability to govern college sports.

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 ESPN BET, and fantasy advice is geared toward ESPN 10-team leagues with standard scoring.

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.

Optimism for struggling Detmers?

Through his first four starts of 2024, Reid Detmers (77% rostered in ESPN leagues) looked like an emerging ace. He surrendered just three earned runs across 22⅔ innings, registering a 1.19 ERA and 0.97 WHIP with 30 strikeouts and zero homers allowed. That stretch included a dominant effort against the Boston Red Sox in early April in which he fanned a career-high 12.

Of course, we know better than to put too much stock in such a small sample, and the left-hander has since fallen on hard times. Detmers has been tagged for a combined 16 earned runs over his past three outings (8.14 ERA), as his control has failed him (seven walks), and he's struggled to keep the ball in the yard (five homers). His velocity has held firm; it's just a matter of his pitches consistently finding too much of the plate.

Which version of Detmers will we see Thursday when the Los Angeles Angels take on the Kansas City Royals? Although the Royals strike out just 16% of the time versus southpaws (the second-lowest mark in baseball), they are actually a great matchup for left-handers, as Kansas City's 81 wRC+ versus left-handed pitching ranks 25th in MLB. I'm comfortable benching Detmers until he gets back on track, but this is a good spot for him to do it.

Everything else you need to know for Thursday

The Chicago White Sox lineup has been a streamer's dream, and on Thursday the privilege of facing baseball's worst offense goes to Ben Lively (7% rostered). The right-hander has made a strong impression for the Cleveland Guardians, posting a 2.08 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 10.0 K/9 across four starts. Armed with a fastball that averages just 90.2 mph, Lively doesn't have overpowering stuff, and the underlying numbers don't suggest that his early success has been fully warranted. However, there's no ignoring the matchup against the White Sox, who own the worst wRC+ (70) and wOBA (.267) in the majors. Fire up Lively as one of the day's top streamers. Taking the mound against Lively is Erick Fedde (26%), another name who belongs in the streamer discussion. Despite getting roughed up by the St. Louis Cardinals in his last outing, the right-hander has a 3.46 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 9.5 K/9 over his first seven turns. The Guardians' offense has been solid overall (105 wRC+), but it has been below average against right-handed pitching (90 wRC+), with a bloated 97.1% strikeout rate, which puts Fedde in a favorable spot. As expected, Thursday's Coors Field bout between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants stands out as a matchup where you want to target bats. Keaton Winn and Cal Quantrill grade out as the two lowest-ranked hurlers on the slate, and the over/under of 10 runs is also the highest mark of the day. The Rockies' Ryan McMahon (51%) and Charlie Blackmon (6%) and the Giants' Jung Hoo Lee (56%), Michael Conforto (35%), and LaMonte Wade Jr. (5%) all carry the platoon edge in this game. Lance Lynn (42%), who has a 3.28 ERA through seven starts, likely has done enough to work his way back onto the streaming radar. Caution is warranted, though. Not only does Lynn walk too many batters (4.0 BB/9), but he is giving up a career-worst 11.1% barrel rate, a dangerous combination. And he has pitched past the fifth inning just once this season. Against a Milwaukee Brewers lineup that has hammered right-handed pitching (their 115 wRC+ is third-best in baseball), Lynn carries some blowup risk. Instead of picking him up as a streamer, consider streaming Milwaukee bats against him.

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Starting pitcher rankings for Thursday

Reliever report

To get the latest information on each team's bullpen hierarchy, as well as which pitchers might be facing a bit of fatigue and who might be the most likely suspects to vulture a save or pick up a surprise hold in their stead, check out the latest Closer Chart, which will be updated every morning. 

Best sub-50% rostered hitters for Thursday

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. 

Joc Pederson (ARI, LF -- 4%) at Hunter Greene Matt Chapman (SF, 3B -- 44%) at Cal Quantrill Wilmer Flores (SF, 1B -- 11%) at Quantrill Thairo Estrada (SF, 2B -- 30%) at Quantrill TJ Friedl (CIN, CF -- 32%) vs. Slade Cecconi Lars Nootbaar (STL, CF -- 21%) at Tobias Myers Michael Conforto (SF, RF -- 47%) at Quantrill Alex Verdugo (NYY, RF -- 19%) vs. Ronel Blanco Jake Fraley (CIN, RF -- 6%) vs. Cecconi Brendan Donovan (STL, 2B -- 19%) at Myers Worst over-50% rostered hitters for Thursday Cal Raleigh (SEA, C -- 72%) at Pablo Lopez Julio Rodriguez (SEA, CF -- 97%) at Lopez Yainer Diaz (HOU, C -- 90%) at Marcus Stroman Gabriel Moreno (ARI, C -- 73%) at Greene Brice Turang (MIL, 2B -- 58%) vs. Lance Lynn Willy Adames (MIL, SS -- 66%) vs. Lynn William Contreras (MIL, C -- 99%) vs. Lynn Anthony Volpe (NYY, SS -- 81%) vs. Blanco Gleyber Torres (NYY, 2B -- 72%) vs. Blanco Ryan McMahon (COL, 3B -- 52%) vs. Keaton Winn