Fantasy baseball lineup advice and betting tips for Saturday

ESPN Fantasy

Jun 20, 2025, 04:53 PM ET

Check out all of our starting pitcher rankings and other lineup selection tools here to help you make smart fantasy baseball lineup decisions. MLB betting tips for each day's slate of games will also be added in the morning. MLB game odds are provided by ESPN BET, and all fantasy advice is geared toward ESPN 10-team leagues with standard scoring.

Note: All information is accurate as of the time of publication. For updates, including what you might have missed from last night, as well as any breaking news that might impact today's MLB slate, be sure to check out the latest fantasy baseball news.

Jump to: Pitching notes | Hitting notes | Betting tips
Reliever depth chart | Start a new league

STARTING PITCHERS FOR SATURDAY

Pitchers are ranked in order of their Forecaster/Daily Notes projected fantasy points (FPTS), using ESPN's standard scoring system (2 points per win, minus-2 per loss, 3 per inning, 1 per K, minus-1 apiece per hit or walk allowed, minus-2 per earned run allowed).

T: The pitcher's handedness. OPP: Opposing team. RST%: The pitcher's roster percentage in ESPN leagues. ML: ESPN BET Money Line. O/U: ESPN BET Over/Under for runs scored. For the projected stat line, W% is the team's win probability using ESPN projections, IP is innings pitched, ER is earned runs allowed and K is strikeouts.

If a team is planning on using an "opener" to start their game, but will rely on a "bulk pitcher" to follow him on the mound after 1-2 innings, the bulk pitcher is listed and indicated with an asterisk.

FPTS	Pitcher	T	Opp	Rst%	W%	IP	ER	K
13.0	Dylan Cease	R	KC	95.1%	55%	5.9	2.1	6.6
11.6	Sonny Gray	R	CIN	95.7%	56%	5.7	2.4	6.0
11.1	Ryan Pepiot	R	DET	55.3%	57%	5.4	2.2	5.3
11.0	Clarke Schmidt	R	BAL	39.0%	52%	5.6	2.3	5.5
10.4	Noah Cameron	L	@SD	44.4%	45%	5.6	2.2	5.2
10.4	Grant Holmes	R	@MIA	34.4%	54%	5.3	2.4	6.3
10.3	Jose Berrios	R	CWS	63.0%	59%	5.7	2.6	5.2
10.0	Zach Eflin	R	@NYY	36.2%	48%	5.6	2.6	5.1
9.6	Cade Horton	R	SEA	11.5%	58%	5.3	2.4	5.1
9.5	Dustin May	R	WSH	24.6%	57%	5.6	2.7	5.4
9.4	Brayan Bello	R	@SF	10.1%	55%	5.7	2.6	4.9
9.1	Mitch Keller	R	TEX	48.5%	49%	5.9	3.0	5.1
8.6	Jose Quintana	L	@MIN	9.9%	44%	5.6	2.7	4.8
8.4	Jake Irvin	R	@LAD	17.5%	43%	5.6	2.8	4.7
8.3	Landen Roupp	R	BOS	8.7%	45%	5.1	2.3	4.6
8.0	Luis Ortiz	R	@ATH	6.3%	56%	5.4	2.8	5.2
8.0	Aaron Civale	R	@TOR	2.3%	41%	5.2	2.5	4.5
8.0	Griffin Canning	R	@PHI	23.0%	57%	5.3	2.9	4.9
7.6	Kumar Rocker	R	@PIT	3.2%	51%	4.5	2.2	4.5
7.5	Simeon Woods Richardson	R	MIL	0.7%	56%	4.8	2.4	4.4
7.4	Eury Perez	R	ATL	15.6%	46%	4.5	2.2	4.7
7.0	Mitch Spence	R	CLE	2.4%	44%	5.1	2.9	4.6
6.7	Brandon Walter	L	@LAA	15.2%	54%	5.7	3.6	4.8
6.7	Wade Miley	L	@STL	0.2%	44%	5.0	2.5	3.7
6.6	Jose Soriano	R	HOU	11.7%	46%	5.3	2.9	4.8
6.4	Sawyer Gipson-Long	R	@TB	1.9%	43%	4.6	2.7	4.5
6.0	Emerson Hancock	R	@CHC	3.4%	42%	4.9	2.6	3.8
5.2	Merrill Kelly	R	@COL	80.1%	62%	5.4	4.8	6.2
3.9	Mick Abel	R	NYM	24.3%	43%	4.5	3.2	4.6
-3.5	Carson Palmquist	L	ARI	0.0%	38%	4.6	6.3	4.9

Pitchers to stream on Saturday

Max Fried and Carlos Rodon are a combined 18-7 for the New York Yankees. Together, they're overshadowing Clarke Schmidt, who is 3-3 despite a sparkling 3.16 ERA in 11 starts. The Yankees host the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, and even though the Orioles offense has been better of late, they still fan at an above average pace. Schmidt is on a roll, posting a 1.07 ERA and 0.87 WHIP over his last four games spanning 25 1/3 innings.
Grant Holmes struck out 24 batters in 11 2/3 innings over his last two starts, including 15 whiffs his last time out. He has walked five and surrendered three homers over that span, but the punchouts are impressive. On Saturday, Holmes faces the Miami Marlins, whose lack of patience and paucity of power feed Holmes' strength.
Two of Dustin May's last three outings have been quality starts, though he only fanned nine while walking 10 in that span. Even so, May is in a great spot when the Los Angeles Dodgers host the Washington Nationals. Through Thursday's action, the Nationals are averaging just 2.71 runs per game in June.

Pitchers to avoid on Saturday

With weather and the Colorado Rockies heating up, starting the opposing pitchers in Coors Field is again risky. Merrill Kelly has been a mixed bag over his last six efforts. In his three quality starts during that stretch, the righty surrendered no runs over 19 combined frames, but in the other three outings he yielded 12 earned runs in 16 stanzas. Kelly's inconsistency is best avoided on Saturday.

Hitters to stream on Saturday

Aside from the hitters in the Rockies-Arizona Diamondbacks game at Coors Field, the Chicago Cubs are in a good spot at home for their interleague date with Emerson Hancock and the Seattle Mariners. Dansby Swanson, Michael Busch and Matt Shaw are among the best options available in at least half of ESPN leagues.

Betting tips

Best/worst pitcher/hitter matchups and betting projections are generated by THE BAT X, a 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. Betting projections for every player, team, and game can be found at EV Analytics.

Note: Expected Value is a measure of how good a bet is, factoring the probability that it will win versus the odds the book is providing. If you were to wager $1.00 100 times on a bet with an Expected Value of $25, you would win some and you would lose some, but in the end you would expect to come away with $25 in profit on your $100 investment.

Because odds typically do not get set until the previous day's games are completed, betting tips will be added in the morning.