Fantasy baseball lineup advice and betting tips for Sunday

ESPN Fantasy

Aug 2, 2025, 05:00 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.

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STARTING PITCHERS FOR SUNDAY

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
13.5	Dylan Cease	R	STL	90.6%	64%	5.9	2.1	6.7
13.0	Cristopher Sanchez	L	DET	94.5%	58%	6.1	2.3	5.9
12.6	Jacob deGrom	R	@SEA	98.2%	56%	5.4	2.0	6.0
11.6	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	R	@TB	99.3%	60%	5.9	2.4	5.7
11.3	Seth Lugo	R	@TOR	82.0%	48%	6.2	2.6	5.3
11.1	Frankie Montas	R	SF	4.9%	63%	5.5	2.1	5.2
10.8	Luis Gil	R	@MIA	37.0%	53%	5.5	2.2	5.8
10.4	Framber Valdez	L	@BOS	99.0%	58%	5.9	3.0	6.3
10.1	Chris Bassitt	R	KC	67.4%	52%	5.9	2.7	5.4
9.5	Edward Cabrera	R	NYY	25.0%	47%	5.2	2.2	5.3
9.1	Luis Severino	R	ARI	14.0%	56%	5.7	2.8	5.1
8.5	Andre Pallante	R	@SD	4.3%	36%	5.5	2.3	4.1
8.1	Charlie Morton	R	@PHI	6.2%	42%	5.4	2.9	5.6
8.0	Jacob Misiorowski	R	@WSH	85.3%	63%	4.3	2.2	5.8
8.0	Colin Rea	R	BAL	8.3%	59%	5.3	2.9	4.7
7.7	Carson Whisenhunt	L	@NYM	1.7%	37%	5.1	2.4	5.1
7.3	Logan Evans	R	TEX	1.6%	44%	5.3	2.8	4.7
7.1	Eduardo Rodriguez	L	@ATH	3.9%	44%	5.4	3.3	5.4
6.2	Joe Boyle	R	LAD	6.7%	40%	4.6	2.5	5.0
5.5	Lucas Giolito	R	HOU	29.5%	42%	5.3	3.8	5.2
5.3	Brandon Young	R	@CHC	0.1%	41%	4.7	3.0	4.4
4.7	Sean Burke	R	@LAA	3.2%	49%	4.9	3.4	4.6
4.6	Brad Lord	R	MIL	0.5%	37%	3.9	2.2	3.5
4.5	Joey Cantillo	L	MIN	2.2%	53%	4.2	3.0	5.2
4.5	Jose Urena	R	@CLE	0.0%	47%	4.6	2.9	3.7
4.3	Jack Kochanowicz	R	CWS	0.4%	51%	4.9	3.1	3.4
3.2	Mitch Keller	R	@COL	60.3%	58%	5.5	5.1	5.3
-2.1	Bradley Blalock	R	PIT	0.2%	42%	4.7	5.6	4.0

Pitchers to stream on Sunday

After allowing just one earned run in six innings in his last effort, Edward Cabrera is down to a 2.39 ERA and 1.10 WHIP over his last 14 starts, spanning 75 1/3 innings. He punched out 76 with just two walks over that stretch. The Miami Marlins host the New York Yankees in the final game of an interleague set. Even without Aaron Judge, the Yankees rely on the long ball, and they'll experience a major park downgrade in South Beach.
Sean Burke lacks consistency so this is a risk, but he's amped up his strikeouts lately. With the Chicago White Sox visiting the Los Angeles Angels, Burke is in a great spot to keep missing bats, facing the offense with the second highest strikeout rate with a righty on the hill. Burke has 39 strikeouts over his past 35 innings, supporting a 3.09 ERA in that stretch.
Joey Cantillo's 4.57 ERA and 1.52 WHIP in July is misleading. He was pitching better as a reliever, but the Cleveland Guardians transitioned him to the rotation last month and Cantillo's control suffered. He fanned 27 over 21 2/3 innings but also issued 14 free passes. On Sunday, Cantillo faces an impatient and watered down Minnesota Twins lineup, a result of gutting their squad at the trade deadline. This is more of a deep league call, but Cantillo has the potential to rack up a bunch of strikeouts.

Hitters to stream on Sunday

Brad Lord only yielded two runs in 9 1/3 innings after the Washington Nationals inserted him into the rotation, but the right only struck out three hitters. He'll need to punch out more hitters to maintain success as a starter. Look for the Milwaukee Brewers to take advantage of Lord's lack of dominance when they meet in Nationals Park. Andrew Vaughn, Blake Perkins, Brice Turang and Caleb Durbin are the primary beneficiaries.

Hitters to avoid on Sunday

It's always tempting to deploy hitters facing a pitcher returning after a long layoff since they may not be sharp and may be under a pitch limit. For those same reasons, it's a risk to stream the pitcher. To be honest, Luis Gil could have been included with the pitchers to stream, but due to the risk, the attention will turn to Marlins hitters with Gil making his 2025 debut for the Yankees. Gil pitched well in rehab, fanning 24 in 14 1/3 innings, but he also walked seven. Even though they struggled Friday night, the Yankees have assembled a lockdown bullpen, so if Gil's workload is limited, Marlins bats will still be challenged. It's best to look elsewhere for hitters on the final day of this fantasy scoring period.

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.