Fantasy baseball lineup advice and betting tips for Wednesday

ESPN Fantasy

Aug 26, 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 WEDNESDAY

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	Framber Valdez	L	COL	97.6%	63%	6.2	2.4	6.2
13.0	Max Fried	L	WSH	98.5%	64%	5.9	2.3	6.6
12.1	Bryan Woo	R	SD	95.7%	46%	5.7	2.1	5.3
11.9	Nolan McLean	R	PHI	33.3%	55%	5.8	2.1	5.6
11.6	Sonny Gray	R	PIT	93.9%	61%	5.6	2.4	5.9
10.5	Nathan Eovaldi	R	LAA	96.3%	66%	5.4	2.6	5.8
10.1	Yu Darvish	R	@SEA	14.7%	54%	4.9	2.0	4.9
9.5	Nick Lodolo	L	@LAD	63.3%	48%	5.1	2.3	5.4
8.5	Colin Rea	R	@SF	9.6%	59%	5.3	2.6	4.4
8.4	Brayan Bello	R	@BAL	32.0%	64%	5.6	3.0	5.0
8.4	Ryan Bergert	R	@CWS	6.4%	52%	4.9	2.3	4.8
8.3	Drew Rasmussen	R	@CLE	67.1%	52%	4.2	1.8	4.3
8.2	Ryan Gusto	R	ATL	0.8%	55%	5.2	2.6	4.7
7.9	Aaron Civale	R	KC	3.0%	48%	5.2	2.7	4.6
7.8	Taijuan Walker	R	@NYM	5.3%	45%	5.2	2.4	4.2
7.5	Ryne Nelson	R	@MIL	19.4%	47%	5.3	2.9	4.7
7.4	Cade Cavalli	R	@NYY	3.5%	36%	5.2	2.8	5.4
6.8	Joey Wentz	L	@MIA	2.1%	45%	4.8	2.5	4.6
6.7	Zebby Matthews	R	@TOR	4.1%	48%	5.0	3.0	4.9
6.7	Casey Mize	R	@ATH	48.7%	51%	5.1	2.9	4.4
6.7	Chase Dollander	R	@HOU	0.9%	37%	5.0	2.7	4.8
6.4	Quinn Priester	R	ARI	40.2%	53%	5.2	3.1	4.3
6.2	Luis Morales	R	DET	1.1%	49%	4.3	2.4	4.5
6.1	Slade Cecconi	R	TB	5.5%	48%	5.0	3.1	4.6
5.5	Braxton Ashcraft	R	@STL	2.0%	39%	3.6	1.7	3.4
5.4	Eric Lauer	L	MIN	19.5%	52%	4.7	3.0	4.7
5.2	Shohei Ohtani	R	CIN	99.9%	52%	3.1	1.4	3.2
5.1	Carson Whisenhunt	L	CHC	0.7%	41%	4.7	2.8	4.1
4.1	Caden Dana	R	@TEX	0.1%	34%	4.0	2.6	3.8
2.6	Roansy Contreras	R	BOS	0.0%	36%	3.1	2.1	2.4

Pitchers to stream on Wednesday

Yu Darvish is rounding into form, helping the San Diego Padres challenge the Los Angeles Dodgers for NL West supremacy. He's 2-0 with a 4.05 ERA in August, but a 3.82 xFIP, .80 WHIP and 21.6% K-BB% mark indicate he's pitched well. Five homers in 20 frames this month bloated his ERA, but long balls usually normalize over a larger sample. That said, Darvish will be challenged by the Seattle Mariners and an offense showing more pop this month, in part because of trade deadline acquisitions to supplement Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez. Even so, the Mariners fan at an elevated clip, so if Darvish can keep the ball in the yard, he lines up for a productive evening on the road.
Brayan Bello's 3.07 ERA is deemed over a run too low via xFIP and SIERA. A pedestrian strikeout rate puts Bello at risk, but he's helped himself by exhibiting above-average command and control. Bello has pitched at least six innings in 14 of his 23 outings, adding to his points league allure. Bello has a tough road date with the Baltimore Orioles on tap, but the Orioles are without three regulars and are auditioning several youngsters, which will help Bello navigate the lineup.
Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek were acquired by the Kansas City Royals at the trade deadline, shipping C Freddy Fermin to the San Diego Padres. It wasn't a dump deal but rather trading from strength to bolster their rotation. Bergert responded with a 2.82 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in four starts since the deal, fanning 22 with only six walks in 22 1/3 innings. He's 0-1 in this span, but the Royals are 2-2 in his starts. Bergert is in a good spot to pick up his first win with the Royals when he takes the hill in Rate Field against the Chicago White Sox.

Pitchers to avoid on Wednesday

Not only is Shohei Ohtani still on an innings limit, but he's also struggled in his past two outings, yielding nine runs over 8 1/3 innings. Though, to be fair, his last effort was in Coors Field. However, he was hit by a comebacker against the Colorado Rockies, and even though Ohtani has served as the DH for the past few games, the Los Angeles Dodgers will be careful with the leading candidate for NL MVP.

Hitters to stream on Wednesday

The surging Toronto Blue Jays are in a favorable spot at home against Zebby Matthews and the Minnesota Twins. Matthews struggled with a 4.66 ERA and 1.71 WHIP in August. He punched out 25 in 19 1/3 stanzas, but he also yielded nine walks and five homers. The Blue Jays scored the third most runs per game so far in August. Alejandro Kirk, Ernie Clement, Andres Gimenez, Addison Barger, Daulton Varsho, Ty France and Nathan Lukes are all in play.

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.