Fantasy baseball lineup advice and betting tips for Sunday

ESPN Fantasy

Sep 13, 2025, 07:41 AM 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
14.3	Nolan McLean	R	TEX	64.8%	74%	6.0	1.8	5.9
13.3	Tyler Glasnow	R	@SF	85.6%	62%	5.6	1.9	6.2
12.1	George Kirby	R	LAA	80.6%	67%	5.7	2.2	5.4
11.6	Garrett Crochet	L	NYY	99.8%	59%	5.3	2.4	6.8
11.5	Shota Imanaga	L	TB	95.1%	50%	5.9	2.5	5.7
11.2	Yu Darvish	R	COL	16.7%	67%	5.1	1.9	5.1
10.8	Shane Bieber	R	BAL	51.1%	54%	5.5	2.5	5.9
9.9	Noah Cameron	L	@PHI	28.2%	48%	5.6	2.7	5.3
9.9	Aaron Nola	R	KC	66.6%	52%	5.8	3.0	5.7
9.6	Framber Valdez	L	@ATL	96.9%	60%	5.8	3.0	5.7
9.5	Nick Lodolo	L	@ATH	57.9%	50%	5.2	2.5	5.6
9.4	Robbie Ray	L	LAD	85.7%	38%	5.5	2.4	5.0
9.2	Bailey Ober	R	ARI	54.5%	57%	5.4	2.7	5.2
9.2	Adrian Houser	R	@CHC	18.6%	50%	5.5	2.4	4.6
8.3	Jose Quintana	L	STL	16.3%	52%	5.5	2.9	4.8
8.1	Luis Morales	R	CIN	22.3%	50%	5.0	2.6	5.3
7.7	Albert Suarez	R	@TOR	0.2%	46%	5.2	2.7	4.3
6.8	Jacob Latz	L	@NYM	1.0%	26%	4.3	2.0	4.9
6.8	Slade Cecconi	R	CWS	7.6%	51%	5.1	3.0	4.7
6.7	Adam Mazur	R	DET	0.1%	64%	5.1	2.8	4.0
6.7	Caden Dana	R	@SEA	0.2%	33%	4.6	2.4	4.6
6.4	Mike Burrows	R	@WSH	2.3%	58%	4.4	2.5	4.5
6.4	Yoendrys Gomez	R	@CLE	1.1%	49%	4.8	2.9	5.2
6.2	Will Warren	R	@BOS	17.9%	41%	4.9	3.2	5.2
5.5	Miles Mikolas	R	@MIL	2.7%	48%	5.1	3.1	3.7
4.6	German Marquez	R	@SD	0.4%	33%	4.9	2.9	3.6
4.1	Cade Cavalli	R	PIT	4.3%	42%	4.7	3.3	4.6
3.4	Joey Wentz	L	HOU	1.8%	40%	4.5	3.4	4.6
3.2	Nabil Crismatt	R	@MIN	2.0%	43%	4.6	3.3	3.6
	TBD		@MIA	0.0%	36%	0.0	0.0	0.0

Pitchers to stream Sunday

Yu Darvish has been frugal with the long ball in recent seasons, but lately he's suffering from a bout of gopheritis. The veteran has surrendered at least one home run in seven straight games, totaling nine in 33⅔ innings. Darvish should reverse the trend when the San Diego Padres host the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies tote one of the lowest road home run rates, which is further suppressed by Petco Park.
Jose Quintana has outpitched his peripherals most of the season. However, the lefty has posted a 7.56 ERA and 1.50 WHIP over his past three outings, spanning 16⅔ innings. Even with the struggles, Quintana pitched into the seventh inning in his prior two efforts, keeping his points league scoring afloat. The Milwaukee Brewers host the St. Louis Cardinals, and the visitors are vulnerable to left-handed pitching, sporting one of the lowest home run rates with a southpaw on the hill.
Slade Cecconi is coming off one of the best outings of his career, blanking the Kansas City Royals over eight frames and keeping the Cleveland Guardians within striking distance of the AL wild-card chase. Sometimes after an extended effort, the team will manage the innings in the next trip to the hill, but Cecconi threw a reasonable 100 pitches, so there should be no restriction when he faces the Chicago White Sox at home.

Pitchers to avoid Sunday

Sunday is the final day of Playoff Round 1 in ESPN head-to-head leagues, so your team needs dictate risk aversion, but beware that Aaron Nola isn't safe despite coming off his best performance of the season. The Philadelphia Phillies host the Kansas City Royals in the final game of the weekend interleague set. In the four games before Nola stifled the New York Mets last time out, the veteran registered an 8.38 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. The Royals' pesky "move-the-line" offense is the type that can give Nola fits, considering his command and control aren't quite back.

Hitters to stream Sunday

The Toronto Blue Jays entertain the Baltimore Orioles in an AL East affair where the Orioles are likely to deploy a parade of relievers. Addison Barger, Daulton Varsho and Ernie Clement are the most likely to take advantage.

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.