How to Win your 2014 Fantasy Baseball League with Streaming Starters

More isn’t always better, but being an active owner can be key to winning your fantasy baseball league this season.  Fansided is here to help you stay active and engaged as you battle your way to your ultimate goal of fantasy supremacy!

The Major League Baseball season actually already started since the first two games of the regular season took place in an irregular place as part of the Sydney Series where the Dodgers swept the D-Backs and officially got off and running.  The stateside portion of the season starts this Sunday Night as the Dodgers are once again in the spotlight as they take on the Padres.  For the rest of the MLB, Monday is Opening Day with the exception of the Yankees and Astros who get underway Tuesday.

As fantasy baseball reaches peak activity this week, it’s time to get strategic with your in-season planning.

One strategy many experienced fantasy baseball owners use successfully is holding a position on their roster they utilize for a streaming starter. The concept behind the plan is to change out one player on your team regularly and replace them with a pitcher whose turn it is in the rotation the following day.

Basically, it’s a revolving door at that spot in their lineup with a new starting pitcher in that slot each day from the waiver wire.

The idea is that more starts should result in more wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, and ultimately more points if you pick up starters who have solid outings.

Understanding your league scoring and roster limitations is key to using this strategy effectively. Most leagues have some kind of safeguard built in to prevent teams winning simply because an owner was the most active. There are a number of different ways leagues go about this. Sometimes leagues place a cap on the number of transactions made per week or the number of starts made per week. If your league does have those kind of rules in place, you need to understand them and make sure each week that you take full advantage of each one of your roster moves or games started under the cap.  Whether you should wait until the end of the week and try to load your starters up or make a move each day to stream in fresh arms depends on your league’s setup.

However your league is set up, there are some quality starts you can grab on the waiver wire to help you win your league. Whether you decided to ride the wave and go all-in streaming full-time all season or you just need an emergency play at the end of the week to win a head-to-head matchup, make sure to check out our Fansided fantasy baseball page where you can fine help to make sure you get the most from your matchups.

Streaming starters can be a great idea, but it also does carry some risk. If you get bad starts, it can actually be extremely counter-productive.

However, if you get the right players, it can put you over the top. To help with that, I’ll be once  giving you at least three options almost every day of the MLB season to plug into your lineup where needed. Click here for an archive of some of our posts from last season when they appeared on Fantasy CPR.

This year on Fansided, I’ll give you selections among the probable starters who are available in more than 50% of ESPN leagues. My goal will be to identify the top options to give you a one-day boost based on matchup, current form, and park factors.

Unfortunately, not every pickup will pay off, but when you need help check out our daily spot starter post for ideas on where to start your search for a streamer. The plan is to have the post up around 5:00 PM ET for the following day’s probable starters. That usually gives enough time for people with daily locks to make their league deadlines. For example, Sunday afternoon you’ll be able to find Monday’s selections.

Feel free to sound off in the comments of this post or the individual selection posts to let me know how your team is doing and how I can help you with fantasy advice throughout the season. You can also reach out to me @ZT_Sports on twitter.

Good luck this season and hopefully you can bring home your fantasy trophy!