Hello,

This is my first time playing fantasy baseball.

How do you choose who to start, aside from looking at razzball blog posts? The blog post only addresses some top pitchers..

Right now I just look at matchup ratings in yahoo. For example, I have Saunders vs Was and Samardjzia vs Cin today, I'm starting both because they have 4 and 5 stars for rating.

Any tips?

Start Samardzija... Depends on matchups...

If you want to stream a pitcher for a spot start, I'd look at how he's done the past three outings and which team he is up against.

Pitcher A) 3.50 ERA last two weeks, up against Toronto
Pitcher B) 4.75 ERA, up against Pittsburgh
Pitcher C) 4.00 ERA, up against Atlanta

I would probably rank those match-ups in that order.

Here's a way to check team offensive stats - http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting

Also consider what ballpark they are pitching in. @Seattle, @ Petco, and @ Oakland are all streamer gold. Especialy keep an eye on what Hodgepadres are available during a homestand because NL West teams are weak offensively.

Depending on the rules of your league, streaming is a great way to stay competitive. I'd rather have a C grade pitcher or fifth starter with a great matchup than a B grade pitcher or fourth starter with a bad matchup. In my daily league, I stream 3-4 guys a week (out of five max roster moves) and I have the lowest ERA and WHIP. One thing that will suffer is your K/9, because high strikeout guys are sexy and tend to get held on to.