If you need help in the pitching department ahead of Monday’s fantasy baseball slate, here are three pitchers worth targeting for your slates, regardless of whether you’re looking at a DFS option or a streamer in season-long formats.
Trusting Jose Soriano Across All Fantasy Formats
Few pitchers have looked as dominant as Soriano in the early stages of the 2026 MLB season, but aside from passing the eye test, the numbers back him up as well. Soriano blanked the Astros and Cubs in his first two starts, tossing six scoreless frames each time and posting a combined 11:6 K:BB in that span. The walks number is pretty high, and the 0.83 WHIP despite tossing two scoreless outings suggests he’s primed to regress at some point, but that shouldn’t happen Monday since he has a favorable matchup against the Braves.
Atlanta ranks sixth in collective OPS so far this season (.754), but it’s hard not to trust Soriano until the numbers say otherwise. While he might not be in line to toss another scoreless outing, a third consecutive quality start would already be successful.
Starting Janson Junk vs. Cincinnati on Monday
Junk didn’t have his best outing in his first start of the season, as he allowed two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out five across 4.1 innings of work. However, his stuff was better than the numbers indicate, as he was comfortably sitting at 94-96 mph with his fastball while mixing a bag of breaking offerings. He needs to throw more strikes to be more effective, but he faces a favorable matchup at home against the Reds, who have been notoriously bad on the road for quite some time.
The Reds’ offensive struggles are telling, as they have posted the sixth-worst collective OPS thus far (.617) and are hitting just .209 as a team through nine games and 301 at-bats. Junk should take advantage of the favorable matchup to potentially record his first quality start of the season on Monday. Junk also possesses a favorable matchup against the current Reds roster, setting him up to dominate.
Andrew Painter Is a Strong Fantasy Option vs. San Francisco
Painter enjoyed a successful MLB debut earlier this season, tossing 5.1 innings of one-run ball in a 3-2 win over the Nationals last Tuesday, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out eight. He gets another favorable matchup this Monday, as he’ll be pitching in a pitcher-friendly environment at Oracle Park while facing a San Francisco offense that ranks dead last in OPS (.565) and slugging (.292) while posting the fifth-worst on-base percentage (.275) as a team.
While Painter might not be able to repeat the eight strikeouts he recorded against the Nationals, the Giants’ offense looks lost right now. The rookie right-hander should take advantage of those struggles, as well as pitching in a favorable context, to deliver a strong fantasy performance. He’s a solid bet if you need extra help with your rotation ahead of Monday’s slate.
Leave a Reply