MatchWiz Plays Optimizer
Strikeouts Board · Today

Best MLB strikeouts matchupsThursday, July 16, 2026

Every starting pitcher on the Thursday, July 16, 2026 slate, scored — ranked by strikeout upside against today's lineup. Whiff rate, the bats he's facing, how deep he goes, and command. Tap any card for the full breakdown.

Plays of the Day

Plays post once today's odds and lineups are in. We pull the books' lines around 10am ET, then surface strikeout plays as each lineup goes final. The board fills through the day — turn on alerts (the bell up top) to get pinged the moment plays post. This season strikeout PODs are hitting 60%a +9% return.

PROJSome lineups aren't official yet — 2 starts use an opposing lineup projected from that team's last game. The strikeout projection updates automatically once the official lineup posts, ~2 hours before first pitch.
#Pitcher · MatchupScore

Pitcher strikeouts Rate24.5% K / BF

vs LHB24.1%
vs RHB23.9%
K-BB% (command-adj. skill)18.3%

How often he gives up strikeouts to the batters he faces, by hand.

Workload22.8 BF

Expected batters faced22.8
From recent starts8

How deep he tends to go — the count multiplier.

Projection5.3 K

Expected strikeouts — built from how his rate stacks up against each hitter in the lineup, across his projected plate appearances.

Last 5 GamesStrikeouts

Jun 18vs NYM6
Jun 24@ WSH5
Jun 29vs PIT5
Jul 5@ KC7
Jul 10@ DET8

Opposing Lineup · K-proneness21.4% avg

BatterRateExp PA
1. A.J. Ewing (L)23.8%3.0
2. Juan Soto (L)17.0%3.0
3. Francisco Lindor (L)21.0%3.0
4. Eric Wagaman (R)22.6%3.0
5. Carson Benge (L)18.6%2.8
6. Tyrone Taylor (R)19.2%2.0
7. Luis Torrens (R)21.0%2.0
8. Brett Baty (L)23.5%2.0
9. Zack Short (R)26.0%2.0

Each hitter's strikeouts rate vs this pitcher's hand, and the plate appearances he's projected to see.

Aaron Nola's full player page →

Pitcher strikeouts Rate27.0% K / BF

vs LHB27.1%
vs RHB24.3%
K-BB% (command-adj. skill)11.6%

How often he gives up strikeouts to the batters he faces, by hand.

Workload21.7 BF

Expected batters faced21.7
From recent starts8

How deep he tends to go — the count multiplier.

Projection5.7 K

Expected strikeouts — built from how his rate stacks up against each hitter in the lineup, across his projected plate appearances.

Last 5 GamesStrikeouts

Jun 5@ SD3
Jun 11vs STL6
Jun 27vs PHI6
Jul 3@ ATL7
Jul 8vs KC5

Opposing Lineup · K-proneness22.6% avg

BatterRateExp PA
1. Trea Turner (R)22.1%3.0
2. Kyle Schwarber (L)32.1%3.0
3. Bryce Harper (L)19.6%3.0
4. Alec Bohm (R)17.4%2.7
5. Edmundo Sosa (R)19.7%2.0
6. Brandon Marsh (L)23.5%2.0
7. Derek Hill (R)26.8%2.0
8. J.T. Realmuto (R)23.4%2.0
9. Bryson Stott (L)18.9%2.0

Each hitter's strikeouts rate vs this pitcher's hand, and the plate appearances he's projected to see.

Christian Scott's full player page →

What the strikeouts board is

The Strikeouts board projects how many batters a starting pitcher strikes out, set against the sportsbook's strikeout line. One statistical model scores every matchup on the slate the same way — a star and a backup judged on the matchup in front of them, not their name — and every number is graded against the real box score once the games go final.

How the model gets its number

It isn't a gut call or a name game. The projection is built from a few things:

  • The pitcher's own strikeout rate — his stuff, blended across recent form and the full season.
  • The exact lineup he faces: how often those nine hitters go down swinging, weighted by who bats when.
  • Park and the plate-discipline edge in the matchup (a whiff-prone lineup is a K magnet).

Those pieces combine into one number, and the model re-tunes itself weekly against how its past calls actually landed.

Where the edge is

This is our sharpest prop. When our projection gaps far from the book's line — 1.5 strikeouts or more — that disagreement has been profitable in a full-season backtest, and it holds up out-of-sample. The book leans on a pitcher's name and season number; we score the exact lineup in front of him, so we catch the spots the line is slow to move on. Most of the value is on the UNDER of an inflated ace line. This season those plays are hitting 60% at a +9% return — graded in the open, day by day.

How to use it

Scan for the biggest gaps between our projected K's and the posted line — those are the Plays of the Day. A small gap isn't a play; the edge is in the wide disagreements, and we grade every one against the real box score.

Everything here is a research signal from the model, graded in public — not betting advice, and no outcome is guaranteed.