Sorare MLB GW18 Breakdown | MVP Se Fue
Breaking down Game Week 18 on Sorare MLB
Welcome to the Sorare MLB GW18 Breakdown.
For those new here, I provide an all-in-one place to prepare Sorare MLB managers for the upcoming Game Week every Monday and Friday.
Feel free to message me on X at @Hunter_Himself if you have any questions or want to see something added to the newsletter!
Also, stay tuned for a Sorare Limited card giveaway on Twitter (X) sometime this week.
Let’s dive in!
⏪ Game Week Rewind
Shoutout to KLamp1 for winning Limited All Star in GW17.
MacKenzie Gore had one of his best games of the season with eight strikeouts against Seattle.
📋 Roster Movements
In:
Austin Riley - Should return to Braves’ lineup Monday
Out:
Ronald Acuña Jr. - Out for the season with a knee injury
Jon Gray - Placed on 15-day IL with right groin strain
Dean Kremer - Placed on 15-day IL with left forearm strain
Michael Massey - Placed on 10-day IL with low back ligament strain
Tyler O’Neill - Day-to-day with right knee soreness, was out Sunday
Jorge Polanco - Day-to-day with tightness in right hamstring
Miguel Sano - Burned his left knee on a heating pad, will need more time on IL
🔎 Multi Game Monitor
Four Games:
Braves, Red Sox, Cubs, Astros, Royals, Brewers, Twins, Mets, Mariners, Nationals
Three Games:
Diamondbacks, Orioles, White Sox, Reds, Guardians, Rockies, Tigers, Angels, Dodgers, Marlins, Yankees, Athletics, Phillies, Padres, Giants, Cardinals, Rays, Blue Jays
Two Games:
Pirates, Rangers
☔️ Rain Check
Baltimore - 50% chance of rain Monday night/62% chance PM thunderstorms Wed.
Chicago - 76% chance of PM thunderstorms Tuesday
Detroit - 38% chance of PM thunderstorms Tuesday
New York City - 91% chance of rain/thunderstorms Monday
⚾️ Pitching Primer
Tarik Skubal vs. PIT - Skubal is in play anytime he touches the mound but certainly against the Pirates who strike out at the sixth-highest rate in the league (24.7%). Pittsburgh has also slowly become 26th or worse in wOBA, ISO, and wRC+.
Max Fried vs. WSH - His K-rate is just 20.4% but he’s the king of soft contact. Only Chris Sale and Shota Imanaga have a lower hard-hit percentage (21.2%) making Fried a weekly high-floor play. Washington scares no one.
Tyler Glasnow at NYM - He’s tied with Jack Flaherty for the highest strikeout rate in the league at 33.3%. The Mets are a neutral matchup across the board but Glasnow has proven he is matchup-proof.
Luis Gil at LAA - Gil’s last two starts have been outstanding and he draws another great matchup here. His K% (31.7%) is tied with Chris Sale for fourth in the league. His xFIP of 3.55 shows some possible regression coming but that’s less likely to happen against the Angels.
Other Starters Include:
Framber Valdez at SEA
Zack Wheeler at SFG
Cole Ragans at MIN
Freddy Peralta vs. CHC
Joe Ryan vs. KCR
Kevin Gausman at CWS
Chris Bassitt at CWS
📞 Call To The Bullpen
The safe bet this week is to roster a closer from one of the ten teams playing four games this week.
One thing to note is that Edwin Diaz got bumped out of the Mets’ closer role and they are now using a closer committee that consists of Adam Ottavino, Jorge Lopez, and Jake Diekman.
I would stay away from that situation altogether.
Closer Options:
Raisel Iglesias - ATL
Kenley Jansen - BOS
Hector Neris - CHC
Josh Hader - HOU
James McArthur - KCR
Trevor Megill - MIL
Jhoan Duran - MIN
Andres Muñoz - SEA
Kyle Finnegan - WSH
💰 Stacks
Braves
The good news is Atlanta gets Austin Riley back on Monday, the bad news is they just lost Ronald Acuña Jr. to the IL.
The other good news is that they draw the best matchup out of the teams playing four games this week. The other bad news is they managed not to face Patrick Corbin in this series.
They will get two righties and two lefties in this series, so all Braves bats are squarely in play.
Atlanta is ranked 8th in wRC+ (106), 12th in ISO (.158), and 7th in wOBA (.320) on the year.
Cubs
The matchup against Freddy Peralta on Tuesday is tough, but the rest of this Milwaukee rotation isn’t super scary.
American Family Field is a sneaky-good park for power and we know the Cubs offense has been league-average all year.
I can see a two-man stack of Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger doing some damage here with an extra game this week.
Guardians
Cleveland draws just three games in GW18 but all three will come at Coors Field against some very beatable pitchers. All three have an xFIP north of 4.00.
The Guardians have sneaky-good numbers this season. They are tied for 7th in ISO (.161), 13th in wOBA (.311), and 10th in wRC+ (104).
There you have it, the Sorare MLB Slate Breakdown for Game Week 18.
All statistics referenced in this newsletter were pulled from FanGraphs.
I release these every Monday and Friday before lineup lock to help you all with preparing for the slate and setting your teams.
I hope to see everyone at the top of the leaderboards!
Also, follow me on Twitter @Hunter_Himself!
Thanks for reading!