Sorare MLB GW34 Breakdown | The Return of Trout
Breaking down Game Week 34 on Sorare MLB
Welcome to the Sorare MLB GW34 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!
Let’s dive in!
⏪ Game Week Rewind
July Chase Limited Leaderboard
July Chase Rare Leaderboard
The first week of the July Chase finished up last night and this is how the Limited and Rare leaderboards look.
Notable names include Tyler CFC and Docscrew34.
📋 Roster Movements
In:
Mike Trout - Could return to the Angels as soon as Thursday
Clayton Kershaw - Expected to make first start of the season Thursday
Robbie Ray - On pace to join Giants’ rotation Monday
Tyler Glasnow - Expected to return from IL and start Wednesday
Kodai Senga - On track to make first start of the year Friday vs. Atlanta
Out:
Ozzie Albies - Fractured his left wrist, expected to miss about eight weeks
Max Fried - Placed on 15-day IL with left elbow neuritis
Bo Bichette - Placed on 10-day IL with right calf strain
Carlos Correa - Placed on 10-day IL with right plantar fasciitis
Julio Rodriguez - Day to day with right foot injury after collision with wall
Ryan Pepiot - Placed on 15-day IL with right knee infection
Reese Olson - Placed on 15-day IL with a right shoulder strain
🔎 Multi Game Monitor
Four Games:
Braves, White Sox, Guardians, Tigers, Angels, Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Athletics, Giants, Rays, Rangers
Three Games:
Diamondbacks, Orioles, Red Sox, Cubs, Reds, Rockies, Astros, Royals, Brewers, Twins, Yankees, Phillies, Pirates, Padres, Mariners, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Nationals
☔️ Rain Check
Georgia is once again the riskiest city this week.
I will say, I live in the Carolinas and we get a bunch of these pop-up storms this time of year, but they never last too long.
Whether they will pop up over the stadium long enough for a postponement is tough to say, but I will still give it the bold risk tag for now.
The Braves were able to squeeze in their game yesterday.
Atlanta - Thunderstorms all week with a 93% chance on Thursday *RISK*
New York City - 66% chance of rain & thunder Wednesday/ 59% thunderstorms Thursday - minor risk but I won’t give it the bold tag
Pittsburgh - 62% chance of thunderstorms Thursday - probably fine
Washington D.C. - 83% chance thunderstorms Monday/ 52% chance showers Thursday
⚾️ Pitching Primer
There are lots of good pitching options this week.
Many teams rested their studs who pitched in the All-Star game over the weekend and now most of them are making their return to the rotation.
Chris Sale vs CIN
Sale has been one of the best pitchers in the league this season, and now draws a great matchup at home against the Reds.
Sale is fourth in K/9 (11/45) and fourth in xFIP (2.52) on the year.
Cincinnati is taking a ballpark downgrade here and they strike out at the fifth-highest rate in baseball (24.5%). This number has grown over the past month.
Dylan Cease at WSH
Cease has been incredible in his last two starts against two tough offenses in the Guardians and the Braves.
He struck out 10 and 11, respectively, while allowing zero earned runs.
His K/9 is 11.73, which is third in MLB and one notch above Sale.
He is ninth in xFIP at 3.15.
Washington doesn’t strike out a ton but they are not too threatening on offense.
Cole Ragans vs ARI
Ragans has the eighth-highest K/9 at 10.88 and will face the Diamondbacks who whiff at the 24th-highest (20.8%).
I prefer to target Arizona with lefties, and Ragans is one of the best lefties in baseball.
His 3.17 xFIP is the 12th-highest in the league.
Other Starters Include:
Max Fried vs CIN
Corbin Burnes at MIA
Garrett Crochet at TEX
Tanner Bibee vs DET
Tarik Skubal at CLE
Hunter Brown at OAK
Tyler Glasnow vs SFG
Zack Wheeler at MIN
Paul Skenes vs STL
Luis Castillo vs LAA
📞 Call To The Bullpen
Our best bet is to target the closers on teams playing four games this week.
I have them all listed here, but my favorites are probably Clase and Yates.
The Guardians will face Detroit and the Rangers will face the White Sox.
Raisel Iglesias - ATL
Michael Kopech - CWS
Emmanuel Clase - CLE
Jason Foley - DET
Edwin Diaz - NYM
Tanner Scott - MIA
Mason Miller - OAK
Camilo Doval - SFG
Kirby Yates - TEX
Pete Fairbanks - TBR
💰 Stacks
Braves
Atlanta has that slight weather concern, but if they can wait out the pop-up storm then they are in a great spot here.
I respect Hunter Greene but he also can get blown up from time to time.
Martinez and Montas look like trade pieces for the Reds but neither of them scare me.
Severino looked good in his last start but his 4.42 xFIP is tenth-worst amongst qualified pitchers.
Atlanta is seventh in ISO (.165) and we could see some power from their bats here.
Rangers
Four games against the White Sox is enough to but a team on the radar.
Although, the matchup against Crochet is awful, and Fedde has been steady (rhymes) this year.
Texas is about league-average to slightly below league-average across the board, but I like the idea of a Semien, Seager, Garcia stack from the top.
I wouldn’t mess with the dudes at the bottom of this order.
Red Sox
Boston plays just three games so I had to put them a tier below some of the four-gamers.
*Note that MLB has Austin Gomber listed as the starter Monday, followed by Marquez and Quantrill.
German Marquez is back in this rotation, and while he was great for the Rockies in the past, he had four walks and three earned runs through four innings in his first start since coming back from Tommy John surgery.
The Red Sox’ offense is hot and I expect them, especially the lefties in Devers and Duran.
There you have it, the Sorare MLB Slate Breakdown for Game Week 34.
All statistics referenced in this newsletter were pulled from FanGraphs.
All pitcher matchups were referenced from FantasyPros.
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!