Sorare MLB GW47 Breakdown | Martian Mayday
Week 1 of the NFL was yesterday.
I am happy to report that Patriots’ quarterback Mac Jones finished as the QB2 against the stout Eagles defense this weekend.
New England actually came so close to upsetting the reigning NFC champions, with a game-winning drive that saw Mac surpass over 300 yards stalled out at the last second.
I’m not saying Jones will be a high-upside QB play this year, but week 1 definitely showed some promise for the 3rd-year signal caller.
Anyways, I know you guys aren’t all Patriots fans like me, so I hope everyone had a great weekend and can look forward to the end of the baseball season.
Lets dive into GW47!
⏪ Game Week Rewind
Pablo Lopez had a season-high 14 strikeouts versus the Mets on Saturday.
The strikeouts went alongside 8 scoreless innings with only two hits allowed, in what was one of the most dominant pitching performances we’ve seen all season.
The rest of the names on this list do not come as a surprise, perhaps with the exception of Mike Clevinger.
Clev drew the always-appetizing Detroit matchup and struck out 7 Tigers in as many innings.
Four relievers surpassed the 40 point threshold this week with Rays’ closer Pete Fairbanks leading the way.
The only non-closer here is Julian Merryweather, who earned 15 Sorare points with three-straight relief appearances in Chicago’s three-game series with the Diamondbacks.
Pablo Lopez was the only starter to outscore all these bullpen arms.
This leaderboard looks very similar to the starting pitching one in that four of the players are unsurprisingly some of the best hitters in the league, with the exception in this case being Aaron Hicks (Sorry, Aaron).
Acuña and his MVP-season led the way with 3 homers, 8 hits, 7 RBI’s, 6 runs, 4 walks, and one stolen bag.
He really can do it all.
📋 Roster Movements
In:
Shohei Ohtani - “Could” return Monday after missing last 7 games with oblique strain
Josh Jung - Could return this weekend from left thumb fracture
Out:
Jasson Dominguez - Tore his UCL, may require Tommy John surgery in the offseason
Luis Severino - Placed on the 15-day IL with high grade left oblique strain
Isaac Paredes - Day to day with right hand contusion after getting hit by pitch
Luis Rengifo - Placed on the 10-day IL with season-ending left biceps tendon rupture
James Paxton - Placed on the IL with right knee soreness, out for season
MacKenzie Gore - Placed on 15-day IL with blisters on left middle finger
🔎 Multi Game Monitor
Four Games:
Braves, Brewers, Pirates, Red Sox, White Sox, Rangers, Orioles, Marlins, Phillies, Giants, Diamondbacks, Nationals, Blue Jays, Rays, Yankees, Rockies, Mets, Twins
Three Games:
Dodgers, Mariners, Astros, Angels, Tigers, Padres, Cubs, Cardinals, Reds, Royals, Athletics, Guardians
⚾️ Pitching Primer
Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez vs OAK
Probably the biggest talent mismatch of the week goes to the three-game series between the Astros and Athletics.
Oakland’s offense can be pesky, but they still rank bottom-5 in K% (24.6%), 25th in ISO (.147), last in wOBA (.295), and 24th in wRC+ (90).
Verlander is old, but he’s had some big games since being traded to Houston, including allowing just 1 run over three starts versus Texas, Detroit, and Boston.
Valdez’ advanced numbers look better, particularly from an xFIP point of view, with the lefty currently sporting a 3.44.
Valdez is the king of soft contact, allowing a 4th-best 11.4% to go along with a 3rd-best 54.6% ground ball rate.
I prefer Valdez here but you can’t go wrong with either guy.
Limited Prices: ~$6 Verlander, ~$10 Valdez
Freddy Peralta vs MIA
Freddy had somewhat of a down game in his last start against the Pirates, tallying up only 4 K’s over just 5 innings of work.
I’m expecting a bounce-back here as his strikeout number are still elite (4th-best 30.8% K-rate).
The Marlins don’t strike out as much as you’d might think (24th-highest, 21.2%), but this is a weak offense that has recently gotten weaker with the best power bat, Jorge Soler, being placed on the IL.
Fire up some Freddy against the fish with confidence.
Limited Price: ~$14
Other Starters Include:
~$16 Zac Gallen at NYM
~$98 Spencer Strider at PHI
~$5 Dylan Cease vs KCR
~$16 Luis Castillo vs LAA
~$24 Tyler Glasnow at MIN
~$11 Kevin Gausman vs TEX
~$6 Joe Ryan vs TBR
📞 Call To The Bullpen
I don’t think we’ve seen 18 teams playing four games on a Monday-Thursday slate yet this season.
With the amount of at-bats projected for this game week, this could be the highest scoring slate of the year.
It makes picking a closer slightly more difficult without a clear edge, but you also can’t really go wrong selecting any of the top closers playing all four games.
I will list some closers here in the order that I like them.
Closer Options:
~$10 Devin Williams
~$7 David Bednar
~$7 Camilo Doval
~$7 Jhoan Duran
~$4 Paul Sewald
~$7 Jordan Romano
~$6 Will Smith
💰 Stacks
It was actually pretty tough to find some stacks this week.
The Braves have an awful matchup versus Philly pitching, The Cubs are in Coors but play just three games (especially with there being 18 teams playing four games this week), and the Astros get Oakland but they have three games.
Therefore this leaves my favorite two stacks as…
White Sox
Chicago draws Brady Singer, Jordan Lyles, and Alec Marsh of the Royals, followed by Kenta Maeda of the Twins.
The White Sox are eliminated from playoff contention, but the top of this order can still do some damage against these bottom-ranked Kansas City pitchers.
Chicago ranks 28th in wRC+ on the season, which isn’t very good, but they have overcome the injuries that plagued them earlier in the season, and they will grade as the top team from an opposing pitching standpoint.
The Royals have the 5th-worst collective xFIP (4.68). Brady Singer has a 4.27 xFIP, while Lyles and Marsh are both north of 5.
Win/Loss record doesn’t matter that much for pitchers, but it is interesting to note that these three combine for a 12-34 record.
~$2 Tim Anderson
~$21 Luis Robert
~$3 Eloy Jimenez
~$2 Yoan Moncada
~$2 Andrew Vaughn
Pirates
Pittsburgh draws Patrick Corbin, Joan Adon, Josiah Gray and a TBD pitcher for the Nationals this week.
The Pirates don’t have a great offense, but this is arguably the best pitching matchup on the slate amongst the four-gamers.
Their lineup drops off pretty quickly, but I love the idea of a Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Jack Suwinski stack.
~$5 Ke’Bryan Hayes
~$9 Bryan Reynolds
~$3 Jack Suwinski
~$1 Connor Joe
Other Stacks To Consider:
Braves, Phillies, Cubs, Red Sox
Value Options (Under $20):
Middle Infield:
~$10 Jorge Polanco, ~$12 J.P. Crawford, ~$6 Tommy Edman, ~$8 Carlos Correa
Corner Infield:
~$8 Triston Casas, ~$14 Anthony Santander, ~$5 Ke’Bryan Hayes, ~$11 Spencer Torkelson
Outfield:
~$14 Teoscar Hernandez, ~$13 Seiya Suzuki, ~$9 Bryan Reynolds, ~$11 Cedric Mullins
There you have it, the Sorare MLB Slate Breakdown for Game Week 47.
All statistics referenced in this newsletter were pulled from Fangraphs.
All prices references were pulled from the Limited tier.
I release these every Monday and Friday prior to 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!