Sorare MLB GW48 Breakdown | Scherzer Sidelined
I’ve been thinking about interviewing DraftKings Reignmakers players for my podcast.
With the baseball season ending soon, I wanted to transition into my other favorite sport and chat with some of the community members.
If anyone reading is big into Reignmakers and wants to talk strategy, let me know!
But for now we continue to grind some MLB on Sorare.
Let’s dive into GW48!
⏪ Game Week Rewind
Brandon Woodruff took the crown in GW47 with a complete-game shutout of the Marlins which included 7 strikeouts.
Yesterday on Off Bas3, Nick Mitchell made some good points about Woodruff being largely underrated since returning from the IL, despite being absolutely dominant since then.
He makes sense as a play this week against Washington, but also as a long-term hold for the rest of this season and beyond.
His teammate Freddy Peralta cracked the 4-spot this week as well, and alongside Corbin Burnes, this team has quite the trio of arms to lead their rotation.
How crazy is it that there is a pitcher with the last name Kirby, and a pitcher with the first name Kirby.
Anyways, Tommy Kahnle and Pete Fairbanks tied for the top spot this week amongst relievers.
It is strange seeing two out of these five players being non-closers (Kahnle/Yates), but that is part of the variance that comes with picking bullpen arms.
Rangers stacks came through this week as they pounded Blue Jays pitching with game totals of 10-4, 6-3, 10-0, and 9-2.
Not pictured here is Jonah Heim, who would have rounded out a nice 3-man Texas stack with his 58 Sorare points.
Less surprising was the Braves stack that got there yet again, with Matt Olson extending his league-leading home run count to 51.
📋 Roster Movements
In:
(Crickets)
Out:
Max Scherzer - Out for the season with strain to teres major muscle
Nolan Gorman - Placed on the IL with right hamstring strain
Jose Siri - Placed on the 10-day IL with right hand fracture
Brandon Belt - Placed on the IL with lumbar spine muscle spasms
Jeimer Candelario - Placed on the 10-day IL with low back strain
Willson Contreras - Day to day with right hand contusion
Jarred Kelenic - Day to day with injury to right foot
🔎 Multi Game Monitor
Four Games:
Rockies, Giants
Three Games:
Everyone else!
⚾️ Pitching Primer
Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan at CWS
Lopez and Ryan will head to Chicago to face the White Sox who, not surprisingly, graded out as one of the best offenses last week against Royals pitching.
The White Sox have had a productive series at the time of writing, but I don’t expect the same to happen in a series against the Twins who will start two elite arms in Lopez and Ryan.
On the season the Sox don’t have great numbers offensively by any means, ranking second-to-last in wRC+ (85) and striking out at the 11th-highest rate (23.5%).
They also rank 6th-worst in ISO (.149) and 2nd-worst in wOBA (.296).
Ryan and Lopez are ranked 5th (29.2%), and 6th (28.9%) in strikeout rate on the season, respectively.
Lopez is also 6th in xFIP (3.40), while Ryan has fallen a bit to 23rd (3.79).
Ryan makes up some ground on Pablo in walk-rate however, ranking 7th in the league at an even 5%.
I’ll give the edge to Lopez here, but I’d start both of them over just about every other pitcher going over the weekend.
Limited Prices: ~$8 Lopez, ~$6 Ryan
Dylan Cease vs MIN
This is a more risky play, albeit one with tremendous strikeout upside.
The Twins have the highest strikeout rate in the league (26.9%), but they are 12th in wRC+ (106), 12th in wOBA (.324), and 5th in ISO (.183).
This is still a first place team with a decent offense, but Minnesota has mostly been carried by stellar pitching like the two gentlemen I mentioned above.
Cease has cracked 9 K’s once over his last 10 starts, and it came against these same Minnesota bats.
He K’s batters at an impressive 26.9% clip but also carries a Blake Snell-esque 10.4% walk-rate, and just an average 4.21 xFIP.
There is a likely avenue to double-digit strikeouts here, and if he can limit the runs we could see a big outing here.
Limited Price: ~$4
Other Starters Include:
~$13 Justin Steele at ARI
~$10 Hunter Greene at NYM
~$12 Framber Valdez at KCR
~$7 Clayton Kershaw at SEA
~$13 Corbin Burnes vs WSH
~$15 Gerrit Cole at PIT
~$9 Aaron Nola at STL
~$20 Tyler Glasnow at BAL
📞 Call To The Bullpen
*With the Giants and the Rockies now playing four games, Camilo Doval and Justin Lawrence become the top Closers this week.
With every team playing three games, the only edge we have is to roster players from teams projected to play in a competitive series to maximize the chances of earning a relief appearance and a save opportunity.
Games I think can stay close:
CIN/NYM, DET/LAA, CHC/ARI, BOS/TOR
Closer Options:
~$7 Alexis Diaz
~$1 Adam Ottavino
~$2 Alex Lange
~$3 Carlos Estevez
~$3 Julian Merryweather
~$4 Paul Sewald
~$3 Kenley Jansen
~$5 Jordan Romano
💰 Stacks
*This was written before the Rockies/Giants postponement yesterday causing each team to play four games this week. San Fransisco is now far and away the top stack, with Colorado not far behind.
Giants
San Fransisco draws the best matchup on the board this week.
Three games at Coors Field against Peter Lambert, Kyle Freeland, and Chris Flexen should mean ample opportunities for offensive power.
The Giants are never my favorite team to stack with their offense being top-heavy and manager Gabe Kapler loving platoon players.
San Fransisco ranks 19th in wRC+ (95), 21st in wOBA (.308), and 22nd in ISO (.151)
With how great the matchup is I can see a mini-stack of Estrada/Flores/Peterson or a two-man of your favorites doing well this week.
~$5 Mike Yastrzemski
~$6 Thairo Estrada
~$4 Wilmer Flores
~$4 Joc Pederson
~$3 Mitch Haniger
Astros
I prefer Kauffman Stadium for aesthetics but not so much for offensive production.
That being said, the Stros will face Zack Greinke, Cole Ragans, and Jordan Lyles in this game week.
Ragans looks legit and I am certainly scared of Saturday’s matchup, but Lyles is statistically the worst pitcher in the league, and Greinke’s age will start with a 4 next month.
The Astros rank 9th in ISO (.175), 6th in wOBA (.331), and 5th in wRC+ (111) on the year.
Houston looks playoff-bound with their 82-64 record, but with Texas and Seattle not far behind in a tight AL West, I expect to see some offense in this one.
~$34 Jose Altuve
~$9 Jeremy Peña
~$60 Yordan Alvarez
~$22 Alex Bregman
~$54 Kyle Tucker
Other Stacks To Consider:
Braves, Brewers, Rockies, Padres
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 48.
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!