Sorare MLB GW7 Breakdown | The Return of El Niño

Welcome to the Sorare MLB Game Week 7 Slate Breakdown!

My goal for these slate breakdowns is to create an all-in-one place for users to get an overview of each Game Week and use that information to pinpoint marketplace inefficiencies and construct a winning team.

I will be focusing on the Limited tier cards when referencing market prices as this is where the majority of Sorare users will be playing, and where there is the most liquid market.

You can find my slate breakdowns every Monday and Friday of the MLB season on here Lucky Trader, or subscribe to my newsletter to get them in your inbox.

Let’s dive in!

⏪ Game Week Rewind

The other player worth here noting is Taj Bradley whose Sorare cards just hit the auction market yesterday. Bradley has flashed 8 and 9 strikeouts in his two major league starts and could find a home in the Rays’ starting rotation with Jeffrey Springs gone for the season.

The relief pitcher leaderboard this week featured five closers who each earned 10 points for two relief appearances and 20 points for a save in each. The slight differences in their final score came from strikeouts.

This is the second time in the last three game weeks that the opposing teams’ closer at Coors Field has been the top scorer.

Jack Suwinski took the crown in GW6 by taking advantage of Pittsburgh’s three games in Coors Field. Suwinski hit three homers against Colorado and a fourth against the Reds yesterday.

Marcus Semien proved he’s one of the best middle infielder options to roster on a weekly basis. He has one of the highest limited price tags at the position at ~$47 at the time of writing.

🔎 Multi-Game Monitor

All teams play three games!

📋 Roster Movements

Find some of the most notable roster movements below:

In

• Fernando Tatís Jr. - Returned to lineup Thursday from 80-day suspension
• Joe Musgrove - Will return April 22 do make debut vs Arizona
• Oswald Peraza - Called up from AAA after Stanton went on IL
• Mason Miller - Called up Wed and struck out 5 Cubs through 4.1 IP/No Sorare card yet
• Joey Gallo - Reinstated from IL Wednesday

Out

• Jeffrey Springs - Will miss remainder of season with Tommy John surgery
• Giancarlo Stanton - 10-day injured list with left hamstring strain
• Jacob deGrom - Left Tuesday’s start after four innings with sore wrist
• Madison Bumgarner - DFA’d by Diamondbacks on Thursday

⚾️ Pitching Primer

Find top pitching options below:

Lopez has quietly been one of the best starting pitchers in the league this year. He has the third-highest K% at 33.7% and he’s sixth overall with a respectable 2.84 xFIP.

After digging into their stats, I noticed the Nationals have some interesting offensive numbers to start the season. They have the fourth-lowest team wOBA (.294), they’re dead-last in ISO by a healthy margin (.085), however, they’re tied with the Mets for the lowest strikeout rate (17.8%).

Lane Thomas and CJ Abrams strikeout around 25% but most of this lineup K’s less than 20% of the time.

Lopez has an elite strikeout rate and the home run threat is all but zero in this one, however, it’s worth noting that this matchup doesn’t warrant as much strikeout-upside as you might think.

Limited Price: ~$18

Luis Castillo vs STL

Castillo has had a great start to the season with a top-ten strikeout rate (29.5%) and the fifth-best xFIP (2.83).

The matchup against St. Louis is neutral, as the Cards are about league-average in most of the major offensive metrics. I always prefer to target right-handed pitchers like Castillo against the Cardinals to help mitigate their top hitters in Arenado and Goldschmidt.

Castillo is coming off a huge 9 strikeout, two-hit game against Colorado and I’d be looking to buy for the rest of the season.

Limited Price: ~$27

Other Starters Include:

• Corbin Burnes vs BOS
• Aaron Nola vs COL
• Shohei Ohtani vs KCR
• Dylan Cease at TBR
• Shane McClanahan vs CHW
• Sandy Alcantara at CLE
• Andrew Heaney vs OAK
• Freddy Peralta vs BOS
• Kevin Gausman at NYY

Notable pitchers NOT starting in Game Week 7:

Kenta Maeda, Nestor Cortes, Jamison Taillon, Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Joe Ryan, Corey Kluber, Drew Rasmussen, Taylor Rodgers, Alex Cobb, Martin Perez, Brady Singer, Taijuan Walker, Mike Clevinger, Max Scherzer, Noah Syndergaard, Mason Miller, Charlie Morton, Jose Berrios, Luis Garcia, Nick Lodolo

📞 Call To The Bullpen

I’m going to stick with picking closers in games where I think the series can stay close throughout. This will maximize our chances of encountering a save situation. On the weekend game weeks it’s much less likely to get two appearances and earn two saves compared to the four-game slates on Monday-Thursday.

For what it’s worth, here’s a list of closers with the most saves so far to start the season, per Fangraphs.

Closer Options:

• AJ Minter vs HOU
• Ryan Pressly at ATL
• Clay Holmes vs TOR
• Jordan Romano at NYY
• Paul Sewald vs STL
• Ryan Helsley at SEA

Middle Relief Options:

• Nick Anderson & Joe Jimenez (ATL)
• Rafael Montero & Bryan Abreu (HOU)
• Michael King & Wandy Peralta (NYY)
• Erik Swanson & Yimi Garcia (TOR)
• Matt Brash & Diego Castillo (SEA)
• Giovanny Gallegos & Drew VerHagen (STL)

💰 Stacks

Find some of the top stack options below:

Orioles

Baltimore will play a three-game series at home against the Tigers and are slated to face Michael Lorenzen, Joey Wentz, and a TBD pitcher on Sunday.

This is one of the worst starting rotations in the league, the weather will be warm in Baltimore this weekend, and the O’s lineup is chalk full of speed and power.

Cedric Mullins and Jorge Mateo are first and second in the league with 9 and 8 steals, respectively.

They also get on base a lot in general with both Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson top five in walks on the year so far.

The Orioles are currently fourth in team wOBA (.348), seventh in team ISO (.179), third in walk-rate (12.4%), and second in wRC+ (121).

~$27 Cedric Mullins

~$46 Adley Rutschman

~$22 Ryan Mountcastle

~$38 Gunnar Henderson

~$18 Jorge Mateo

Twins

Minnesota heads home to play a three-game series against the Nationals this weekend.

Washington has a bottom-five starting rotation and this Twins team is hot coming off a big offensive outing in their series at Fenway.

Now with Joey Gallo back in the lineup, and the addition of rookie second baseman Edouard Julien, this team looks to be one we can target more regularly in Sorare.

Gallo was someone I was high on coming into the season because he would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the shift-ban. He’s delivered four home runs already despite limited playing time.

~$3 Max Kepler

~$17 Carlos Correa

~$25 Byron Buxton

N/A Edouard Julien

~$11 Joey Gallo

Value Hitters (Under $15):

On a budget? Try these hitters:

Corner Infielder:

• ~$10 Jose Abreu
• ~$12 Isaac Paredes
• ~$15 JD Martinez

Middle Infielder:

• ~$13 Bryson Stott
• ~$11 Sean Murphy
• ~$10 Tommy Edman

Outfielder:

• ~$14 Nick Castellanos
• ~$14 Brandon Marsh
• ~$12 Andrew Vaughn
• ~$13 Andrew McCutchen

There you have it, the Sorare MLB Slate Breakdown for Game Week 7.

I will be releasing 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.

Thanks for reading!