Welcome to Sorare, a revolutionary fantasy baseball game and marketplace. Sorare: MLB is a free-to-play fantasy baseball game with officially licensed digital trading cards. Unlike other fantasy baseball platforms, fantasy managers are in complete control of their fantasy experience – scouting, buying, selling, and competing with player cards each week of the season. Win or lose; you still own your cards.

Sorare: MLB competitions occur twice weekly. One slate is from Monday to Thursday, while the other is from Friday to Sunday. Game weeks start 10 minutes before the first game of the slate.

Sorare x MLB – The Next Era is Yours

Sorare: Game Week 19

How it works

When you sign up for Sorare, you will be able to build your initial team for free by choosing a team of 10 players. You can choose three starting pitchers, one reliever, two corner infielders, two middle infielders, and two outfielders while staying under the 120 budget.

When you enter a competition, you will choose one starter, one reliever, one corner infielder, one middle infielder, one outfielder, one hitting flex, and one open flex that can be any player but Shohei Ohtani (for obvious reasons).

The Cards

There are different types of cards, starting with Common cards. There are unlimited Common cards to ensure anyone can play Sorare totally free, but the restriction is that Common cards cannot be bought, sold, or traded on the marketplace. The next levels of rarity are as follows: Limited, Rare, Super Rare, and Unique. The are 5000 copies of each Limited card, 1,000 of each Rare, 100 of each Super Rare, and just one of each Unique.

The higher rarity or scarcity cards grant you eligibility for other fun competitions that you will see are locked when you look for competitions to enter your all Common card lineup into. These Scarcity card types can be won as rewards for high placements in competitions but can also be obtained through the Sorare: MLB marketplace.

There are two places to buy cards in the marketplace, Card Auctions and Manager Sales. Card auctions are like they sound. A card is listed, and the highest bidder at the end of the timer acquires the card. Manager sales is a direct peer-to-peer marketplace where you can buy listed cards from other managers.

The Competitions

At the end of Game Weeks, managers who rank at or near the top of competitions will win rewards such as Scarcity cards, game tickets, merchandise, signed jerseys, and VIP experiences. The higher you finish, the better the rewards. Prizes will vary from week to week.

There are quite a few Common card competitions to choose from, and new for this season, there are four Limited card competitions for each slate, three Rare card competitions, two Super Rare competitions, and one Unique card competition. Each of these competitions has entry requirements and restrictions. All Sorare competitions are free-to-play.

Tips for new teams

Studs and duds is the correct strategy. I may have spent a little too high at pitcher, especially considering the number of pitchers I got as options in free swaps and as rewards for competitions. I likely would have been fine with just deGrom, or even Strider as my main starter and an additional low-cost option to pair with Kopech. Pitchers do score extremely well, but when they have a bad game, they are a big drain on your team in this sort of multi-day competition.

Use your Free Swap. I use my free swap every day. Unfortunately, the free swap is not at a set time but is set at 24 hours after your previous swap. This has resulted in my swap time being pushed by hours every day. This could be solved by setting an alarm, but that is just an option for those who feel so inclined. You can cancel your swap if you do not like any of the alternatives offered, so there is zero harm in seeing what RNG presents you with. The latest update offers users the ability to choose a position for your free Common card swap.

Join the 100 percent reward competitions if you are still at the Common card competition level. Those who buy a pack(s) should be sure to join competitions at each level, i.e., Common and Limited. Common card managers should exhaust their Minor League eligibility first.

Observe the marketplace. Some may choose to go the completely free-to-play route, but for those looking to build a squad of Limited or higher rarity cards, understanding what is happening in the market over several days is recommended. There is more overall supply of each player every subsequent week, which should, in turn, affect fair market value.

Go for low-cost pitchers when starting your team. The major thing I have noticed since starting my team is the abundance of pitchers available in swaps and as rewards for competitions. I added multiple ace types for free, so blowing the majority of my 120 budget on pitchers proved to be a mistake I will suffer for all season.

If planning to purchase a Starter Pack, try to strike as soon as they get listed in order to get the best potential player combination. You will also want to wait until players of interest make it into packs. You will never see the elite of the elite included, but you can land some really good players if you are patient and selective.

My lineups

I now have enough players to enter two Common and one Limited competition. I can no longer win the Limited card from the Minor League competition, but it is still a welcomed source of Common cards. My swap luck has not been great lately, but I have been adding some lineup-worthy additions from Game Week rewards. My Limited lineup does not change much from Game Week to Game Week, as my roster has remained relatively unchanged over the past month. I may look to acquire an American League outfielder at some point in the near future as that would allow me to enter the LImited American League competition, but I will not be doing so until it makes sense performance-wise.

Common Roster

Starting Pitcher: Jacob deGrom, Spencer Strider, Luis Castillo, Sandy Alcantara, MacKenzie Gore, Michael Kopech, Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, Alex Cobb, Drew Smyly
Relief Pitcher: Aroldis Chapman, Reynaldo Lopez, Erasmo Ramirez
Corner Infielder: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Eloy Jimenez
Middle Infielder: Oneil Cruz, Brandon Lowe, Geraldo Perdomo, Francisco Alvarez, Ketel Marte, Ryan McMahon, Nick Madrigal, J.T. Realmuto
Outfielder: Esteury Ruiz, Cody Bellinger, George Springer, Tyler O’Neil, Charlie Blackmon, Bubba Thompson, Stone Garrett, Tommy Pham

Limited Roster

Starting Pitcher: Jose Berrios, Marco Gonzalez, Michael Kopech
Relief Pitcher: Luis Garcia, Trevor Gott, Connor Brogdon
Corner Infielder: Josh Donaldson, Matt Chapman
Middle Infielder: Tim Anderson, Elias Diaz, Bo Bichette, Kolten Wong
Outfielder: Stone Garrett, Charlie Blackmon, Tommy Pham

For Game Week 19, my Common lineup for the Minor League tournament is Strider, Chapman, McMahon, Marte, Jimenez, Ruiz, and Castillo. My Common lineup for the Common All-Star tournament is Kopech, Lopez, Guerrero, Alvarez, Springer, Lowe, and Senga. Injuries continue to prevent me from putting my best possible lineups together, but I have enough options that I can now comfortably field two Common lineups, which helps expedite my roster building. My Limited All-Pro lineup consists of Kopech, Gott, Chapman, Bichette, Garrett, Diaz, and Berrios. Diaz is too hot to sit, so he continues to get the nod over Anderson. I finally placed in the top 50 in Game Week 16, netting a $5 prize and a Rare Lane Thomas, who I promptly listed and sold to recoup some of my Bichette cost. One Rare card will not do much for me, so the decision to sell was an easy one. I will likely stay in the Limited realm for the rest of the season. Happy team building, and good luck this Game Week.

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Raju Byfield is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Raju, check out his profile and follow him @FantasyContext.