Introduction to Sorare: An MLB NFT Game

Have you ever looked through your baseball card collection and marveled at how good a team you’d have if they were on a real team? With Sorare, your dream can become a reality.

Unfortunately, you can’t put the cards in your bicycle spokes or play, “closest to the wall”, and there’s no stale bubblegum staining the end card. The cards are digital.

In short, you collect cards, set a lineup and enter it into tournaments. Additional cards are awarded as prizes. You can also purchase or trade for additional cards. The cards carry over to next season and you never lose your cards, even if you don’t win a tournament you’ve entered.

I’m going to be upfront; this is my first venture into the NFT (non-fungible token) world. That said, I know a little something about baseball cards and setting a lineup, so this is the perfect entry into the market. Each week, I’ll share my experiences and track my team.

What follows is a rundown of the basics and a look at my initial card collection. If this is something of interest, please check out Sorare and tell them ToddZ sent you.

Fees

There is no cost to join. The game is Free-to-play. However, you can buy, sell or trade cards.

The Digital Cards

After you sign up, you’ll be asked to choose a common card, then you’ll be assigned 12 more, comprising your initial collection. The positions will be distributed so you can set a legal lineup. In addition to your chosen common card, your pack will contain

Four Starting Pitchers
Two Relief Pitchers
Two Corner Infielders
Two Middle Infielders
Two Outfielders

Initially, your collection will consist of 13 common cards. In addition to these common cards, there are four levels of the NFT cards:

Limited
Rare
Super Rare
Unique

Acquiring and winning cards at the higher level allows entry into higher level tournaments. This is all explained on Sorare, but I’ll document the process as I navigate through playing the game.

Scoring

Points are assigned as follows:

Hitting

Runs: 3 points
RBI: 3 points
Single: 2 points
Double: 5 points
Triple: 8 points
Home Run: 10 points
Walk: 2 points
Strikeout: -1 point
Stolen Base: 5 points
Hit By Pitch: 2 points

Pitching

Inning Pitched: 3 points
Strikeout: 2 points
Hit Allowed: -0.5 points
Earned Run: -2 points
Walk: -1 point
Hit Batsmen: -1 point
Win: 5 points
Save: 10 points
Hold: 5 points

Lineup

An active lineup is composed of the following:

One Starting Pitcher
One Relief Pitcher
One Corner Infielder
One Middle Infielder
One Outfielder
One Extra Hitter
One Extra Hitter or Pitcher

Game Play

Sorare runs two tournaments a week, Monday through Thursday and Friday through Sunday. The better you fare, the better the cards you’re awarded. Once ample cards of a higher level are collected, you can enter a higher level tournament.

With only a couple weeks left in the MLB season, it will be hard to gain access to higher levels, but let’s learn the process now and do some damage in 2023.