The extremely popular fantasy football (soccer) blockchain game, Sorare, is set to expand and launch a baseball/MLB version of their game. Sorare is expanding from just football, where they racked in backing from 247 clubs, who they now cover. These came via either individual club partnerships or a partnership with a league, like Major League Soccer.
Sorare’s New MLB Game
Earlier this week, Sorare announced that it has signed a deal with both Major League Baseball (MLB), and its Players Association. They plan to launch a new baseball fantasy sports game. This builds on their already successful football game, which covers football worldwide. This is the first new sport that Sorare is venturing into since its start in 2019.
As it does in the football version, the MLB game will allow users to trade different collectible cards of players in the associated league as Ethereum NFTs. Also, users will be able to buy and sell items on the marketplace. As well as this, add players into their fantasy lineups with the aim of earning points each week. To clarify, the points are based on the players’ real-life MLB performances.
Players are set to come in different rarities, as in the football game. The more popular a player is in real life, or the rarer their card is, the more expensive it will be.
Sorare’s work on the art of the NFTs is ongoing. However, apparently, they aim to maintain a similar style to their football NFTs.
Tony Clark, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), said: “We are very excited about our partnership and the effect Sorare’s first foray into North American sports will have on the growth of our game globally.”
MLB’s NFT History
Before their latest deal with Sorare, the MLB and Topps created NFTs on their own platform on the WAX blockchain. Their goal was to become environmentally friendly.
The NFTs on this platform replicate Topps baseball cards in real life. Baseball cards have historically been one of the biggest and most popular collectibles. Also, they have seen millions of collectors over a time period spanning several decades. Topps’ first real-life baseball cards were created in 1951, over 70 years ago.
Also, a few individual teams have released their own NFTs.
What is Sorare?
Sorare is a fantasy sports game on the Ethereum blockchain. They make partnerships with clubs and leagues, predominantly in football. And now in baseball through their new partnership with the MLB. Each of the trading cards on the platform is an Ethereum NFT. To clarify, users can buy and sell on their marketplace and add to their fantasy teams to aim to earn points based on real-life performances in players’ respective leagues.
The rarity and popularity of each player are reflective of their pricing on the marketplace, with some of the most popular players reaching thousands of dollars, like Lionel Messi’s first card selling for $11,000.
If you’re new to Sorare, and are interested in getting started, you can find our full guide to the platform here.