Starting Lineup: The Cubs hitting is definitely front loaded. Four On-Base 10 players lead the way, including MVP Kris Bryant in that all important #2 hole. Dexter Fowler's high OB, high speed card demonstrates why he was so important to the Cubs success and Anthony Rizzo is every bit as studly as Bryant. Clean-up hitter Zobrist is an unconventional #4 hitter, but with a high OB and great range of doubles, he should be a great RBI producer.
As for the lower part of the order, it is mostly solid (outside of Jay-Hey). While Jason Heyward is a phenomenal fielder, his hitting is absolutely putrid. Wilson Contreras provides pop in the five slot, while post-season hero Javier Baez's low OB, high K card highlights how overblown his hitting ability was by announcers *cough Joe Buck cough*... Overall, there are seven players with pop in this line-up and they're capable of scoring in bunches.
Bench: Typically, I will not be creating bench players. Mainly it's because I don't like creating cards for players with less than 200 plate appearances (just seems like a card based on not entirely accurate data). But for this deep Cubs team that was known for its flexibility, an exception could be made! Especially for World Series heroes David Ross and Miguel Montero. Ross only had 165 PA this year, but still managed to smack 10 HR, putting him in a great HR tier. Chris Coghlan is the real pleasant surprise of the bench and I would start Coghlan's OB 10, then bring in Heyward for defense late in the game. Finally, Soler showed some real pop this off-season and will presumably DH for the Cubs in many Showdown leagues. Sadly, Schwarber did not get a card, but I'm excited to add him into the mix come 2017!
Rotation: Certain trends developed as we put together fantastic baseball teams from across the decades that baseball has been played. The most obvious trend was that great teams featured great starting pitching staffs. The 2016 Chicago Cubs are no exception and will be in any discussion about the greatest top 4 starters.
We like to think of Showdown pitchers being in "tiers" here at the Greatest MLB Showdown Project. Tier 1 is the very elite starters of a season, Tier 2 is usually reserved for All-Stars (and many Cy Young winners are in this tier), Tier 3 are very good starters, Tier 4 are the mainly average starters, Tier 5 are the bad starting pitchers, Tier 6 is the saddest lot of starters. The 2016 Cubs feature a Tier 1 starting pitcher as their #3 pitcher! The only criticism of this rotation is the lack of a 7 IP starter, but the Cubs should expect to be out in front when they turn the game to the bullpen around the seventh inning anyway.
Bullpen: Finally, the Cubs are supported by a surprisingly durable bullpen. Obviously Aroldis Chapman is a stud, but he's followed by a steady group of arms. While real life baseball features a much deeper bullpen, a Showdown team is usually four relievers deep; thus, the Cubs purported bullpen weakness appears to be media malarkey when the 2016 Cubs are put into Showdown form. I think Travis Wood (seen playing outfield thanks to Joe Maddon's crazy managerial antics) is my favorite card of the bunch.
Maybe I got used to the later rules, but how do teams play with 4-man bullpens? Between the days off rule and fatigue, bullpens would get torn apart in extras, or if a starter gets pulled early.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing pitchers just ran 2-3 IP regardless of control, because the cheap pitchers were extraordinarily bad in comparison.
Yeah, the fatigue is one of the reasons I'm making the Classic Set teams with five man bullpens. However, four man bullpens can work effectively, at least over the course of a 36 game season. My friends and I did 18 man teams, with 4 starters, 4 relievers, and 10 hitters; in the end, it really came down to balance and getting the most out of starters when you could afford to. Extra inning games could be brutal indeed, but (I must admit) it was really fun to possibly run out of pitchers and have an all-out brawl of a 14th or 15th inning where both players just rolled over their charts. I think Shawn Green technically pitched a shut out inning once, which was glorious!
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, extending guys multiple innings is one strategy. However, for the Expos team, their manager (and it worked really well) only pitched guys their designated IPs and then rotated them. Most pitched no more than 2 games in a row, with their best RP Clippard going 3 in a row and then resting, pitching a middle inning situation on his third appearance. Of course, you need at least passable outings from your starters to make that work.
At the end of the day though, I think five relievers is the ideal amount, which is the number we've been using in our second season. It's allowed the Pirates manager to take a real free for all style (he's got Melancon-Hanrahan-Williams back there) and take SPs out in the third or fourth inning. They're 9-3 right now, so it's working well!