1995: Johnson's true breakout campaign, although he reeled off five straight years with an ERA in the three range to begin the 90s, ended with his first Cy Young. Johnson had a 2.48 ERA and 1.045 WHIP, best in the AL, and helped the Mariners make their first ever postseason. With a large K range and no extra bases allowed (which will be a consistent theme), this Johnson is an absolute tank. 95 Randy also has the highest Control of the bunch and should be able to get through 8 innings for a Showdown manager often!
1997: Another outstanding season (and his last full Seattle campaign) for Johnson ended in another postseason. Despite not winning the Cy Young, Randy was better than he was in 1995. He went 20-4 with an incredible 2.28 ERA-- his career best over a whole season. Randy finished second in the Cy Young voting to Roger Clemens, another accomplished Cy Young winner, but would be on the precipice of an incredible run to glory in Arizona.
1998: Before Randy arrived in Phoenix, he had a brief pitstop in Houston. Pitching for the 102 Astros after being acquired at the trade deadline, Randy had an amazing 1.28 ERA over 11 starts in Houston. Johnson was the team's star pitcher, the missing piece needed to push them over the top into contention. A lackluster performance in Seattle during the first half kept this card from being a 6 on at 17 with no doubles card, but it is still extremely useful... Essentially, it's the original MLB Showdown 00 card! If you're intrigued by this season, you can check out the whole 98 Astros here http://greatestmlbshowdown.blogspot.com/2017/03/1998-houston-astros.html.
1999: After his incredible performance in Houston, Randy joined the upstart DBacks and his career would reach even greater heights. His first full season in Arizona resulted in another playoff berth and league-leading ERA, CG, K, and K/9. While there's really no beating Randy's original 99 card, here's our sites loving homage version (with the original included side-by-side because it's beautiful.
2000: Somehow Randy's worst season during his incredible Cy Young winning run, his second consecutive Cy Young resulted in a 2.64 ERA and a league-leading 347 strikeouts. He pushed his K rate to over 12.5 per 9 innings. While his IP declined slightly, Randy again does not surrendered any doubles. Johnson was joined in 2000 by fellow ace Curt Schilling, and while they "only" led the DBacks to 85 wins in 2000, great things would be ahead of them.
2001: The DBacks became World Series champions!!! Johnson won his 3rd straight Cy Young while carrying the DBacks with Schilling to the championship. Randy went 21-6 during the regular season with a 2.49 ERA and an astounding 13.4 K/9!!! He saved his best for the World Series, where Randy went 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA and 0.692 WHIP while striking out 19 in 17.1 innings. For his amazing efforts, Randy was named the World Series MVP.
2002: Johnson followed up his amazing 2001 postseason performance with another Cy Young season, winning his fourth in a row and final CY award. Ending his career with five, Johnson is one of the awards most frequent recipients. For what it's worth, 2002 was Randy's best season according to WAR and he accumulated a 10.9 WAR while going 24-5 with a 2.32 ERA and a fourth straight season of leading the league in Ks.
After 2002, Randy would pitch for several more seasons, but never at that high level. He came closest in 2004, finishing second in the Cy Young voting with a 2.60 ERA. Johnson contributed to Arizona, New York Yankees, and even a San Fran Giants team before hanging it up in 2009. When he ended, Johnson left the majors as a surefire Hall of Famer and a SHOWDOWN LEGEND!!!
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