MLB SHOWDOWN 2018 SET -- Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks were a contender for the early part of the season, and they brought enough good and very draft-able cards to the table as a result!

I had to make a throwback Goldy, that classic purple pinstripe jersey looks good on Arizona's all-time best 1B

The podcast is available to listen here

Lineup: The DBacks have an interesting lineup, especially near the top.  AJ Pollock was one of the highest regarded free agents, but his 2018 Showdown value was weak due to a low on-base.  However, he's got a lethal chart and lots of speed, and he should be stellar against low control pitchers. The gem of the team is (obviously) Paul Goldschmidt. He put together another over 500 point card, overcoming a slow start to have an amazing OB 10, HR at 18, 2B at 15 card with plus fielding. He's got speed too, and I think he's the best 1B in the set (sorry Max Muncy). From there, we've got three fun OB 8-7-8-7 hitters with great charts. Peralta in general will be an overlooked player in drafts who ends up absolutely lighting guys up, and Escobar has a great double range. Descalso put up another underrated season, and he's a solid guy who needs to be rostered. Then Marte provides a lot of defense and a great OB 7 chart. Overall, they've got a playoff worth first six hitters (although obviously they're overmatched by the Dodgers lineup). Sadly, it really falls off for the 7-8 slots, although Souza is one of my favorite looking cards on this team.

Bench: Not a lot of hitting off the DBacks bench, but plenty of useful defenders to help out late in games. Ahmed is the best fielding SS in the set, and he'll probably be drafted by a lot of guys late in drafts. For my purposes, he'll be used to help keep leads. Mathis brings a slightly higher +7 arm to help over Avila... and Jay may help your team if they also have Machado? Like improve Manny's luck on his chart magically? Idk he won't be drafted/play often!

Rotation: The Diamondbacks probably have the strongest rotation of any non-playoff team.  Grienke and Corbin are nearly identical Tier 3, Control 4 1-16 out pitchers.  These are sought after, solid guys who'll definitely be stellar assets to any team. Their best pitcher, by Tier, is actually Buchholz -- a Tier 2, but worriesome to many managers thanks to his Control 3 and IP 5. With three starters who are 450 points are better, they're going to be putting out a great starter frequently in my league! In the four slot, there's strikeout master Robbie Ray! He was a tier 2 in 2017, and unfortunately dropped down to a Control 2 for this year's set. However, he's still got a massive K range and, when matched against other #4 starters, is a good option. Then there's the very mediocre Godley, who'll move to the bullpen in my league as an IP 2 to give depth, and is unlikely to be picked in many drafts (even as a cheaper #4 starter option) with his Mac Sazuki 00 style card.

Bullpen: Similar to the Nationals, the achilles heel of this non-playoff team. It is interesting how much the bullpens clearly played a role in what teams did/did not finish strong and make the postseason. Their best reliever is a Tier 4 with no doubles, which does not bode well. Overall, it's definitely going to frustrate managers who use this team as a whole, and probably going to lead to many of these guys being in the "undrafted" pile.

Overall, this is a fun team that I think will have a shot at contention for the Wild Card. Let's be real -- they aren't far off the Rockies, Nationals or even Braves 2018 set teams! For more conventional player, there's a lot of fun draftable players here.  Unfortunately, the next team up is the Orioles... and I think we'll all be groaning at how (a) bad the players are and (b) how little value there is to add to squads. It's rough..... but after that, there'll be another NL team with lots of good players (probably the Phillies, maybe the Mets).