Classic Toronto Blue Jays

Built around the 1992 and 1993 World Series Champions, the Classic Blue Jays have a good blend of hitting and pitching. Their star bats rest in the hands of John Olerud and Roberto Alomar, with Olerud earning an OB 11 by having the highest single season OBP of classic setter seasons! That was definitely not expected in a collection featuring so many Hall of Fame hitters, but Olerud always did have a discerning eye. Alomar is the best overall player on the team, with hero Joe Carter bringing a powerful 14-20 HR to bear in the middle of the order. The most modern of all the teams in the set, the Blue Jays may have the most recognizable names for a casual baseball fan, including MLB Showdown 00-01 stars like David Wells and David Cone. Even HOFer Rickey Henderson makes an appearance on this team! Enjoy these classic Canadian ballplayers, the 92-93 Blue Jays!

CLASSIC BALTIMORE ORIOLES

The first full team from the CLASSIC SET: the 1969-71 Baltimore Orioles! These Orioles went to three straight World Series, winning two of them, while cruising through three straight 100 win seasons. Their best player is Frank Robinson, who also led Baltimore to the 1966 World Series title, and features a powerful OB 10, HR at 17 card. He's supported by three other OB 10s, including power hitting Boog Powell. Brooks Robinson is one of the best fielders in the game, bringing the all-new 3B +5 to bear for a double-play machine infield. Mixed with an incredible rotation, opponents will really struggle to score runs against this true dynasty!

So enjoy the full 18 man roster for the CLASSIC SET Orioles!

SHOWDOWN HALL OF FAME: Randy Johnson

THE BIG UNIT is our second pitcher inducted into the Showdown Hall of Fame. The winner of four consecutive Cy Youngs during Showdown's hey day made him the most logical choice; his amazingly cool looking, original MLB Showdown 2000 card made him a lock! Randy pitched for 22 seasons and accumulated over 4,000 K: good for second all-time! As his high IP totals suggest, Johnson was known for pitching late into games and finished his career with a remarkable 100 CGs. Enjoy this run through the Randy Johnson era, especially his dominant late 90s to early 00s run that earned him several Cy Youngs!

Classic Set Previews: CENTER FIELDERS

We've saved the most expensive position players for last! Baseball Gods Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays are the best hitters in the Classic Set, and what Showdown studs they are! Mantle has the set's second OB 11 and still homers at 17! With speed A and a +3 arm, Mantle is a complete package that rivals many of the MVP Bonds years in the early 2000s!!! Mays isn't that far behind, although he "only" has an OB 9 thanks to the more competitive OB numbers of this set. He still homers at 15 though, giving him an extremely deadly chart! Unfortunately, there is not a lot of depth behind these two legends. Duke Snider and Fred Lynn produced incredible cards, but only 5/25 players are worth more than 400 points. The steep falloff should make managers weary of putting off drafting CFs and I'd be surprised if both Mantle and Mays weren't top five draft picks!

Classic Set Previews: CORNER OUTFIELDERS

The corner outfield is chalk full of talent and big bats. Seventeen players are worth 400 points or more, with seven players valued at 500 points or more. By comparison, the C-1B-2B-SS-3B positions combined to yield zero 500 point or more players! The most expensive players here are Red Sox and Orioles legends Carl Yastrzemski and Brooks Robinson, each coming in at 600 points. Other Hall of Famers include Mr. October, the namesake of McCovey cove, Willie Stargell, Tony Gwynn, Dave Winfield, Ricky Henderson and Roberto Clemente. Ken Griffey SENIOR and Bobby Bonds put in solid cards as well, showing that their sons were not the only talented members of the family! One of my favorite players, World Series legend Joe Carter, brings some POP! to the bottom of this group. Have fun stocking up your offense with these players, we are sure at least one team will end up with an entire outfield of Hall of Famers to anchor their lineup!

1991 Minnesota Twins

In honor of Peter LeGrand's birthday, it's time to celebrate a REAL Northwoods champion: the 1991 Minnesota Twins!!! The Twins have won two World Series in the last thirty years, with their most recent team triumphing in one of the greatest Game 7 match-ups in baseball history. Honestly, I think that's most of what anyone remembers from 1991: Jack Morris versus John Smoltz, the Kirby HR robbery, the 1-0 Twins victory. The Twins managed to win 95 games, winning the AL West by a comfortable 8 games. Surprisingly, the 1991 AL West was one of the most balanced in baseball history, with all seven teams in the division finishing at least .500! The 91 Twins were a balanced team, finishing 2nd in ERA and 4th in runs scored per game in the AL.

So say hello to a team that gave us all one of the best World Series of all-time: the 1991 Minnesota Twins!!!

Classic Set Previews: THIRD BASEMEN

The hot corner is filled with Hall of Famers. Mike Schmidt, Harmon Killebrew, George Brett, Paul Moliter, Brooks Robinson, and (should be HOFer) Pete Rose lead the way of a fairly deep group. Only 3 of the 22 players have an OB below 7, and there are no OB 5s in the bunch. Even Ed Sprague, near the bottom for OB and points, gives managers the scary fun OB 6, HR at 14 card. There's a lot of versatility in here as well, with speedy, high OB players like Jim Gilliam and mashers like Jim Ray Hart making up the middle of the pack. In the end, I know I'll be targeting a middle of the order superstar like Schmidt or Killebrew!

Classic Set Previews: SHORTSTOPS

Another position of scarcity, shortstop may be even more barren at the top than second base. Robin Yount is the best in the class, followed by surprisingly good Rico Petrocelli and should-be Hall of Famer Alan Trammel. HOFer and defensive wizard Ozzie Smith earns an incredible +6 at SS. With only three guys earning an OB 9, and two others bringing in an OB 8, offense is hard to come by at this position. So draft early and wisely to avoid having to punt the position.

2019 Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers FINALLY broke through and won their first World Series! Sneaking into the Wild Card spot with 89 wins, Milwaukee finally went into St. Louis and came out victorious, knocking off the Cardinals in an extremely satisfying 8-2 victory! Then the Brewers ironically upset the Cubs team they got their rebuilding formula from in the NLDS and then tore through the Dodgers to face off against the Red Sox. Milwaukee made the most of their second ever World Series appearance, with ace Zach Grienke pitching two shut outs and an aging Ryan Braun winning the World Series MVP honors, making critics of the Brewers decision not to deal the slugger in 2017 choke on their words. Another big move was the shocking deadline twist, when the 5 games over .500 Brewers dealt their first round outfielder to the Rangers for old fan favorite, Jonathan Lucroy! Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuc gave the Brewers a dependable catcher again, even if his hitting prowess diminished since he was last here. Although a big push was made to bring fan favorite Prince Fielder out of retirement, the Brewers settled on re-signing 1B Chris Carter and he platooned with Jake Gatewood as a real feast or famine duo.

Still, this team was built around and carried by young talent. Arcia, Brinson, and Ray are all still very young and excited for more championship contending seasons. While the city will never be a Free Agent destination, Milwaukee is optimistic that they'll be able to hang on to their young core enough to give Brewers fans, at long last, a period of contention lasting longer than three years.

So now enjoy one of baseball's most surprising and upstart Champions, the 2019 Milwaukee Brewers!