High WAR 2017

To continue on my 2017 cards. I decided to do the other WAR leaders. I already completed the Home Run monsters Stanton and Judge. Now we are set to see Mike Trout and Jose Altuve. For these cards I used the formulas set by David Bush (blog leader). I am still debating if the Houston Cards should be Orange instead of Blue and the Angels cards should be Red instead of Blue. But for now this is what I was able to put together. Let me know your thoughts and comments. I should keep pumping out more 2017 cards as I get to them. Some will be in the 2018 uniforms so that I can prep for next season. And as always follow me on Twitter @BobBumbarger

1997 Cleveland Indians

I know another Cleveland Indians post right? I have had this team done for quiet some time when i made the 1995 team and have finally gotten around to posting the team that also just came up short in the 1997 World Series. Finishing at 86-75 the team stumbled into the playoffs, but still won the central division. First beating the Yankees 3-2 followed by the Baltimore Orioles 4-2. It all came down to another heart breaking 4-3 loss in the World Series to the Florida Marlins. So here we go with the most common used batting order for the team. While many of the players are the same from 95 you can also see some differences such as Kenny Lofton missing from this team.

2017 Indians Power 4

The Indians had a great year in 2017. Maybe not as good as 2016 but still a great year. They set a record 22 game winning streak. I don't care what people say about that old school record that had a tie in there. Indians hold the record. I know I'm a homer. The Indians finished 102-60 that year and had one of the most dominant pitching staffs.

With a solid 1 2 punch of Kluber and Carrasco followed by a developing Trevor Bauer and a young Mike Clevinger, they are posed to have another dominant pitching staff in 2018. I know a lot of it is because of the amazing bullpen with Andrew Miller and Cody Allen not to mention Brian Shaw who scares me half to death every appearance. I thought it would be cool to showcase the 2017 Big 4 for the Indians! Obviously I am new to the pitching calculations and salaries so feel free to comment your opinions. This is my first take on it. And always follow me on Twitter @BobBumbarger

GO TRIBE!!!!!

Flash Back Friday - 1969

The year is 1969... I have no idea what is happening at this time because I was not born yet... My parents were barely born. But in the baseball world some studs were playing! We are talking Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Roberto Clemente, and Pete Rose. The New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series which was a huge upset.

Around the world or not around the world the moon landing is taking place... if you believe in that stuff. Rumor has it they were searching for some baseballs that were hit by some power mashers. The two that I'm referring to are none other than Mr. Harmon Killebrew (what a awesome name) and a very young Reggie Jackson. Harmon hit 49 home runs that year for the twins wining the MVP and Reggie Reggie Reggie hit 47 for the Athletics. So I figured it was well worth making these players and showcasing them here to all of you. Let me know your thoughts. And as always follow me on Twitter @BobBumbarger

2018 MLB Showdown -- AL East Preview

Intro:

The AL East is a two-horse race between the Red Sox and Yankees, with the power-hitting and bullpen-bloated Bronx Bombers holding an edge entering the season. The Blue Jays were a borderline contender before selling heavily in order to build the game's best farm system, while the Orioles and Rays were already fully in rebuild mode. Boston made enough moves that finishing behind the Yankees should still mean a wild card, while New York's super-sized lineup makes them not just the division favorite, but a definite World Series frontrunner. Whether either team will keep enough stars to be playoff contenders next season is up in the year, but for this season -- it's good to be the Yankees and Red Sox.

Team Previews:

2018 MLB Showdown -- NL East

Intro:
The NL East is clearly going to be dominated by the Washington Nationals. While the Phillies looked like they could become a wild card contender, their GM chose to go the seller route instead, leaving the gate wide open for Washington. How long Washington's dominance will extend is a hard question, with the Braves and Marlins owning well-stocked minor league systems. But for 2018, look out for Washington to take the division.

Note: Click on the spreadsheet pictures for a clear, unobstructed, larger view of the player's charts.

Team Previews:

2018 MLB Showdown Season -- Preview!

While we should continue bringing you more custom made cards at The Greatest MLB Showdown Project (especially once some of us finish final exams in a couple weeks), we do have an exciting new form of content: a 30-team Showdown league created using 2017 stats, while assigning players to their 2018 teams. The 2017 set is crazy -- more home runs and more strikeouts than ever before should be in the game, which we're choosing to view as a positive. As for the season, we are going to play a 30 game regular season, then playoffs, and then hopefully roll into a second season that's got some extra sizzle because we came up with a fun, extra wrinkle: Prospects!

New to Blogging! Home Run 2017 Hitters

Hello all!!!! anddddd Play Ball! My name is Bob Bumbarger. I am now a contributing "blogger"... writer? Post-er... to this blog site! I will give you a brief history of myself and talk about what I'm working on.
I started playing MLB showdown in 2000 for the first set. It was AWESOME! me and my friends quickly fell in love with it. We played till around the 2002 season where we started to fall away from the art as well as the higher on-base with the players. We play a little differently and don't use the strategy cards. I have found no reason to use them and playing it out regularly has yielding good results. So you will see that a lot of my style and favoritism is to the 00-01 style.
While in the time of not playing that I played a lot of MTG. This is where my collecting fever came over me and I decided I needed to at least own all the cards in the 2000 set. This was my favorite set with Big Mac and Sosa and Griffey and Bonds... mmm steroids. Gotta love the Steriod era just like the attitude era in wrestling. Anyway... once I got some money I collected all the 2000 series set but had nobody to play with so I decided to display my love on my walls.