2017 World Series Champs in MLB 2000 Form!!!

As you may or may not know from reading this blog, we love to celebrate the best players and (especially) the best teams here at the Greatest MLB Showdown blog. We've given you the 2016 Cubs, the 1998 Yankees, we're still rolling out the Classic Set.... we've also given you a spattering of cards in the original, MLB Showdown 2000 set style.... but we've yet to give you a complete World Series champion team in that much adored original style -- until now!

(the "non-foil" version of Altuve that I adore)

This collection of 17 cards has full lineup, four man rotation, and four bullpen arms. Also, as sometimes happens when just doing a straight team, the Astros would be over budget already at 5240 points. Having two IP 2 relievers hurts in Showdown salary, they'd be under with a couple IP 1 guys. Moreover, I mixed it up and added in some cards with secondary color backgrounds to function as the "foils" of the year. As the site moves into the future, what do y'all think about putting superstars in a different (but still team appropriate) background to make them pop more? Or should it be mixed around, with the stars in convention and ordinary players in more unique backgrounds to make printing them off more worthwhile? Let us know! Also, definitely let us know what you think of the team (yes, they were dominant which is no surprise after their 101 win season)! Without further ado, the 2017 Houston Astros!

Lineup: The Astros were known for their ability to put up runs in droves, and the Showdown version will not be any different. Three stars are at the head of the lineup, with All Stars George Springer and Carlos Correa teaming with MVP Jose Altuve to form a dynamic mix of on-base, speed, and power. They're supported by two OB 9 outfielders in Marwin Gonzalez and Josh Reddick, as well as a really fun OB 8 card in Alex Bregman. Yuli is a below average first basemen who could provide cheap value in a Showdown draft, and does give them a solid enough 7th hitter. Rounding out the team are power hitting (but struggling to get on base) former stars in Brian McCann and Evan Gettis, who are cheap and may punish the occasional low Control starter. Personally, I'd bat Altuve-Correa-Springer followed by the Marwin/Reddick combo and Bregman in the sixth, before closing Yuli, McCann, Gattis.... but this is the lineup that won the Astros a World Series, so that's the order we're giving them in!

Rotation: Dallas Keuchel starts things off as a bonafide ace, bringing a Tier 2 card with no doubles to the top of the rotation. He's followed by playoff hero and current Cy Young favorite, Justin Verlander (I'm very excited for his 2018 card). Verlander put up a 1.05 ERA in his post-trade time with the Astros, but that wasn't enough to get him beyond a very solid Tier 3 card. He's followed by another very good, dependable starter in Charlie Morton. Morton's got plenty of Ks and an affordable Tier 3 card that would be a welcome #2 starter in many rotations. They round things out with a seemingly real life punt in Mike Fiers, who famously led the team in IP but didn't make the postseason roster. Well Mike, you made it to the 2017 Astros Showdown team with that regular season!

Bullpen: Oddly enough, relief pitching is easily one of the biggest strengths of the 2017 MLB Showdown Astros. Overall, this was the highest point total bullpen in the 2017 set (sadly we have not and probably won't make all the cards, but we have charts... which can be found by looking at the preview for the season my friends and I are playing) and features three Tier 2 pitchers and an IP 2 tier 3.Just goes to show you how much better a bullpen can look when you narrow it from seven to nine relievers to just four. The most eye-popping thing for fans has to be the two guys with 2 IP. Yes, Brad Peacock did start a lot of games this season, but keeping him around seemed right and his splits of starts/bullpen appearances seemed fitting (couldn't pull the trigger on an IP 3 card though). Devenski is every bit as dominant as expected and should be used heavily in tandem with Peacock for Fiers' starts! The 8th and 9th seem to be in very solid hands with Harris and Giles.

Hope you had fun reading and hope you can use these cards! Remember to let us know what you think, we're big on constructive criticism and trying to give our fellow fans what they want! Below, in case you're really anti-secondary colors, are the normal navy background versions of the "foil" players that aren't Jose Altuve.