World Series Rangers

The first complete major leagues, each person manages a team per division MLB Showdown league I ever played came after we discover Colby and the awesome guys at mlbshowdowncards.blogspot.com made a 2011 and 2012 set. We got the cards from them and made all the teams (under 5000 points) in the bigs and played out a 48 game season. The grand winner was the Texas Rangers, taking down the fantastic pitching Phillies in six games. Meanwhile, in my personal Showdown league where I didn't do any salary cap and I just put together the best players from 00, 01, and Colby's 11 thru 13 cards, the Rangers were the best team in baseball at 24-12 and beat the Wild Card Red Sox, swept the Blue Jays in the ALCS, and dominated the World Series 4 to 1 over the Dodgers. So in my mind, when it comes to Showdown, the Rangers are the best franchise around.... even though they've never won a World Series in real life. However, they got *really* close in 2010 and 2011, losing to arguably inferior teams in back-to-back World Series appearances. So to honor those fantastic Rangers teams, I put together the "best" collection of 2010 and 2011 Rangers cards to make their "World Series Rangers" team.

Also, since I wanted to put the blog's personal spin on everything, all 2011 Rangers cards are made through my hitting/pitching formulas rather than just reproducing the cards we got from Colby back in the day. It's fun seeing the slight differences, really showing how much this card making process is as much art as it is science! Also, I put together a few "foil" Rangers just because I think their secondary blue color looks really, really sharp. Enjoy this collection of amazing Texas Rangers!

Lineup: The Rangers were a top five scoring team in both 2010 and 2011, and their lineup definitely backs that up. As an OB 8, Kinsler may not be the prototypical Showdown leadoff hitter, but he sure brings a ton of pop and speed to the role! He's supported by a classic #2 hitter in Michael Young. While Young lacks HR power, he gives plenty of extra base hit potential and a lot of on-base. MVP Josh Hamilton hits third, showing off the season where Hamilton had an OBP over .400 and hit a remarkable .359 while clubbing 32 homers and 40 doubles. Cleanup is their surprisingly best player, Mike Napoli -- a catcher who's now easily contending with 09 Mauer and 01> Pudge for the best catcher in my Showdown collection. He hit 30 homers in a mere 432 plate appearances, putting him on track to hit over 40 with 600 PAs and thus earning the coveted (and unheard of for a catcher) OB 10, HR at 17 card. Nelson Cruz and Vlad Guerrero give them a really good power duo in the 5-6 holes. I was surprised at the stellar OBP Cruz achieved in 2010, as I mostly knew him in Texas as an OB 6-7 kinda hitter with a ton of power for the 2011 thru 2013 seasons. Although his 2011 season was one of his weakest in Texas, future Hall of Famer and 2011 Gold Glover/All Star Adrian Beltre still gets a "foil" card. He's a great #7 hitter who will punish low control pitchers. Moreland and Andrus are definitely weak links, but as end of orders go, you can't be upset with an OB 7 and 8 for a mere 160 points turning the lineup over. I think it just goes to show how incredible the 2015 Blue Jays lineup was that I'd still take them overall as a lineup, but there's diversity of speed/power and plenty of On-Base here to make the World Series Rangers one of the most dangerous hitting teams we've produced yet!

Rotation: Cliff Lee leads the way for a pretty stout Rangers rotation, which always seems to be the sacrificial point for a power-hitting heavy Rangers team. However, Lee is a bonafide ace. Leading the league in WHIP in 2010 and throwing seven complete games, Lee earned a tank of a card despite an ERA over 3. He'll absolutely frustrate lower OB lineups and should be just like he was in 2010 -- a guy with the occasional rough outing who's mostly unhittable. Backing him up is the 2011 ace, CJ Wilson, who had a sub-3 ERA in 2011 and won a great number of games. He's got a great K range and awesome control, giving the Rangers one of the better 1-2 punches we've seen. Derek Holland is the classic #3 pitcher as a tier 3, nothing too flashy and not with much weakness. Rounding things out is Tommy Hunter, who unfortunately surrenders a HR off his chart despite his Tier 3 status. If you roll middle numbers (and if you can just survive to an incredible bullpen), Hunter will be a good-enough fourth starter!

Bullpen: The Rangers bullpen is absolutely loaded! Feliz is the closer, a stellar Tier 2 guy with Control 5 who presents a reliable end of game option. Their Tier 1 set up man is the rookie Ogando, who would end up being an All Star and #5 starter for the 2011 team but had a better year (and can get a card) as a bullpen arm in 2010. Semi-annual stud reliever Darren O'day put together a very good Tier 2 card in 2010, previewing the strong performances he would eventually have for Baltimore. The practically ageless Darren Oliver rounds out the bullpen, giving them a Control 3, Tier 2 reliever who doesn't allow doubles. There's no weak link in the bullpen and it should be a great help if Tommy Hunter ever gets into trouble.

Overall: It's pretty insane that the Rangers couldn't win a World Series to start the 2010s, especially against the 2011 Cardinals... Also, don't worry Rangers fans, I can't believe my beloved Brewers lost to the Cardinals too -- I share your pain via that "11 for 11" team. As a Showdown team, they are unsurprisingly stacked and perhaps better than any of the "single season" World Series champion teams we've brought out, but their 5630 total points demonstrates they are not to the level where they'd be guaranteed a series victory against the 2016 Cubs, 2017 Astros, or 2015 Blue Jays. I think they're definitely more than a match for the 2009 Yankees, mainly thanks to the huge starting and bullpen pitching advantage. Getting to pick the best of two seasons for players really helps, but this run was still unusually potent for a team. Obviously the best matchup for them has to be the "Dynasty Giants" team we will be rolling out... I'd love to see a 2010 rematch between the full strength, super Showdown teams we're giving you!

As always, below is the non-secondary color cards if you're not a fan of the alternate backgrounds.