Alright, I know it's confusing with Bob's season and Matt's Showdown Cup kicking off, but I've got to update everyone on the season my friends and I have been playing with our MLB Showdown 2017 set. While we didn't make cards for our charted players, all those charts have been presented in old posts and everyone is welcome to download and use them!
As a brief reminder, all the cards in this league are based on the 2017 stats. However, in a twist, we made the rosters as a reflection of the beginning of the 2018 season (so Yelich is on Milwaukee, Stanton on the Yankees, etc etc). Moreover, we have minor league players -- a system that will be explained in the "off season" when teams get the chance to "develop" them -- that were used as trade chips. Unsurprisingly, the tanking of real life was strongly reflected here and the "haves" bought nearly every useful piece from the "have nots" with their prospects. If all goes according to strategy, the season will be much more balanced next season. In terms of scheduling, it's a 30 game season with teams playing five sets of home-and-home three game series with their division foes and their interleague rival.
As it stands, there may not be league wide parity, but there's a ton of fun series and division races that'll be decided in the final six games!
For example, the surprising Rockies are in a three-way tie for first in the NL West with LA and Arizona. They're led by the explosive Blackmon, who's hitting .317 with a .432 OBP and has 8 triples/8 homers!
American League:
The AL has a tight race for playoff berths happening in each division! The AL East and AL Central have their #1 and #2 teams clashing for outright supremacy in the final six, as the Red Sox and Yankees & the Indians and Twins are slated to play. The Angels have a solid three game lead in the AL West, but the Astros and Mariners still have hope to make the wild card. The team that they're most likely to lap is the Twins, despite Minnesota's incredible 17-1 start against the putrid Tigers, Royals, and White Sox. After a 1-5 showing against the Brewers, Minnesota finds themselves 2 games back of the Indians (who are on a 16 game winning streak!) and only three up on Houston. If the Twins go 1-5 or 2-4 against Cleveland, the Astros are going to be in great shape to snag the second wild card! Meanwhile, the runner up in the AL East should almost certainly host the wild card game. Boston is one win away from clinching a playoff berth, while the Yankees must win at least three to clinch a spot. Houston is the most expensive team in the league (over 6300 points thanks to some *aggressive* trades) and will be absolutely devastated if they miss the postseason.
National League:
There's less excitement in the NL than the AL, but the NL West is the craziest division out there! Milwaukee and Washington have clinched their respective divisions easily, and now battle for the #1 seed. Out west, the three way tie is going to be settled (mostly) against one another. Arizona and the Dodgers go to head to head for the final six games. Meanwhile, the Rockies get to face the Giants, who are 3-15 against all non-SD teams. Colorado seems to be firmly in the driver's seat with that cupcake on the schedule, but after going a mere 3-3 vs the Rangers, they could be in for a massive choke job. Most shockingly, the tanking Phillies and Pirates remain in contention, especially Philly. IF they go 6-0 down the stretch, they'd tie the Dodgers/Dbacks for a wild cad birth if the two teams go 3-3 against each other. More likely, the Phillies end up going 5-1 while either Arizona or LA goes 4-2 against the other.... leaving the Phillies and the 2-4 team locked in a playoff game into the playoff! Seriously, there should be DRAMA GALORE to end the season!!
Wild Card Races: They've been described more thoroughly in the AL and NL summaries, but here's the wild card standings heading into the final six games.
STATS: Eventually, we will make a whole post on the stats of the season when the year is complete, but for now, here's a sneak peak at the categories people seem to care the most about:
Home Runs -- Rhys Hoskins has a two HR lead over the next group of power hitters, clobbering an impressive 13 homers in the first 24 games. The Philly MVP candidate is followed by a pair of Yankee sluggers, as Judge and Stanton are tied with 11 homers a piece. Five players, including the surprising Mike Zunino, follow them with 10.
Run Production -- Eric Thames is still blowing the doors off the competition with RBIs thanks to that 19 RBI series against the Reds. He's got 47 after 24, in large part because the Brewers first four hitters have been on-base machines, setting him up for RBI chances with extreme consistency. What's super crazy: he struck out on his chart with the bases juiced (and with 2 guys on) vs Minnesota, so he could very easily have 54!! As for Rs, Christian Yelich just passed Mike Trout on the leaderboard, with the two players neck and neck at 37 and 36 runs scored, respectively.
Average and OBP -- It's impossible to be a Showdown fan and not care about OBP, which is still being led by the Phillies Cesar Hernandez. He's got a shocking .513 OBP, and is being followed closely by Trout. As for average, Hernandez is in second place behind Paul Goldschmidt and his impressive .424 average thru 24 games. Currently, only three players are still hitting above .400, which is kind of surprising considering the watered down pitching staffs of tanking teams... honestly, just goes to show Showdown's penchant for statistical accuracy!
Pitching -- Corey Kluber has officially seized control of the Cy Young race. He's got a MLB leading: 49 1/3 IP, 88 Ks, and 0.36 ERA. Kluber is coming off a no-hitter where he struck out 20 guys, K-ing the final 10 batters to seal the deal. My friend Kyle played the game and texted me ecstatically about the performance (I do manage/GM Cleveland, so I was pumped too!). The NL Cy Young race seems to be between the usual suspects: Kershaw and Scherzer, with Grienke having a shot if he outclasses the Dodgers for the NL West crown in the finale.
Love hearing about the league. Always interesting to see what outcomes and the produced statistics
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