2018 MLB SHOWDOWN SET -- Atlanta Braves

The Braves found themselves ahead of schedule and on top of the NL East once again in 2018, shocking the baseball world by winning 90 games and comfortably outpacing the favored Washington Nationals. Although their postseason journey was short lived, Atlanta fans can expect more amazing things to come from their young squad, and have plenty of useful/fun cards to pull from the 2018 set! I know Bob is going to be fighting everyone in his league for the chance to draft Acuna. Also, shout out to my good friend Michael, an Atlanta native who loves his Braves! He'll undoubtedly be taking Mikey F and placing him into his starting rotation in our league!

Here's me and Bob's podcast

And now, onto the cards!

MLB Showdown 2017 Season: COMPLETE!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! My friends and I finally finished our 30 game season, using all 30 teams from the 2017 set that we made together! I know it's a little confusing, as this site also has Matt's Showdown Cup and Bob's league with mixed teams from a variety of years going on, so here's a reminder of what this season is:

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). So basically, we played the season after the "Pennant Run" update came out! 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.

So this will be a big, BIG post with lots of information that I hope y'all will enjoy! We've got playoff reports, stats, summaries, and finally giving everyone looks at our minor leaguers! Also, due to the epicness of this post, A LOT more images are going to sprinkled throughout this article, along with all the statistics from our 30 games season for 30 teams.... yeah, we actually played out (with a 20 sided dice or random number generator) all 451 Showdown games by hand!!!

So for illustration, Cozart had a MONSTER season with the Reds in 2017 and then signed with the Angels as a free agent. For our season, Cozart played on the Angels just like he did in real life in 2018 (despite producing a much, much worse card). 

Now without further ado, let's check out the Standings and Playoff Picture first:

Merry Christmas

Hey everyone, I just wanted to stop by and say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to
everyone that follows along on the site. This past year has been a ton of fun creating and blogging along my love of the showdown game. I got to know some great people through this site, and seeing how much it’s grown is so cool. I can’t wait for the next year because I think it will be bigger and better for the blog, so stay tuned, and in the Christmas spirit here is a little stocking stuffer

2018 MLB SHOWDOWN SET -- OAKLAND ATHLETICS

Finally rounding out the AL playoff teams. Everyone's favorite underdog that snuck into the playoffs with the WC had a fantastic MONEY BALL season. Led mostly by over performing players and fielding they finished very well and as a team look pretty decent on paper (mlbshowdown). They have 1 pretty good starter and 1 really good reliever and a handful of high defense high salary players. If you looking for defense in your draft you definitely want to look at Olson, Chapman, and Semien. The athletics had a pretty decent overall OB team but no big 9 or 10 OB players which hurt them overall and as seen in the wild card game hurt them against the Yankees. They do have a lot of power and don't get out much when they get the advantage. So managers should have fun if they get the advantage and that's a decent IF and more fun with Krush Davis. Lets get to the lineup.

Check out the YouTube podcast below. Please like and Subscribe.

2004 ST. Louis Cardinals

Much like the 1998 Yankees that I posted recently, this is another early post from the beginning of the blog site. I took it upon myself to update the cards to look like the rest of them.  So here is the original post, with the newer cards inserted. Although I don't know Kyle, and it isn't posted on his birthday like it was originally, I think we will keep that part too. Happy belated Birthday Kyle!

                                              

New Contributor Mike on the Highest Value Players in Showdown

Hey! My name’s Mike and I am going to start writing my own articles for the site, however first I wanted to introduce myself, my background with showdown, and what my articles will be like in the future.

I’m originally from New Jersey and so needless to say, growing up in the 90s, I am a diehard Yankees fan. One of, if not my earliest memory, is the Yankees winning in ‘96. I was undoubtedly spoiled. 

Andy Pettitte was always my guy (fun fact: he had the most wins in the majors from ’00-’09). 

2018 MLB SHOWDOWN SET -- CHICAGO CUBS

The Cubs won 95 games in 2018, tied for the most in the National League after 162 games.  Unfortunately, they tied with their NL Central rivals to the North, and, after a disappointing game 163, ended up in the Wild Card game, where they lost in 2-1 in a crazy 13 inning game.  Despite only playing a single playoff game, the 2018 Cubs Showdown team is one of the NL's elite and have a salary of 5060 points.  They've got a stellar rotation, solid top end of the bullpen, and a very deep lineup that includes MVP runner-up Javy Baez.  Without further ado, the 2018 Chicago Cubs!

1998 New York Yankees

1998 Yankees

I took Peter's Original cards, and re-created them into the 00-01 style of card. So for those that haven't been with us from the beginning, here is his old post with the new cards.

The 1998 New York Yankees won 114 games, setting a (now eclipsed) record for wins in a single season. Unsurprisingly, the amount of wins in a season usually translates to a team's Showdown strength, so I was extremely excited to see what kind of firepower the 1998 Yanks brought to the game. The answer: not as much as expected. Oh sure, each component of this team is at least GOOD, but there is no unit that screams "wow!" like the 2004 Red Sox lineup or the 2016 Cubs rotation. The Big Four are still in their relative infancy (with Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera putting up prime seasons), and Roger Clemens has not yet joined the rotation.

On closer inspection, this team still looks like an all-timer, although it is not as instantly sexy on paper as, say the 2003 Yankees. However, the rotation is extremely solid (which was so important in the year of the HR), the bullpen is steadfast, and the lineup is incredibly deep. Trading HRs for consistency, speed, and enough OB to steal some charts from even the best aces, the Yankees will score runs while limiting opposing offenses. It will be fun to put this team up against other recent greats, especially the 2016 Cubs!

Lineup: The trio of Derek Jeter-Bernie Williams-Jorge Posada make up 75% of the fabled "Big Four" cementing the Yankees dynasty. In 1998, Bernie Williams had an incredibly strong season and is clearly the best hitter on this team. Surefire Hall of Famer, Derek "the Captain" Jeter's game never translated extremely well to Showdown, but his speed and steady hitting should be replicated by his card. Posada has yet to find his consistency, but his +8 arm and 17-20 HR are huge assets in a lineup's worst hitter. Darryl Strawberry provides the most power in this lineup and World Series MVP Scott Brosius ensures there's a fourth OB 9 or higher bat in the lineup. I'm always a sucker for Chuck Knoblauch, even if his card isn't that good.

Overall: a deep lineup! The 98 Yanks rarely will blast opponents away in one giant, power fueled inning, but could put up impressive stats in the aggregate. There's no one below a 7 OB and one of those 7 guys is their best power hitter. Plus, there's a lot of opportunity to use the lineup with versatility.

2018 MLB SHOWDOWN SET -- New York Yankees

Sorry for the delay. Family and Holidays... you know the usual. But you get to come back to another heavy AL playoff team in the New York Yankees. Winning 100 games this past season. They were a power house of a team. Very impressive rookies and some heavy hitters with the addition of Stanton this year. I wanted to get all the playoff teams done first so only team left for the AL is the As. But this team should keep you on you toes. With a whopping team total of 5,420 points you can instantly see why this team made the playoffs. As always tune into our podcast for out breakdown and to hear Peter go in depth behind the team.

We for the moment will not be on itunes and are going back to YouTube. So feel free to listen there.

Batting alone had 2,850 led by the Aarons.. Judge and Hicks.

Greatest Showdown Players at Each Position: Second Base

The newest installment to the list of greatest showdown players is coming from the second base position. Five players all come in at over 500 points a piece and should be one of the best debates yet with how similar these guys charts are. Only 80 points separate the highest point player from the fifth place player. All of the players in the ranking are 10 OB's and 4 of the 5 are speed A leaving not much difference until you dive into the players charts and what chart fits the needs and wants of your team.

5 Jose Altuve '17 500pt

Greatest Showdown Players at Each Position:Third Base

By special request coming at you today is highest point valued third basemen in Showdown. Combining our custom cards with the 2000 and 2001 original sets. The list of third basemen is headline by the top 3 all being MVP winners from that season. The biggest one in the list, if you listened to the most recent podcast on the Los Angeles Dodgers talking about Max Muncy and his low at bats, is Fernando Tatis from the original 2000 set. In his career other than the 1999 season the most home runs he had in a season was 18, he hit 34 in 1999. His 2000 season was a decent season but after that he fell off completely. It goes to show that some guys like Chipper Jones and Miguel Cabrera can make these dominant cards yearly, while one good year for a player can make him look like a Hall of Famer. Lets examine the top 5 third basemen and let me hear your thoughts on your favorite to use third basemen in your showdown games. 

5 Fernando Tatis '00 570pts

2018 MLB SHOWDOWN SET -- LA DODGERS

Finally, the most expensive team from the 2018 set is finished: the NL Champion Los Angeles Dodgers! Simply put, this team is absolutely loaded.  Somehow the Dodgers only won 92 games and needed game 163 to win the NL West, and (as much as I love the Brewers) needed 7 games to take out the Brew Crew.  Even though the 2017 squad won over 100 games, I think this Showdown version is an improvement thanks to their incredibly deep and flexible lineup.  However, the starting pitching and especially the bullpen took a step back, but when you've got this many incredible hitters, it's easy to just say "the pitching will be fine."

Once again, there's a Bourbon over Baseball analyzing this Showdown squad: iTunes Link (episode 09)

Lineup: The Dodgers lineup is STACKED, and its incredibly deep.  There were so many dudes that needed cards on this squad that the Dodgers ended up with 13 players in the 2018 set. Shockingly, 11 of those players are at least 250 points -- an incredible display of depth! In the starting lineup, there's a bunch of power from Bellinger, Machado, and Muncy, as well as extremely productive and steady hitting from Turner, at the top of the lineup.  Grandal's really solid year has been overshadowed by his postseason struggles, but he put up a very decent card, especially for a catcher!  The 6 thru 8 spots are filled with potent OB 7 cards, a luxury shared by no other teams in this set.  And off the bench comes a very good David Freese, another weapon of an OB 7 in Matt Kemp, and Joc Pederson (aka the guy to insert into a lineup against a Control 2 or lower constantly because WOW that chart).  If Dozier had reached his 2017 numbers, this team would've been an unfair cheat code.  As it stands, it's still the best lineup in the 2018 set.