MLB SHOWDOWN 2018 SET -- Miami Marlins

Well this took a lot longer than anyone expected, but work and personal life have been hell lately and my Showdown-creating has hit a wall. Fortunately, I received A LOT of help from Matt (make sure to follow along with the amazing Showdown league he's been simulating while not picking up my slack) and the worst team in 2018 Showdown is ready to be unveiled -- the Miami Marlins! Losers of somehow "only" 98 games, the Marlins are the burning trash-heap you'd expect after Derek Jeter gutted the squad for (frankly) not-so-good prospects. As a result, rather than fielding an outfield with Stanton, Ozuna, and Yelich...... well, just look below, it's brutal. Also two of their best hitters, Realmuto and Dietrich were similarly jettisoned this offseason, so don't expect the team to look too much better in the 2019 set!

Honestly, I think my favorite part of these cards is the design. We felt the all-black was a bit much (and redundant with the DBacks and White Sox), while the Orange also felt off (and not unique in the set either). We settled on the sweet, aqua-like blue found in the Marlins M. I think it makes the players and logo pop while really capturing the "ocean" feel of the Marlins! Maybe after the Set is complete we'll look at doing a "what if" Marlins featuring the team if they hadn't made all their bone-headed trades so we can get a GOOD team with these gorgeous design. Also major shoutout to Matt on making the Dietrich you see here, which has jumped STRONG into my "drafting because it looks amazing" list!!

And so, without further ado, your 2018 Marlins!!

Lineup:

Some Unposted Creations

While I have been busy with the Big Showdown League, and Bob and Peter been working on our 2018 set, we haven't had many new cards posted to the blog in a while. Well that is certainly about to change as I realized I had a bunch of cards I randomly made that I should probably share for those that like to play random games, or all time teams and such to let the cards battle it out. Now there is a wide range of cards here, plus at one time I found a website that had cutouts for so many players, which I can no longer access but the cutouts that I saved from that site I used to make 2006 season versions of those players, I chose that year off completely random, so we will call it my 2006 Subset.
There are many variations of cards in here from all different types of seasons and decades, so I hope you enjoy these extra cards.

Big Leagues : Quarter Season Update

Four weeks of game time in the books and there was tons of showdown played. there have been 72 games played out since May 20th, safe to say my life the last 2 and a half weeks has been showdown and golf, which brings me to my next point PGA Showdown coming in 2020, OKAY I'm just kidding about that. But I have been having so much fun playing out this league and watching how one roll can change the course of a game. All the teams are so close in talent, strengths and weaknesses that I don't think we will have a division winner in either division until very late in the season. Enjoy the breakdown of the first four weeks of action across the league.

Before I get into the league fun I wanted to clarify a few things that have come up in emails with some of the owners, first of all Each add/drop counts as 1 move, a trade with a team that is not yours is a free move, and trading between a team that you own in the middle league and big league counts a 1 roster move.You can drop a player freely with it not counting against your moves, but if you add someone it will count.

For your teams future: The players you selected with your first 10 picks are eligible for you to choose the 18 or 19 card, with the point total of the 18 card even if you choose 19 card, but you cannot choose the 18 card with the 19 point total. Anyone drafted after the top 10 or you picked up through waivers or trades you get the 2019 card on your roster. That is a 20 person roster if everyone gets a 2019 version of a card. On top of that there will be a 10 round draft once the 2019 set has been made of all the players that are not on teams that you will be able to make a 30 person roster, while also being able to make the cuts to get your team down to the salary cap.

For those thinking about their 2019 card potential, make sure you follow @BobBumbarger for his weekly power rankings on twitter, and @Bradley72366782 for his awesome designs on the power rankings cards.

Lets start with the standings: