2022 Pacific League NPB set

 The Orix Buffaloes won their second straight PL crown on their way to the championship. They clinched it on the first pennant tie breaker in NPB history, as the Hawks had an identical 76-65-2 record. Masataka Yoshida helped lead them to the championship before requesting to be posted and signing for big money with the Boston Red Sox. The other big departure to the MLB was long-time Hawks ace, Koudai Senga, signing with the NY Mets. But as talent leaves, talent emerges. Roki Sasaki who was poised to blow up after a cup of coffee last season, certainly did just that. You should know about his perfect game by now, but if not here. He can make a claim already as the best pitcher in Japan at just 21 years old. Although, most still give the edge to the 24 year old, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, due to his longer track record and proven ace status. Yamamoto won the PL MVP (again) and the pitching Triple Crown (again). He's as bona fide as it gets. Both will get BIG pay days if/when they get posted to the MLB. 

2022 NPB Central League

While the cards in this post will focus on the Central League, I wanted to briefly discuss the 2022 NPB season as a whole before we get into it. Not unlike the MLB, offense was way down across the board. In April, Roki Sasaki had a 19 strikeout perfect game and then followed it up with another 8 perfect innings (and 14 strike outs) before being pulled due to pitch count. There were 4 other no-hitters, the first time there have been 5 in a season since 1940. The others were by Nao Higashihama of the Hawks, Shota Imanaga of the BayStars, Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Buffaloes, and American Cody Ponce of the Fighters. 

The Orix Buffaloes won their first championship since 1996 (back when they were the Orix Blue Waves and Ichiro was leading the team). They defeated the defending champions, Tokyo Yakult Swallows, in four straight games after being down 0-2-1 (yes, there was a tie in Game 2).

Speaking of the Swallows, the player that kicked off my fascination (read: obsession) with the NPB all those years ago, Munetaka Murakami, put up a season for the ages. He broke the Japanese-born single-season home run record set by the legendary Sadaharu Oh (if you don't know him by now, please refer to the super seasons card post). He hit an astounding 56 home runs on the season (The Dragons as a team hit 62). He actually had a chance to get the single season overall record, but after tying Oh, the pressure seemed to get to him and he slumped, going 48 straight at-bats without a home run before hitting number 56 on the final day of the season. For good measure, he won the Triple Crown. It was the first offensive triple crown in the NPB since 2004, first in the Central League since 1986 (Randy Bass)Nobuhiko Matsunaka), and he was the youngest to ever win it at 22 years old. He won Central League MVP unanimously as well. This offseason he singed a 3-year deal with the Swallows, which stipulates that he will be posted to the MLB after the 2025 season. So 3 more years of NPB cards, before we see what the Showdown Bot has for him! 

Quick Note: Generally Pennant Run is for cards that had less than ~250 PAs, and partial seasons for pitchers. 

2022 Set -- New York Mets

 Up next is yet another 101 win NL East team -- the New York Mets! Frontrunners the majority of the year, a cold spell down the final stretch cursed the Mets to tie for the division crown and play in the "wild card" round... resulting in a brutal bouncing at the hands of the Padres! Despite playoff disappointment, the Mets are great in Showdown form, especially with the 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation!

Will DeGrom's 2022 card outdo the classic Dwight Gooden from 1985??

Let's get to the 2022 squad!

2022 Set -- Atlanta Braves

 The National League was extremely top-heavy with THREE teams earning over 100 wins in 2022, including Atlanta, the NL East champion. While none of those teams even advanced to the NLCS, they're all loaded in Showdown -- for Atlanta, even with Acuna performing well below his usual standard due to injury, that means a deep rotation and very, very fun bullpen.

At this point, I'm going to keep sharing fun cards I recently made of old stars...

So I hope you enjoy this powerful, elite defender -- HOF or no for Jones?

Let's get to the team!

2022 Set -- Los Angeles Dodgers

 We're back in the NL for the next team -- the 111 win LA Dodgers, who somehow improved on 2021's 106 campaign... and failed to win the World Series either year. This year, the Dodgers cruised to their incredible win mark due to depth at.... well, basically every position, even sans Max Scherzer. Let's just keep the refrain going -- another year, another "Dodgers would win 120 games and the World Series with me as the manager" post!

Nevertheless, the squad could always have found a space for "robbed of a Cy Young" Grienke

Let's check out the squad!

2022 Set -- New York Yankees

 At one point, it seemed like we were back in 1998: the Yankees had the best record in baseball, the pitching staff was lights out 1-5, the lineup was cruising, and Aaron Judge was the surefire MVP candidate. Unfortunately for the Bronx Bombers (and fortunately for the rest of America), only one of those midseason snapshots was still true by season's end, creating the reason most of you are excited for the Yankees post -- AL MVP Aaron Judge, the new AL home run king! That said, the Yankees still finished with 99 wins and advanced to the ALCS, where they ran into that buzzsaw of an Astros squad.

Just to keep the rivalry rolling with Houston, here's Pettitte's best Yankees card

Let's get to Judge (and crew)!!

2022 Set -- Philadelphia Phillies

 The National League pennant winner was fortunate to the playoffs expanded to allow 6 seeds... and boy oh boy, did they take advantage! Dominating the Cardinals, powering past the NL East champion Braves and then cruising past their fellow wild card Padres in five games, the 9-2 run to the World Series was a sight to behold! The Phillies are led by their big free agent pickups from the last few seasons - Bryce Harper (duh), Zack Wheeler and Kyle Schwarber. Personally, I'm excited to see if they can build on those 87 regular season wins after signing Trea Turner this offseason and, perhaps, snag their first title since 2008!

Philly phans are hoping Turner churns out a card similar to this classic from Jimmy in 2023!

Now let's get to the 2022 squad!

2022 Set -- CHAMPION Houston Astros

 After winning 106 games, Houston entered the playoffs as the #1 seed and the unquestioned favorite in the AL... and they lived up to the hype, cruising to their second title in six seasons. As I mentioned in the classics post, we switched to the 00 style for this set, so please enjoy some Houston studs! 

Another classic Astro that I made recently to enjoy before we get into our first 2022 cards!

2022 Set: New year, old style (Classic Stars)

 Matt and I have been working hard to complete a 2022 Set in the original, 2000-style! I'm happy to report that we've finished it, along with a nice assortment of classic stars that we wanted to make as we were going along... I think Matt may have a special plan in store for these cards, the 2022 set, and the OG 2000 set ;)

Without further ado, let's take a look at some classic stars to re-introduce most players favorite Showdown art style!

NBA Showdown 30 for 30: Simulation through December

 Unfortunately, I was too busy to post the update after November, but we're getting a post after the December portion. Now three months into the simulation, get ready for an update on the standings, stats and thoughts on teams!! Let's get started:

Luka led the Mavs to an 18-3 start through November and is averaging 28.9/10.8/7.1 through 39 games

NBA Showdown: 30 for 30 -- October games

 The simulation has begun!!! You can check out how the simulator runs here, as commissioner Matt explains the simulation in detail. The video shows the first 30 games played, but now we're over 100 games in -- that's right, all October games have been simulated! Of course, with teams starting play at the backend of the month, that means most teams are only 6 games into the season, but we've already had some fun results.

Now, let's get to the (early) standings!

NBA Showdown: 30 for 30 League -- PREVIEW

 If you enjoyed the MLB Showdown 30 for 30 league, then I'm hoping you'll enjoy the NBA Showdown 30 for 30 league!! Same basic premise -- all thirty NBA franchises are in the league, drafting players from the last thirty years. "Governors" could only draft cards from players ON their team. So the Wizards could have selected Michael Jordan, but they could only have used his cards from when MJ was on the Wizards.  

Available to Bulls only!

Available to Wizards only!

KBO Top 40 players of all-time

 I recently stumbled across this article where the Korean Baseball Organization put out their list of the Top 40 players of league history (it's the 40th anniversary of the league this year). I know almost nothing about Korean baseball, but I thought the artwork was too well done (regrettably, I haven't been able to find who the artist is to credit them yet), and fit the Showdown cards too well to not make a fun little mini set. 

Defensive stats are non-existent (or at least I wasn't able to find any) so I basically gave them great defense if they won the Gold Glove that season. Although, I learned rather late in the game that the Golden Glove Award in Korea is more equivalent to NPB's Best 9 (best player at each position) rather than the MLB Gold Glove which only awards defense (although we know that's not always true). Anyway, I wasn't too concerned about defense for this mini set, just something to bear in mind. 


I think they turned out really fun and there are a few players with MLB and/or NPB experience so there may be a few familiar names and faces. 

40. Chang-yong Lim - Pitched 6 games for the Cubs in 2013

Eurobasket 2022

 For me basketball is my favorite season, and since the season ended I spend more time thinking about the upcoming season. I started watching the Eurobasket as multiple of my favorite players are participating in this tournament. So as I kept getting more locked in to this incredible tournament, and making cards, I thought I should honor these players in showdown form. So I made cards of the NBA players that are participating in the Eurobasket. As a basketball fan I highly recommend to any of you with an ESPN plus subscription and some free time to watch some games to tune in when you have a chance.

2 Time EuroBasket MVP Pau Gasol

NPB Legends and Super Seasons Japanese Baseball Post 2 of 2

 One thing I failed to mention was the "Legend" vs "Super Seasons" distinction. Simply out, before 1990 and the card, got the NPB Legend logo and look and after 1990 they got the Super Season logo and look. Rather arbitrary. Just like the order these cards are presented in. 

Struggled to get going in his short time with the Mariners and Reds, but had a long productive career in Japan. His 2013 season is legendary (although the juiced balls they secretly introduced may have inflated his numbers...although he still easily outpaced any other hitter that year). As he broke Sadaharu Oh's sacred home run record. 60 home runs in 130 games. He never quite reached those heights again, but his .917 career OPS speaks for itself. 

Shohei Ohtani. Enough said. 

NPB Legends and Super Seasons Japanese Baseball Post 1 of 2

 This, like most of my projects, started as a small idea to make a few Super Season cards and then spiraled out of control into me making a full set (with eyes on a second set already...). This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all the best seasons in Japanese baseball history, but rather a mix of legends and some fun Super Seasons. With an emphasis on players that played in both MLB and NPB, and/or players with cards in the original sets. While making the set, I found a nice YouTube video (link) with a list of the 100 best NPB players ever and the best offensive seasons ever (link). I leaned heavily on these both to fill out the set, with each of the 100 players earning at least one card. I used the defensive and WAR stats from this website as well. A truly invaluable (if slightly dubious when it comes to old defensive stats) resource, as when I started I was going off of reputation for the defensive ratings.  

For players with a single card, I generally picked their best WAR season, although sometimes I just picked their best overall offensive season. For players with multiple cards, I mostly tried to pick two seasons that were good, but different enough to make two unique cards. For example, Hiromitsu Kadota's two best seasons by OPS were 1981 and 1988, but his slash lines in those years were, .313/.431/.655/1.086 and .311/.429/.633/1.062 respectively, so it wouldn't be that fun to make two almost identical cards. So he has some "worse" seasons for cards because they are more unique. Also, if they had long careers with multiple teams, I tried to represent each. 

I went back and forth on the best ways to present these cards...but I think I've settled on the first post being the best 100 players in NPB history (again based on that video) and then the second post will be the rest (Don't worry plenty of fun ones there too). 

Quick note on photos and logos. I did my best to match years and uniforms, but with some sparse photography out there for most of these players it is a crapshoot. And sometimes in the case of photos and logos I chose aesthetics over accuracy. 

100. Kaoru Betto. Probably most known for being on The Dude's shirt in The Big Lebowski. 

NBA Showdown -- GREATEST TEAM OF ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT, part II

The greatest team tournament isn't going to exclude worthy contenders simply because they didn't finish strong in the postseason -- so hold onto your hats, we've got some STRONG teams coming that didn't win it all for various reasons: injury, key player suspensions, the way the cookie crumbled, and/or running into a team with hot markers rolling straight 20s ;) 

I didn't include them, but the '97 Rockets were one of the first "want-to-be superteams" that didn't pan out *cough the Nets cough*

However, I'm not going to give them equal love as the champions - fair is fair in a "greatest ever" bracket -- so these teams are going to have to earn their spots in the final bracket via a play-in tournament. But we'll get to the logistics later, let's see the teams!

NBA Showdown -- New Style, GREATEST TEAM OF ALL-TIME Tournament

 So if you've been following the NBA Showdown posts on the blog, you either saw (or should see) this amazing post by Matt announcing and explaining his revamped style of NBA Showdown. As you can see in the example below, it swaps out the nebulous/often nonsensical "Speed/Power" for the straightforward and objective "Offense/Defense" methodology.

Everything else about the game is the same, but now (i) player values/ratings make more sense; (ii) give defensive players their proper value and (iii) gameplay is a simple "offensive players offense - defender's defense + roll" instead of choosing speed or power. 

NBA Showdown: Best teams of the 2020s

 Thanks to help with the formulas and calculations from Matt, my main card creator buddy and the undisputed master of bringing NBA Showdown into the modern age (including his awesome re-imagining of the game with offense/defense rather than speed/power), I went on a bit of a card creating binge. Like, a lot of cards from a lot of teams. And I want to share them with y'all!

I'm going to start with 234 cards from the 2020s -- I made 8 players per team, plus some scattered superstar cards here and there that seemed fitting from the past few years. I hope you enjoy, and let me know which teams were better/worse than you anticipated!

2020 Los Angeles Lakers (52-19, #1 Seed in West, NBA Champions)

30 for 30: Non-Stats Completed Seasons (big post!)

 I hope you enjoyed following along with the initial season, aka "Season 0" for the 30 for 30 simulation. Thanks to Savard, we've got an additional 100 years of simulations that were completed. Now, there has been some computer-related mishaps that are delaying 44 years of playoff sims, but all the play-ins were done by hand so those playoffs are ready to go once the computer was fixed.

So the simulations 1-50 were done without saving and pulling the individual player stats, so they went faster but unfortunately we don't have the stats to share. However, we still have a lot of results and will be sharing those here, along with the results of the playoffs that were completed! Enjoy!

As manager of the Brewers, you know I had to rep my first round pick for this league, Prince Fielder

We'll start by going through the seasons that have been simulated to completion from years 1-50, announcing the various WS champions. Then we'll take a look at the overall division title/playoff berth numbers for all the teams in the first 50 years. There's still twenty (20) of the years 1-50 left to simulate to conclusion, so if your squad didn't win one of the 30 World Series titles shown here, they've still got 20 more seasons to claim a league W or pennant before the first half century is up!

30 for 30 WORLD SERIES

 After a LONG delay, I'm finally here to announce the results of the premier 30 for 30 season's World Series. In the end, the simulation ran for 101 total seasons. 57 of those seasons have been fully completed, but the remaining 44 have playoff series still to simulate. Unfortunately, a broken computer for our simulation star has been delaying that, but there's no reason we can't start by FINALLY announcing the conclusion to the season we (had) all been following so closely -- Red Sox v. Diamondbacks, just like we all expected!! 

Let's get into it!

GAME ONE: Arizona 5, Boston 4

The first game goes to the NL West champs, with five different players scoring and five different players driving in a run. JD Martinez was the lone HR for Arizona, but it came at the ideal time -- walkoff HR in the bottom of the ninth, two outs, against star closer and first round draft pick Koji!! Both starters gave up 4 runs in 6 innings, a sign at these lineup's collective depth.

 

The game one hero, JD went 1-3 with 2 BB and the walk off BOMB to give Arizona a 1-0 series lead

NBA Showdown - 2022 Finals New Style

 Its been a long time since I have posted some NBA stuff on the blog, been doing most things on my own, and showing glimpses on twitter and in the discord. But here I am back, as I am slowly working on the 2022 NBA Showdown Set. Now since last time, some thing have changed, and I know my formulas have changed multiple times, but while the original game was fun, I could never pinpoint exact calculations in the speed and power area, and found some flaws and exploitations in how they rated players. So I went back to my original style, and that is an offensive and defensive rating. To me it plays better in a team building style, as you decide do I take the offensive guy who is a defensive liability, or do I build with a more balanced player. In my opinion it can lead to more versatility in team building. So as the Finals are about to begin I figured I would kick it off with the two final teams standing in the NBA. This should give you an idea of what to expect from this set. I will try to give more explanations as I go along about the changes in the game as well. 

1998 Set - NL Central

Hey everyone. Been working on a project and wanted to share it with you all. I have built out a 1998 set featuring 700 cards (I know, it's a lot). I will be dropping the cards and a post by each division over the next several weeks (still wrapping up the final three teams).

1998 Set - NL East

Hey everyone. Been working on a project and wanted to share it with you all. I have built out a 1998 set featuring 700 cards (I know, it's a lot). I will be dropping the cards and a post by each division over the next several weeks (still wrapping up the final four teams).

2021 MLB Showdown Set -- Remaining Teams

 I've been moving slowly on this -- just so much life stuff and the time I do have for showdown has been consumed by the 30 for 30 league. With Hot Stove kicking into full gear and coming up, I figured this was the most efficient way of sharing the remaining cards from the 2021 Set: a full drop of the google folder!

One of the guys who hasn't been shared yet, Olson got a foil in 2021 

and will be a cornerstone for Atlanta for next 8 years!

30 for 30 League -- Championship Series

We're in the FINAL FOUR for the first season in the 30 for 30 League, and it's the teams we all expected (heavy sarcasm) -- National League newcomers Miami and Arizona square off in the NLCS while #2 Wild Card Seattle takes on 87-win Boston in the ALCS. League wise, a lot of drama is built up by 2/3 of the "Columbus crew" making it to the final four -- Miami (Turkey Sandwich) and Seattle (Izzaldizzal). Meanwhile, you've seen Win Dance Repeat (WDR) write articles on this here blog and if you're on the discord, you're very familiar with him (and his Boston trash talk ;)). Rounding out the participants is Mikey for Arizona -- I was best man at his wedding and he was with me when the first league I ever played in was formed in our dorm in 2011, chipped in to order custom cards from Colby in 2011 and chipped in on charting and playing out a league for my very own first custom set in 2012.... and so the stage is set for these four experienced Showdown players' teams to square off in Savard's awesome simulator...  The pennants for both leagues are on the line!! PLAY BALL

30 for 30 League -- DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF RESULTS

 We're finally here, after 162 (or 163) games and the Wild Card round.... the PLAYOFFS proper!!! The matchups are well-known: Mikey's DBacks v. Bosh's Phillies, My 106-win Brewers vs the Wild Card winning Marlins led by Turkey Sandwich, WDR's Red Sox against Tensin's Astros, and the red hot Mariners of Izzaldizzal against KSGriff's Guardians.... So now, here we go: baseball's ELITE EIGHT from the 30 for 30 season kicks off now!!!

(3) Arizona (87-75) vs (2) Philadelphia (92-71)

DBACKS PLAYOFF LINEUP

2021 MLB Showdown Set -- Milwaukee Brewers

 Your NL Central champions!!! They started slow and ended seemingly even slower, and then bowed out of the postseason almost immediately... but it was still the best Brewers team of my lifetime and continued what's almost inarguably been the greatest 4-year stretch in Brewers history (postseason every season!). 

The Brewers will really have a shot next year if Yelich can recapture his 2019 form

2021 MLB Showdown Set -- Tampa Bay Rays

z Winning the AL East and crossing the 100 win threshold for the first time in franchise history, safe to say it was a memorable season for the Tampa Bay Rays! Following up on their AL Pennant win in 2020, most did not expect the Rays to make the postseason again after losing Blake Snell in the offseason... how wrong those pundits were, as this team comfortably secured the title of the toughest, deepest division in baseball! However, the 2021 season may be most remembered for a very specific reason -- the debut of phenom SS Wander Franco (who gets a pretty amazing card below). 

Wander is the most heralded player debuting for the Rays since David Price, who put together this sick (small sample size) card almost immediately after being drafted, helping push the Rays to their first World Series appearance in 2008.

30 for 30 -- WILD CARD

We're finally to the postseason following the Game 163 matchups, which had an amazing performance by Roy Halladay to send the Phillies to the #2 seed. Ok, let's just get into it!!!

NL WILD CARD:    (5) Cubs at (4) Marlins

Cubs Lineup:

30 for 30 Season -- Game 163

 After 162 games for every team.... the playoff picture still wasn't finalized, as the NL East and AL West both needed a 163rd game to determine the division winner! The matchups? Oakland vs Houston and Miami vs Philadelphia!

Both the NL and AL MVP will be playing in Game 163

Because it is Game 163, and therefore happening "immediately" after game 162 in-season time, the teams will be sending out their #3 starters (who would be next up in the rotation). Let's get into it!

30 for 30 season -- REGULAR SEASON AWARDS!!

 Thank you to everyone who voted on the Awards -- now, onto the award winners!!!

AMERICAN LEAGUE MVP

91.4% VOTE; .327/.452/.673 with 50 HR, 32 2B, 108 RBI, 82 R

30 for 30 AWARDS VOTING

If you want to participate in electing the award winners for the 30 for 30 league, please use THIS LINK RIGHT HERE!!!

Paul Goldschmidt may not be up for any major awards, but his DBacks are going to the playoffs and I love how his card turned out, so enjoy some neat art!

30 for 30 League (PART V -- Regular Season Complete!!)

 2430 games later, the regular season has completed in the 30 for 30 league!!! And as we all expected..... we'll have two more to go before the playoffs -- so get ready for a pair of Game 163s! Enough of this talk, let's get into it:

The Brewers won the NL Central thanks to their pair of superstar aces!

30 for 30 League (PART IV -- 122 games completed)

 Whew, so the next part has been completed and now that we're 122 games down.... the home stretch is in sight!! So let's just get right to it -- stats, standings and leaders, let's go!!

The Royals may be struggling in the standings, but their superstar closer has a shot at the lead in saves

30 for 30 League -- All Star Teams

 92 games are done with the 30 for 30 League and the 750 players have had their stats fully calculated along the way! Now, thanks to fan voting for the starting lineups, it's time to unveil the All Star Squads!!! 

NATIONAL LEAGUE (Starting Lineup)

45.7% of Fan Vote

.323/.370/.561

20 2B, 20 HR, 54 R, 56 RBI 14 SB

30 for 30 League (PART III -- All Star Voting plus Standings/Stats after 92 games)

 92 games have been completed in the full 162 game season in Year 1 of the 30 for 30 league! Thanks to Savard the Goat's simulator, we've got full stats for all the hitters and pitchers.... which lets us do all star voting! So check out the updated standings, enjoy the present narratives, peep the oddball/significant statistical games from Part III.... and then feast your eyes on all the stats/leaderboards before VOTING FOR THE ALL STAR GAME. That's right, below is the link to the Google Form I made to vote for the All Star Game starters. Next weekend, the All Star teams will be announced!

We know Mark McGwire is essentially an All Star lock, but will his teammate Giambi join him on the AL All Stars and are these time-crossed Bash Bros leading the A's back to 1st in the AL West after 92 games?

Now, it's time to see how the standings have fluctuated!

NBA TRADE DEADLINE - 2021-2022

 Today is one of my favorite days in sports, especially for the NBA, outside of Opening Night, the playoffs, and the NBA Finals the trade deadline is so exciting, and today lived up to the hype. New beginnings for players and teams, as well as the fans can try to imagine the way their favorite team or least favorite team, will now look after a roster shakeup. If you're a big NBA fan like me, Woj and Shams were blowing your phone up today and the few days leading up to the deadline with notifications. So what I did was take my NBA Showdown format and much like the MLB Trade Deadline set, I tried to make cards for the players that I believe were the most impactful of those moved this past week. Lets go over the trades

2021 MLB Showdown Set -- Chicago White Sox

The young, flashy and exciting Chicago White Sox broke through as World Series contenders in 2021. While their playoff run ended disappointingly in the ALDS, they look like they'll be a serious threat for the next 3-5 years (especially when every other team in the division looks to be in rebuilding stages in 2022). Despite their young and passionate core, they brought in Tony La Russa to manage. Despite some bumps in the road (and a ton of injuries), they won 97 games! If they run it back this year and get the same amount of production from the bullpen/rotation while staying healthier.... 100+ wins and the chance at greater postseason success, here they come!

I've been giving special throwback cards with each team and thought "hey, let's give some love to the brief time Thome was on the White Sox" because it's the fourth team that comes to mind for me with JIM! and he's the fourth 1B option for the White Sox who comes to mind for me, but that OB 10/HR at 17 combo card is something a dozen or so other teams would kill to be able to plug into 1B but cannot!

30 for 30 League -- PART TWO (62 games standings and stats)

 We're now through 2/5 of the "parts" in our epic 30 for 30 league. If you missed the draft, preseason prediction or part one, you can find them at those links to catch up to what's going on. In Part 2, each team played a home/road split against their four division rivals. 32 games of interdivisional play later, and the standings are crazy and stats are fun! Let's dive into what's happened and the narratives that are afoot approximately 40% through this season.

With four CG shut outs on the year, Montreal's Pedro Martinez is making a Cy Young case... 

are the Expos making a World Series case too?

Now let's get to the standings!

2021 MLB Showdown Set -- Los Angeles Dodgers

 The Dodgers won it all in 2020 and entered 2021 as HUGE favorites to repeat.... and they certainly had all the talent available to do so.... but they couldn't even win the NL West. Instead, their incredible 106 wins (109 in Pythagorean) got them a Wild Card berth. However, they still pushed through to the NLCS before falling to Atlanta. Their rotation is insanely deep, even after expensive free agent Trevor Bauer was suspended. The lineup is deep and filled with stars. Indeed, this is a team that once again leads me to believe that if I was the manager instead of Dave Roberts would have won the World Series!

Especially if they still had Bellinger putting up an MVP-level card circa 2019 rather than a 10 pt Cody B on the bench

2021 MLB Showdown Set -- New York Yankees

 By popular demand, next up is the 2021 New York Yankees! The 2021 squad had to have disappointed fans with its quick postseason exit in the AL Wild Card game after a 92-70 season, but I think baseball fans at large enjoyed the dramatic race for the wild card in the AL East down the stretch. Also, I'm 95% certain that this was the first time since baseball went to six divisions that a single division had FOUR 90+ win teams in one division, that being the 2021 AL East. This version of the Yankees may lack the firepower offensively that we've seen in recent years, but they have some solid On-Base (makes sense for the last team in the AL in swing rate in 2021) guys that I'm sure will be drafted.... plus, as always, some cool foils in Judge and Cole! I'll add that it was neat seeing guys like Rizzo and Gallo get cards for a  new franchise, especially the most iconic in our game.

A-Rod may not have been a Hall of Famer this year, but his 2007 card is one of the best 3B options from this century!

NPB 2021 Pacific League

 The Pacific League was dominated by one man: Yoshinobu Yamamoto. At 22 years old, he won the Sawamura Award (given to the top pitcher in all of the NPB), the Best 9 award, the Pacific League MVP, the pitching triple crown, a gold glove, and the Olympic best pitcher award and gold medal to boot. He helped Orix go from worst to first and end the stranglehold that the Hawks have had on the Pacific League. 

Orix Buffaloes 70-55-18 (1st place Central League, Lost to the Swallows in the Japan Series)

Besides Yamamoto, Orix had the next top 3 MVP vote recepients as well. Sugimoto finished 2nd, Masataka Yoshida 3rd, and Hiroya Miyagi 4th. Yoshida led the PL in batting average, while Sugimoto led in home runs. Yoshida has a really great OB 10 card, maybe you'd want a bit more pop from him since he's only Speed C(13), but he provides a lot for under 500 points. Sugimoto is a good power bat that you'll probably want to have DHing for you. Yuma Mune won the Best 9 and gold glove award at 3B, but he's more solid than spectacular. I like both catchers as viable options. 

Yamamoto's 2021: 18-5, 1.39 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 7 HRs allowed in 193.67 IP, 5.8 H/9, 9.6 K/9, 5.15 K/BB, 6 complete games, 4 shutouts. Here's a video from Pitching Ninja on his curveball 

The pitching is obviously headlined by the Tier 0 Yamamoto, but Hiroya Miyagi was only 19 years old and had an incredible season in his own right (and somehow stole one first place MVP vote from Yamamoto). The rest of the staff has a lot of usable Tier 3 arms, although the closer, Yoshihisa Hirano, is a solid Tier 2 option.  

Best 9: Masataka Yoshida, Yutaro Sugimoto, Yuma Mune, Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Foils: Masataka Yoshida, Yutaro Sugimoto, Yuma Mune, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Hiroya Miyagi

2020/1 Olympians: Masataka Yoshida, Yoshinobu Yamamoto