2021 MLB Showdown Set -- World Series Champion Atlanta Braves

 The weather outside my still be frightful, and the lockout is not delightful..... but we've got a plethora of new Showdown cards to share -- the entire 2021 Set!!! Once again, this set was made entirely on the MLB Showdown Bot, which is how we made the 2019 remake set too. What does this mean? For starters, it guarantees consistency in point values and across seasons. Not only does this mean guys from 2019 set can easily cross with 2021 and vice versa, but these cards fit seamlessly into the original 2001 set! Thanks to Matt's hard work with cutouts, we've got OVER 700 players coming to the blog over the next few weeks. That's right -- thanks to the speed at which cards can be made/calculated on the BOT, we made a lot of more "marginal" statistical players and, frankly, cards per roster since we could! 

Per feedback from you, the readers, we're releasing cards with bleed to make it easier for y'all to use these free cards at home and we're releasing them one team at a time instead of dumping full divisions.

The first team to be released, per tradition, is the World Series champions -- the Atlanta Braves!! Atlanta entered the postseason as the 3 seed in the NL, only winning 88 regular season games, but in a recipe for success straight out of 1995, rode excellent pitching through the postseason and onto breaking the seemingly always heart-breaking curse that's been felt by the city of Atlanta these past 25 years and change. Those 88 wins are also deceptive because the Pythagorean W-L record was 94-68, which is far more indicative of a team's Showdown strength. But speaking of 1995, here's a little treat:

The famed and Cooperstown enshrined big three, circa 1995

Now, let's get to the most recent champion from the ATL:

2001 Arizona Diamondbacks

We're back, and hoping you're enjoying another entertaining season of March Madness! In the spirit of the crazy upsets of March, let's take a look back at one of the great World Series Cinderella teams: the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks! Sure, this team won only three fewer games than the Yankee team they faced in the World Series, but New York was coming off three straight titles. The Yankees were a dynasty, a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that would cruise through another postseason. Arizona was still a fledgling franchise, only in its fourth season. In fact, the Yankees had won a World Series in literally every season Arizona had participated in.

However, Arizona took home the title in seven games. The dramatic walk-off single by superstar Luis Gonzalez in the ninth inning of Game 7 is consistently placed in "Greatest Moments" countdowns. The strength of this team was its starting pitching, behind two Cy Young candidates: Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. In the heart of the steroid era, it was these two hurlers that got the DBacks through the NL. In the end, clutch hitting and workmanlike starts from these two, along with gutsy pitching from their only viable reliever, Kim, was enough to squeak by the mighty Yankees and finally break the hold New York had on baseball. Enjoy this look back!

2016 Cleveland Indians

Spring Training has begun, marking the start to the 2017 baseball season. The new season comes on the heels of one of the best World Series ever, with an instant classic Game 7 that saw this scrappy, bullpen reliant Indians team nearly come back in the ninth inning again All Star closer Aroldis Chapman. Sadly, despite overcoming massive injuries to the rotation, the Indians will be remembered as that team that blew a 3-1 lead to the Cubs. In reality, Cleveland put together an amazing run, neutering high-powered Boston and Toronto offenses with savvy bullpen moves and clutch hitting.

The 2016 Cubs and Indians both have complete squads uploaded on the site, so feel free to use these teams to replay the World Series! Hopefully, your showdown simulation will be as epic as the real thing!