2019 12 Man Draft League

It's that time again now that we have all the cards. My in person league has finally drafted. We have a 5000 pt league for 12 of us. We roster 18 players (2BE if you want). You have to have 8 position players and a DH, 4 SPs 1cp and 4 of rp/cp. We do a snake draft and run a 18 game season where we play 3 game series. Its a tough league with the same guys playing year to year. After the draft every year we do a post draft grades where we piss off half the league by bashing their teams or our own. Listen to the podcast below to our EXPERTS break down the teams.

Showdown Challenge #6: Good King Cole

Good King Cole

Over this now depressingly long offseason, Gerrit Cole signed a $324 million dollar contract, giving him the largest contract ever for a starting pitcher. Long contracts don't always play out, but Cole is among the best of the best and has proven surprisingly durable. Now, as the Coronavirus is the only player causing triple digit heat, Cole and the rest of the league have been sidelined. Luckily for us, Showdown and social distancing work pretty well, especially for one player challenges. So, without further adieu, here is the first challenge of 2020, Good King Cole!

 

Cole may only be able to pitch 6 innings, and that will hurt this card's chances to be among the greatest of all time, but for purposes of the 2019 set, 6 is the new 7. Many fine pitchers also struggled to keep homers off their charts, so this one is looking pretty good. Just how good, however, remains to be seen.

The "Black Aces"

With another Leap Day extending February into this wonderful Saturday, I thought we'd celebrate the little extra bit of Black History Month with a Showdown tour through the fifteen members of the "Black Aces"! Honestly, I had no idea of this exclusive group until I saw an ad for a special on the Black Aces that I believe aired on MLB Network (sadly, I don't have that channel). However, it got me reading up on the elite pitchers that've earned the title "Black Ace" since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.

Per my research, and unsurprising giving America's racist history, even when black players were allowed into the major leagues, they were disproportionately shifted to be position players. Apparently, racist attitudes extended to believing black pitchers were unable to handle the position. However, this mentality was quickly proven to be folly when black pitchers were given a chance. Mudcat Grant, the first black pitcher to win 20 games in a season in the AL, coined the phrase "black aces." At this moment, there are 15 Black Aces (with David Price earning membership with his 2012 Cy Young season).

To become a Black Ace, an African American pitcher has to win 20 games in one season. Unfortunately, this eliminates latin pitchers such as Luis Tiant and Pedro Martinez, but it's a group that will hopefully gain more membership despite the African American player pool continuing to shrink and starting pitchers gaining less and less and less wins every year. But there's hope, as we see players like Marcus Stroman put together 33 start seasons with ERAs hovering at or below 3.00.... it's only a matter of time before another star earns the (super cool) title of BLACK ACE!

There are very, very few African American starting pitchers in the big leagues today and Marcus Stroman's sensational 2017 season (where he only accumulated 13 wins) shows how hard it is for a pitcher to join the ranks of the Black Aces!

And now -- a MLB Showdown walkthrough of every starting pitcher to earn the title of Black Ace!

Grand Finale of the 2019 Set -- Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Detroit Tigers, & New York Mets

Fireworks in the sky, spring training is here and lets finish off the 2019 set shall we, this isn't going to be a well thought out write up, its all about getting the final teams out for everyone to enjoy. Shout out to Bradley for these last four teams looking so beautiful!!! (even if the Tigers charts don't reflect it) So without further adieu lets get things started with the Detroit Tigers.

DETROIT TIGERS

Showdown Cup Season 2 Pr-Season Preview

The chalk is down, the grass is cut and it is opening day here at the Greatest Showdown Blog for Season 2 of the Showdown Cup. Games will be starting for my 20 team season that many of you participated in drafting. So how about we show everyone how wrong I truly am by my preseason predictions on who I think will be there when the playoffs start. Whoever I pick, I am truly sorry for jinxing you and your team, and whoever I picked for last place, congratulations on making the playoffs. If you're patient enough to look through the whole article you might see some cards that Bradley hasn't gotten around to posting yet as well.

2019 Showdown Cup League Season 2: All Free Agents Team

So I am writing this after the waiver period, and a ton of free agency moves have been made. Some of these guys may get picked up in the time I finish writing this article. But for the fun of it here is the best team I can make with the available players.

Sadly Tim Anderson is the first player to miss the cut

MLB What Ifs

Showdown What Ifs

When doing research for the All Time Mets 2008 Billy Wagner card I came across Joey Devine. Who is Joey Devine you ask? He is the owner of a .59 ERA, .832 WHIP season over 45.2 IP in 2008, and one of the best RP cards you have ever seen. Sadly, after that year he had TJ surgery, and never was able to return to form. This got me thinking, who else out there had a ridiculous season/stretch only to never recapture it due to injury, yips, or some other incident. Presenting, MLB Showdown's What If collection.