Showdown Challenge #1: Gloat For Pedro

Introduction

Welcome to the first Showdown challenge, a new monthly series of challenges meant to keep the game interesting and fun. We’ve all done 5000 point matches or leagues, and while by-the-book Showdown is still as alluring as ever, we often miss out on the subtleties of the game by sticking to tried-and-true parameters. These scenarios will encourage the end user, that’s you, to think outside the box, to use the analytical skills that’s made you so good at crafting the perfect lineup of 9’s and 10’s. The segment is meant to be interactive in nature and, if successful, will enable playground-style shenanigans. So please, fight like Bryce Harper and Jonathan Papelbon. Jab at your opponents like Trevor Bauer jabs at college girls on Twitter. Okay, maybe not that bad. But seriously, we’re a bunch of baseball fans, we should be able to engage in friendly banter with like-minded internet strangers.

Full 162-Game Season: Summary and Analysis

What's up everybody? It's time to disclose the results of the greatest MLB Showdown undertaking of all time... by me. My buddy Jeff and I decided to play out an entire 162 game season by hand - we rolled every pitch and every swing by hand and manually tracked all the stats that were accumulated over this 4-month ordeal. What a time to be alive!!!

Let's start out with the rules we play by, because we don't follow the official Showdown rules.

1. We used the 2002 set, but only the cards that I owned (which is a lot, but not all of them).
2. Super-Season cards were excluded (so no Pedro, Ricky Henderson, Griffey, etc.)
3. Rosters were 9 hitters, 5 starting pitchers, 4 bullpen, and 6 bench. At around the 120 game mark, we increased rosters to 8 bench just kicks (or because we found some cards lying around and wanted to add them in).
4. No point limit for rosters - we wanted to get as many good players in as we could.
5. Each team would be the "home" team for 5 games, and then it switched. The last 2 games we split at home, so each of us "hosted" 81 games.
6. Relievers could not pitch more than 1 game in a row - so we had to strategically manage our relievers (which basically consisted of us leaving in our starters to eat innings in a blowout loss).
7. No strategy cards were involved.

MLB SHOWDOWN 2018 SET -- Toronto Blue Jays

Back again! and back to the disappointment that is the AL bottom of the barrel teams. Hopefully everyone was able to read the post prior to this and check out Peters minor league report. Has some fun data in there and really exciting for future players for teams in need.

But lets get to the matter at hand the Toronto Blue Jays. They had a disappointing season overall but didn't finish last thanks to the Orioles. The big thing with this team is how far they have fallen from the days of Bautista, Donaldson, and Encarncion. They are a shell of themselves finishing 73-89 with talks all season more about their minor leagues than the actual team. Well guess what that talk is still going to continue for them this season with Vlad Jr. not going to be on the opening day roster and coming up sometime later like trout did so they can get an extra year on his contract. I for one am more excited about the future with the former stars son's going to be playing. They have Vlad Jr., Biggio, and Bitchette all down in the minors making steam. The team they put on the field last year was just not that exciting and maybe only a handful of draftable players. We will break it down in the podcast below.

The Lineup.

MLB Showdown League -- MINOR LEAGUES REPORT

The MLB Showdown league's offseason is in full force (played with 2017 set), and it's FINALLY time for the most ambitious/creative addition to our league play -- the prospects!!  The premise is simple.  We took the top 10 ranked prospects going into 2018 for each team, and based on the scouting grades for those prospects, made a "peak potential," "likely," and "disappointing" chart for each prospect.  Yes, that means we created 3 charts for 300 prospects... and yes, it took as long as that sounds!

As an example, here's the peak potential card for Ronald Acuna.  Obviously there's a reason Acuna

 is compared to Trout, as his peak card is similar to some of his monster years.  Acuna's ratings were:

60 hitting, 65 power, 65 speed, 60 field, 60 arm

1998 San Diego Padres

I took a little break from the 2018 Set to make another throwback team, this time the 1998 Padres! We haven't done a modern-style Padres team, and the site has never put out a concrete, designed for normal Showdown San Diego Padres squad either (their Classic Set team was made).  Considering how sad their 2018 team was, I figured their debut team should feature the 1998 Padres -- winners of 98 games and the NL Pennant! It was a blast seeing guys who were heavily involved in the original Showdown cards, as well as making 50 HR Greg Vaughn and former Padres' ace, Kevin Brown! Plus, this gave me a chance to dust off the old "pinstripe" background idea for the "foils" on this team, including the franchise's most memorable players -- Hall of Famers Tony Gwynn and Trevor Hoffman.  Enjoy!

MLB SHOWDOWN 2018 SET -- Washington Nationals

As a fan of the Nationals, the 2018 Washington Nationals had an epic dud of a season, falling well short of the lofty pre-season expectations I had for them. The Nationals were nearly unanimous preseason favorites in the NL East, and looked to finally get over their postseason hump with a new manager.  Their 2017 team was loaded and when my friends and I "played" the 2018 season out with 2017 cards, the Nationals won the NL rather easily.  Unfortunately, the wheels to the wagon fell off.  Their 2018 Showdown team definitely demonstrates that they deserved the hype, and honestly may have a better Showdown squad than 2018 Atlanta (which is frustrating for any Nats fans out there).  I was living in DC for about a month last summer, and it was truly baffling to everyone in the area why the team wasn't performing (outside of the obvious mismanagement by first timer Matt Williams). Let's take a look at their cards, and use them as hope for 2019!

Here's our (rant filled) podcast about the 2018 Nats!

Lineup: The ONLY team in the set with four On-Base 10 hitters, the Nationals have a lethal lineup on paper! Eaton is a stellar player with good, solid contact hitting and decent speed.  He's followed by the sensational Trea Turner, who's back with blazing speed and a slightly higher on-base.  Turner will be a sneaky guy to go above his points value in a draft.  The most prized free agent still on the market hits third, and despite a "down" year that had everyone freaking out nationally and on DC sports talk in June due to his low batting average, Harper still put together a 520 point card in 2018! Dude is an absolute stud and is worth a $300 million deal. Two more on-base 10s are hitting 4th and 5th, including ROY runner up Juan Soto (who could take another step forward this season) and steady 3B Anthony Rendon.  Then they've got a lethal OB 7 in Zimmerman hitting sixth, and Matt Wieters has a low on-base but at least a solid arm at catcher.  They dealt Murphy and ended up with the poor hitting Difo at the 8th spot, but at least they get more defense and speed out of their 2B now!  Overall, a really solid lineup that belongs on a playoff team rather than being released at this stage!

In Memory of Frank Robinson

The baseball world lost a true pioneer today in Frank Robinson, at 83 years old. Frank was a legendary player but also a barrier breaker as he was the first African American manager in Major League Baseball. While he as on the field he is the only player in the history of the league to win a MVP in both the American and National League. The first came in 1961 with the Cincinnati Reds in the National League, and the second came in 1966 with the Baltimore Orioles. Frank Robinson was also inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. There is much to say about his career but I feel we should truly appreciate what he did off the field in trying to bring more equality to the world of sports. Without further adieu I decided to make a card of Frank Robinson from each of his MVP seasons. Lets sit back and enjoy this great person and player and appreciate what he brought to the game in the form of two different styles of player.