Trying to keep up with these at 3x a week. Might be a struggle but still going strong right now. Expos are always fun to release. Especially seeing old school Pedro. Some fun old school players. But overall an average at best team.
If anything is wrong let me know and I can edit at a later date. Follow me on Twitter @bobbumbarger
This team has some power houses on it. The dodgers come in with 6 Foils including ROY of the year Todd Hollandsworth. And possibly my favorite looking card in Hideo Nomo. It just fits the card frame so well. Also greg gagne looks like Travis Fryman...I said it!
If anything is wrong let me know and I can edit at a later date. Follow me on Twitter @bobbumbarger
I'm new here! My name is Kevin. I found this blog a few months back and that's what got me back into Showdown, so I feel honored to be posting on here. I used to work overnights for a sports data company, and some of my responsibilities were recording NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) games, monitoring data feeds, etc. So I've always had an interest in the league and the players. Obviously, with Ohtani's runaway success this year it's made me think a bit about the next big star who could make the jump.
I also still watch the occassional NPB game for that same company, tracking pitches. Seeing young stars like Munetaka Murakami and Masato Morishita is really what drove me to make this set. In 2020, Murakami was 20 years old and put up very similar numbers to Alex Bregman and Christian Yelich in 2019. So I set off to make a card for him. Then I figured why not just do the Best 9 (an official award given out, similar to an All-pro team) of the Pacific and Central Leagues. But once you've gotten that far, you may as well finish off the whole set.
Due to Covid the NPB had a shortened season just like the MLB in 2020. However, it wasn’t shortened to the same extremes as the MLB, so there were 120 games played for each team which allowed for cards to be mostly "true".
Shout out and thanks to all the card designers out there (especially those on this blog, Peter, Matt, and Bob) who have shared their secrets, advice, and design input. The Showdown community is truly welcoming and wonderful.
I welcome any and all feedback or constructive criticism. If something looks off, you see a blatant error, or want to share design tips/input please feel free to comment below or reach out on the Showdown Discord.
Methodology:
I tried to capture the top 3 starters in IP for each team. Occasionally adding a 4th. I used the most played position player for each team, occasionally bending that rule, as there are quite a few players with multiple position availability. I did my best to line up with players from the MLB 2020 set so that it could play along side that set (or hopefully any set) reasonably well. For example, Jeimer Candelario had a .369 OBP in 2020 and was given 9 OB with 5 outs for his card. Hiroyuki Nakajima had a .369 OBP for the Yomiuri Giants in 2020. So he gets a 9 OB with 5 outs. I would also use the Showdown Bot as a check for points, or OB, HR rate, etc.
Used the Tier system that Peter and his college buddies pioneered back in 2014 for pitching. I won’t go into detail on that as it’s been covered before. I will say again I tried though that I tried to match the 2020 set to some extent. There are Bieber and Bauer (the top 2 pitchers by points in the 2020 set) “clones,” and I tried to have some bad pitchers even if some other guys may have thrown more innings for their respective teams.
Fielding...was a unique challenge. Especially since many players played several different positions. I couldn’t find defensive runs saved. But there were some other advanced fielding statistics I was able to track down from a Japanese site. Mostly UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), but they had a couple of other metrics to supplement that. On this website you could only see qualifying players (unless you paid for a subscription) so if they didn’t qualify in 2020 I would check 2019, 2018, or 2021 and see how they were and try to make my best guess.
For catchers I couldn’t find caught stealing %, however, I did know each catcher’s SB allowed and their innings caught. So Stolen bases allowed per inning took the place of SB% essentially.
Special note on the ground ball ranges. Simply put...they are huge. Less strikeouts overall than the MLB, and some of these guys have ridiculous ground ball rates. The average ground ball rate for pitchers represented in the set was 60.63%. (Koyo Aoyogi of the Hanshin Tigers had an absurd 78.90% ground ball rate in 120 ⅔ IP). I was initially thinking I may adjust everyone down a ground ball by 1 or 2, but decided to embrace the high ground ball rates to highlight the differences in the NPB and MLB games. I guess we’ll all find out how much infield defense really matters!
Look at that I just started releasing these and already missed a scheduled release. But hey that's life. Look on the bright side you get the Cubs today. Some solid cards on here. My boy Sammy Sosa as well as the ever consistent Mark Grace. I don't even remember Luis Gonzalez on the Cubs. They only get the one Foil with Steve Trachsel but he's really solid.
If anything is wrong let me know and I can edit at a later date. Follow me on Twitter @bobbumbarger
Back at it with the Cardinals today. They kind of remind me of some of the Cardinals from the 00 set. Not just obviously in name but OB also. Also funny to have Andy and Alan Benes here. I didn't know they were on the same team. But give me that Brian Jordan card all day.
If anything is wrong let me know and I can edit at a later date. Follow me on Twitter @bobbumbarger
After this post, we're halfway through the 2019 Bot Set! Arguably the weakest division in the 2019 Set, the AL Central provides two absolute stinkers at the bottom, below-average White Sox, an underachieving Cleveland squad, and a REALLY good Twins team... and it's about time, considering how bad the Twins were in the original 00/01 sets and the 18 set. They're okay in the '20 set, but it's hard to count that shortened year for a lot of fans... so enjoy their swag at the end of the post!
I know of at least one person that has been waiting for this Post! Nothing too crazy here. Some decent pitchers and 1 10OB and some great 90s mustaches. Also tell me... are you taking Ramon Garcia. Very interesting card. If anything is wrong let me know and I can edit at a later date. Follow me on Twitter @bobbumbarger
