The Rockies finished fourth in the NL West. 4 years after their World Series appearance and 2 years after an NLDS appearance, Colorado has a predictably strong lineup and a predictably weak pitching staff.
Troy Tulowitzki is the best shortstop in the set, with a powerful 8 OB chart and plus defense. Hall of Famer Todd Helton is an affordable bat that will hit for average and power. As a bonus, Helton
Somehow the Dodgers managed a winning record in 2011 despite having basically two good players. It doesn’t hurt that those two players were arguably the best pitcher and best position player in the NL that year – Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw and MVP runner-up Matt Kemp.
Kershaw is a tier-2 starter with no doubles who can pitch 7 innings. Kemp is the only 10 OB, A speed card in the set, and his chart
The Giants are a great example of a team on the edge that went all in for the Pennant Run. They finished just two games out of the Wild Card behind the eventual World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.
The two-headed monster rotation is supported by a few more solid starters, and any leads are protected by a good bullpen headed by 330-point reliever
Introducing the 2011 Showdown Set in 2001 style! With both the Steroid Era (1994-2009) and the Statcast Era (2015-2022) of MLB well represented by Showdown sets, I thought it was time to give the players we remember from the in-between period (the Post-Steroid Era) some love. Many players have never had a Showdown card made as part of a sizable set, so have fun with the novelty of new options for your rosters!
What sort of set is this compared to the ones Showdown players are familiar with? The biggest difference between this and the Showdown Era (OG) sets is
The world caught Caitlin Clark Fever this past year, whether it was the NCAA tournament or her debut season in the WNBA. I got caught up in it as well, but during the NCAA run was able to appreciate some of the great talent along the way. Most of them also made their WNBA debuts this season too, and the league is jam packed with talent. ESPN's WNBA coverage averaged 1.2 million viewers per game, up 170% versus 2023—the vast majority of those gains were generated by the Fever. While we are still waiting on the likes of Paige Bueckers to come to the W as well, this years rookie class may be what brings more spotlight to the WNBA. My WNBA excitement started last season, as a basketball junkie I was so excited to have ultra competitive basketball in September and October leading to the beginning of the NBA season. So it got me thinking how can I make a WNBA set when a lot of the data I use for the NBA isn't available. To the rescue was my guy Neil Paine, the creator of RAPTOR, which I use for offense and defensive ratings, and he started tracking it for the WNBA as well. With this data at my hands, I can now make a WNBA set at the same scale as my NBA sets, opening the door for some fun fantasy cross matchups and team ups. So lets take a look at the best players from this years season all 12 teams are represented by a 7 man roster, since games are 8 minutes less than NBA they don't play as many players. I also made these lineups based on each teams most often used lineup from this season.
Hello baseball, long time no see! A lot has changed in the showdown world since May 28th 2018. For one that was my first post on the blog, and as you can see in my old creations, I have since been given the tools to make the cards look a lot better. Early days shoutout to Bob and Peter for the templates to guide me into better cards, and then learning photoshop. Also since then the blog expanded, my favorite discord ever was created, and then after that Matt Gula dropped the greatest showdown creation of all time in the Showdown Bot (check it out if you haven't yet somehow).
With NBA Showdown only getting one actual year of play, it leaves the door open to many chances to tweak and add some custom house rules. These are the playstyles that I have come up with that work best for me. As a sim style enthusiast I keep trying to find ways to make it more like real life and less arcadey, and while I know it won't be fully achieved, these have been some nice steps in my play testing.
