MLB Showdown Obsession

 You know a game is out of hand when a position player takes the mound. Usually it's 20-1 and you just wanna save the remining arms in your bullpen, or it's the 18th inning and you have no one else to call upon. Either way, everyone thinks they're Babe Ruth when they take the mound. But Ruth was not only the greatest hitter of all time, but also a damn good pitcher. Shohei Ohtani doesn't count. He'd have to play the field and do more than DH in order to count as a position player who pitches. Unfortunately, position players taking the mound is becoming a more and more common occurrence so it's not quite as special to see. The latest Showdown Bot update has given us the ability to see what 2-way pitcher/hitters players would look like, but the amazing side effect is that it works for more than just Ruth and Ohtani. But it doesn't work for everyone. We are still deprived of seeing what Wade Boggs and his knuckleball would translate into even though he did tak...

 When talking about the greatest teams in baseball history, usually it's just a competition between the Yankees and the Yankees and the Yankees. The 1976 Reds get some love, but at best they're the 4th best all time. The top 3 are ordered based on your perspective. Most people only know of the 1998 Yankees with their all time record of 125 wins. The 1961 Yankees are another one with Ford and the M&M boys... But only one team touts the name "Murderers Row" I give you the 1927 Yankees. A team that had their World Series won during batting practice before the series even started. 110 regular season wins. 4 more in the world series. The '98 Yankees had 8 more regular season games and 7 more post season wins to add to their win total. There exists a very real possibility that they could match the 125 win mark as well if they had the extra games, assuming they could march through two extra postseason series like Torre's Yankees did. It's what-if scenarios li...

  These are the saddest of possible words: "Tinker to Evers to Chance." Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds, Tinker and Evers and Chance. Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon  bubble, Making a Giant hit into a double – Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble: "Tinker to Evers to Chance." - Franklin Pierce Adams For such an immortal double-play trio, their defensive ratings leave a lot to be desired. I know field conditions led to a lot of unfortunate errors, but the bot is unforgiving to this Hall of Fame combo. For reference, Your typical perfect middle infielder would have +5 defense while a 1st baseman will offer +1. Tinker-to-Evers-to Chance would fail to catch on in todays Showdown rule set. Also fun to point out that the dead ball era is real for these guys, with none of them capable of a natural d20 homer result. Babe Ruth wasn't a thing yet in 1908 (the last World Series these guys won together).

 I've been playing around with the Showdown Bot and haven't really been able to focus on a particular theme to show off...But I've put together a few nice fight scenes, so I figure I'd share em... Brawls in baseball are a treat. Far too few involve legit fisticuffs though.  Probably the most famous baseball fight ever, Robin Venture picked the wrong time to pick a fight with old man Nolan. Ryan was well passed his 7 no hitters, but he still had a few good shots in him as evidenced in the image. Bautista has the memorable bat flip from 2015, but give Odor the advantage and he'll show you what pop he can roll on you. Michael Barrett has so-so on-base and his +1 catchers arm is revolting, so he looks much more suited for DH. Those are some nice extra base hit options on his card though. AJ Pierzynski can tell you his right hook is far more than a measly +1 though.

MLB Showdown began in 2000, using stats from 1999. Sadly, that mean that the greatest team in history missed out on the fun. The 1998 Yankees won 114 regular season games and ultimately the World Series, giving them a record 125 wins. Some may argue that other teams (including the 1999 Yankees) were better in some way or another, but numbers don't lie. 125 remains the benchmark for the greatest. Posada took over as the regular catcher after benching for Girardi in '97. He caught the David Wells perfect game that year while Girardi caught Cone's in '99, which makes for a pretty infamous catching duo. Posada brought decent on-base and a good arm while Girardi has a mouth watering chart (only 1-2 as outs, both putting the ball in play, 3+ hits makes the 6 on-base a worthy tradeoff) The infield of the dynasty. Knoblauch has an ugly 7 on-base for a leadoff hitter, but the speed is there. Later rule sets gave him a more forgiving on-base, but this team I'm enforcing the ...