2013 Pittsburgh Pirates

 During the MLB Showdown sets of 2000 all the way to the end in 2005, there was one thing that was constant: some teams just really *really* sucked. The Pirates were one such team. And it wasn't just a bad luck stretch that they fell into for cards. MLB Showdown could have lasted another 6 years...and the Pirates would still be bad. The Pirates were in the midst of an epic string of losing that consistently found them in the basement of the division.

After winning NL East (it was that long ago, kids) for the third straight year in 1992 and going to Game 7 of the NLCS, the Pirates lost Barry Bonds and apparently any hope of competing in the NL. Ok, so they had to rebuild. Teams do this all the time (well, not the Yankees) so it can't be that long before they're back in the pennant chase, right?

...So entering 2013, the Pirates were on a 20 year losing streak, the longest in sports history. Clint Hurdle was hired to manage in 2011 to seemingly perform miracles. His resume included leading the 2007 Rockies to the World Series, so he was up to the task. That season they got off to a hot start, but a blown call in the 19 inning epic vs the Braves not only cost Pittsburgh the game, but their season derailed right after. In 2012 they made even more progress, but still finished 4 games under .500. 2013 saw the team continue to trend upwards, as they put forth 5 all stars, the NL Comeback Player of the Year, the MVP, Clint Hurdle winning Manager of the Year and above all else: a trip to the postseason.

The 94-68 was only good for 2nd place, 3 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central, put locked them up a spot in the Wild Card game against the Cincinnati Reds. PNC Park was electric as the home team took the field at long last for a meaningful October game. With 7 strong innings from the aforementioned Comeback Player of the Year Francisco Liriano and 2 Home Runs from Russell Martin, the Pirates won 6-2 and advanced to the proper playoffs.

The Pirates had a 2-1 series lead against the Cardinals in the NLDS, but ultimately fell in 5 games. The Pirates proved 2013 wasn't a fluke either as they clinched Wild Card spots in both 2014 and 2015.

NL MVP Andrew McCutchen led the Pirates with a .317 Average and took home a Silver Slugger.

Alvarez tied for the NL lead with 36 Home Runs and led the team with his 100 RBI. He joined McCutchen as Silver Slugger winning all stars.

A lot of these guys would fit in with the official Showdown card Pirates teams, but there were some bright spots just the same like McCutchen. Russell Martin brings the very tempting +11 at Catcher while Marte has the A speed that helped him get 41 Stolen Bases.

The hunt for your first playoff berth in 20 years will lead to you trying a lot of different options on your bench, and not all of them will be good. Marlon Byrd is the standout who was traded from the Mets to bolster the lineup and help out, including a homer in the Wild Card Game.

Liriano had a rough couple of seasons where many thought he was a bit washed up. 2013 saw him pull off a team high 16 Wins and a 3.02 ERA to take home the CPotY Award.

While most of the offense was iffy, the Pirates pitching is what got them back to the playoffs. AJ Burnett led the team with 209 Strikeouts, the final time in his career he'd hit the 200 mark. Gerrit Cole showing signs of his future Cy Young stuff. Jeff Locke was the only one in the rotation, however, to get an all star nomination.

Two men in the bullpen received the Closer designation. Jason Grilli (33 Saves) and Mark Melancon (16) combined to help the Pirates lead all NL teams with 55 total Saves. Both men represented Pittsburgh in the all star game.

The Pirates bullpen had a few solid options to help preserve their leads for the Closers, especially the trio of Mazzaro, Wilson and Watson.

As mentioned before, the Pirates were bad for a long time, especially for the 2000-2005 run for MLB Showdown. Someone who could attest to that is Kyle Farnsworth, who was apart of that original 2000 set as a rookie. 13 years later he found himself a free agent in August signing with the Pirates to help them in a handful of games to finally get the playoff monkey off their backs.