MLB Showdown Cards

Last Weeks Results 

               This week we had an interesting question that was for the king of the Showdown hitter hill (kind of Barry Bonds would like his shot at the title). Alex Rodriguez was the original middle of the order beast. For one he had 3 great Showdown cards for 2000/2001 sets. He got a 2001 Pennant Run card because of his quarter-billion dollar deal with Texas. In 2009 when we started re-making sets we had 3 first basemen who were going to carry Showdown for the next 5 years. None of those 3 players were Miguel Cabrera. At that point he was a young talented kid with a drinking problem. The locks were Prince Fielder (46 homers, high OB, pedigree), Ryan Howard (48 homers, had a 58, ROY, MVP and WS champ) and Albert Pujols (had never hit less than 30 homers, 100 RBI or .300 in a season in his 9^th year). So we were wrong there.

               The vote actually went to A-rod by a small margin (5 to 4 last I checked). Cabrera has the impressive resume of never having an OB less than 10 (matched only by Votto and Holiday with people with 5 cards). He has an impressive triple crown card in 2012 with 17-20 HR and 14-16 2B matched only by Fielder 09. His other cards are just impressive combinations of OB and power.

               A-rod however gives a lot more options than Cabrera. For one he has almost twice as many cards (including customs). His top 5 cards go head to head with Cabrera’s top 5 very well. His 2001P arguably is better than the Triple Crown card based on position scarcity. I agree with the results of this poll for this reason: There are teams that no Cabrera card fits on. Due to Cabrera’s lack of speed he has a tough time fitting into Smallball lineups. His triple crown card does single on an 8 or higher however, he costs 620 points for a speed C. For 510 points I can field the 2000 A-rod card with a lot more flexibility. Power players will find these guys to be a wash (likely leading toward slower Cabrera) but the best power card is the 2009 A-rod card for 470 points for a 10, 17-20 HR player. Moneyballers likely are gunning for that same card. Also The 1996 custom card is ridiculous as speed and power. It will be interesting to make this comparison when both player’s careers are complete.