Card of the Week - 2/25/14

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have know that I have taken the best players from 2000, 2001, and 2013 and created a 25-man roster for each of the 30 MLB teams (yes, Expos and Nationals are combined to one team).  There are no point limits, so the teams can be pretty amazing.  Take the Cleveland Indians, for example: only one non-OB 10 in their starting lineup, and that is OB 9 Travis Fryman ('01).  The AL Central is probably the most polarizing division in this format, with the Indians and Tigers near the top of the entire league, and the White Sox, Twins, and Royals all equally bad.  And it is from one of these matchups in my season that I discovered how great one of the 2013 cards is.

Any time you win the Cy Young Award, you had a pretty good year, and it shows in your MLB Showdown card (see 2000 and 2001 Pedro Martinez).  So it should be no surprise that the 2013 Max Scherzer is such a great card.  After his 21-3, 2.90 ERA, 240 SO season, he was very deserving of his outstanding 2013 MLB Showdown card.

This card is very reminiscent of the 2001 Greg Maddux card, with more strikeouts.  Granted, I am probably the worst roller in the history of MLB Showdown, but when I faced him as the White Sox, he threw a complete game 3-hitter, not giving the advantage to a single batter the entire 9 innings.  That is the first time in 14 years of playing this game that I have seen that.  Not only that, but I struck out 15 times in the game.

There is a lot to like about this card.  A card like this can give your bullpen a night off.  However, there is one thing that I am not a fan of, and that is how few ground balls he gives up.  It evens out with the increased number of strikeouts that he gets.

All in all, this is a good card if you are looking for a high-control, high IP ace of your staff.  And as the reigning AL Cy Young winner, it does the job that it should.