japes Era - Shortstops

 Shortstops from baseball's japes Era

japes Era - Third Base

 Third Basemen of the japes Era

Planet japes Updated House Rules

 Planet japes has updated their House Rules for our games

Some of these have been used previously or for awhile.  I just hadn't posted them here in awhile.  So instead of going back over and seeing what's changed I just copied our current version in it's completion here.  I took a lot of the out of position stuff from the 30 for 30 league on GreatestMLBShowdown.

japes Era - Second Base

 Second Basemen from the japes Era

 

japes Era - First Base

 First Basemen of the japes Era

There were lots of players that could have been chosen for this section.  I know there that I probably missed some well deserving players.  I did eliminate some highly ranked players such as Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, and Paul Goldschmidt on the grounds that they are still active.  But there were plenty of Hall of Fame players in this era at first base as well.  I was originally intending to only include a few DH players in my set but there were a few DH/1B types that I ended up shifting to the DH list so I could get a as many deserving players in this set as I could.

For those that may not be aware...I detest count downs. I'm not too concerned with the minutia of ranking the decimal point differences between great players.  I prefer to celebrate greatness for what it is.  So instead of ranking them in any particular order, I will just present these 10 players randomly as the mood strikes me.  Another note, we are currently running a simmed league on the Discord called 30 for 30.  You can learn more about this from some "good friends of our show" over at GreatestMLBShowdown.  As such many cards for great seasons have been created for that league using the bot.  Because of this, in many instances I purposely didn't use those seasons for players.  This gives us more variety in team building.

Enough chit chat...on to the show.

japes Era - Catchers Part 2

Catchers of the japes Era part 2

For the final portion of this section of the Flashback Friday I give you the second grouping of Catchers in the great age of baseball known as "the japes Era".  These aren't a second tier of players as last week as you will see.  Just 5 more for the set including three Hall of Famers and two with aspirations to someday be there as well.  

So once again...barely into this thing and I'm breaking my rules again.  I didn't plan to add any active players to this set.  However, since he already announced that 2022 would be his final season (and the possibility that season doesn't happen) I decided why not.  Full disclosure, my son asked me if Yadi was going to be in the set and he wasn't thrilled to learn that he wasn't.  This is also the reason we have 11 catchers in our set of 10.  If you haven't noticed a theme here already shame on you.  If my son want's the player...he's probably going to be in the set.  So here is Yadier's 4th place MVP season of 2012.  

japes Era - Catchers Part 1

Catchers of the japes Era part 1

I chose Carlton Fisk as the first card to be revealed since he was my favorite catcher growing up.  Growing up a White Sox fan I remember the day Fisk went to Chicago.  I knew he wasn't the mythical Fisk that could single handedly force a Homerun to stay fair, but I was still excited.

Fisk had lots of seasons I could have chosen.  I could have picked his best season in Chicago just for selfish reasons, but I wanted my son to understand how good he was. So I stuck with his younger days in Boston.  By Showdown pricing 1975 would have been his best season.  However I decided to recreate his Rookie of the Year season for this project.  I hope you enjoy as much as we do.

The japes Era - Introduction

I decided to get back to doing Flashback Fridays.  Except this time I'm doing a whole set of cards.  We are calling this set the japes Era.  Below is how it all started...

The japes Era

This project started as an idea born when a father and son got trapped in some bad weather while shopping for equipment prior to a baseball season.  We decided to wait it out by having lunch while we were out.  Our family cut the chord some time ago so we haven't had Baseball Network for some time and it just happened to be on the screen just in front of us.  Since the lock out is going on there wasn't any Spring Training news so one of those countdown shows were on and my son said, we should make a set of just our favorite players all time at each position.  

So after some conversation we decided to limit it to 10 players from each position.  Well that became really difficult as well.  So we had to add more constraints.  What was settled on was that we'd make a set heavily influenced by "modern times" while trying to limit, if not avoid, current players.  Mainly due to the fact that many other sets already have the current players covered, and those guys aren't done and we are trying to get a top season.  

 So we went with 1950s and forward.  But even that became difficult. As it left out a lot of players my son knew and he wanted a few additions.  So I pulled an executive decision and decided, "why not limit it to my lifetime and players that played during my consciousness.  Not all the seasons would come from that period but the player would at least be someone that I remembered.  Full disclosure, so while this is sort of a top 10 of the last nearly 50 years,  it's also heavily biased...and sometimes contains more than 10 because...well it's our list and we have a deck size to hit.  Goal is 108 hitter and 108 pitchers.  That's 54x4 for those of you bad at math and is the basic deck size that gets printed.  Since we plan on printing these, the cards will be displayed in full bleed sizes.

So that's the basis.  I'll start with the Catchers.

2020 set now on TTS

 

This weekend we updated the Tabletop Simulator mods.  Both the Standard table and the Tournament tables now have the 2020 AL and NL decks from GreatestMLBShowdown blog included.  That means we now have 2018, 2019, & 2020 custom sets to go with all the official 2000-2001 cards.

You can find these mods here...

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199043682323/myworkshopfiles/?appid=286160

Postseason Legend - Orel Hershiser

Orel Hershiser 

In today's world where everyone seems to throw 100 MPH Orel Hershiser probably wouldn't get drafted.  Bulldog, the nickname Tommy Lasorda gave him during his Dodger days, did not overpower hitters, he used brains over brawn.  

His constant ability to use multiple pitches, arm angles, and velocities to bluff hitters made him a tough pitcher to face.  This thinking man's ability he later used in his later career choice as a professional poker player. 

Wednesday Winners - Post Season Legends 01

 We had some more special requests come in for some Play-off Legends.  These cards are made using only the playoff stats.  The thing I like about these first three offerings is how they are all dominant starting pitchers but also how different they are.  

Mad-Bum gets a solid Tier 2 card with a control 5 and no extra base hits.  While he does have a risk of the death by paper cuts here he'll most likely play just like he does in real life...he may give up the occasional hit but mostly it will be limited to singles.

   

Monday Night Reqests - Aki Iwamura & Kenta Maeda

 A couple more Japanese born players by request.  I remember Aki from my days in Tampa and really enjoyed watching him.  Too bad he got injured before more people got to appreciate him.

He came toTampa Bay as a third baseman until the arrival of Evan Longoria pushed him to 2nd base full time in 2008.  As the Rays lead-off hitter and starting 2B, Aki teamed with Jason Bartlet to be an outstanding double play tandem. Eventuallly BJ Upton would take his place as the leadoff hitter for the Rays but not until after his injury.

    

Special Request Saturday - Dice-K

 Since I'm a day late I can't call this a Flashback Friday request so we will go with Special Request Saturday.

A member of the Discord wanted to put together a team of MLB greats from Japan and was looking for a Daisuke Matsuzaka card.  So of course the great Patsen came to the rescue to create a chart and I through it onto the template I created to display all of Patsen's charts.  So with out any more delay here you go.  Both with cut lines and without as usual.

 

Triples

So by now some of you may have noticed that my custom cards don't have a space for 3B on the cards.  That's not a mistake it's intentional.  My reasoning is that hitting triples isn't a batting skill.  Base hit Singles and Homeruns and even to an extent Doubles can all be controlled by the batter and his skill.  Triples however are not.  You can try to hit a Single, you can try to hit a Homerun, and in some instances you can try to hit a Double.  But Triples just happen.  Not to say that it's completely random chance and any player can potentially hit one, actually I am saying part of that.  Any player can hit one. Look at the Molina's, long thought of as a measurement of slow base running, however all three of them have hit triples in their careers.  Though none of them would merit a triple on their chart by any measurement. 

Legends and Losers Intro

 

This will be an ongoing series I plan to do revolving around baseball Legends that I have created MLB Showdown custom cards for.  Some of these will be Hall of Fame Career cards or Franchise greats career cards.  Some will just be great seasons and MVP, CY Young, and Rookie of the Year cards.

As for the "Losers", the plan here is to create those great teams that didn't win it all as well as some great players that unfortunately are mostly remembered for that one time they "blew" the game.  We rarely give the player that made the play enough credit but we like to blame the other guy.  Occasionally I'll throw in some comparison cards for guys that "lost" aka didn't win awards to get some debates as to whether the voters got it right.

House Rules 7 - 1B+

 The following are the standard rules for what happens on hits.  These are pretty standard except we don't always play the 1B+ as automatic.  Here is our rules...

 

Flashback Friday - Req: Rocco Baldelli

Someone requested Rocco Baldelli in the 2000-2001 formula style so here he is.  Both his 2003 rookie card as well as his 2006 season.  As much as I like the blue, I miss the green sometimes.

House Rules 6 - Advancing Runners

 

Advancing Runners

 Advancing on Hits: On any hit the manager may send his runner an extra base more than previously mentioned.  The Defense rolls the D20 and adds its Outfield FIELDING.  If it total is greater than the runner’s SPEED, the runner is out.

• If there are 2 outs you may add +5 to the runner’s SPEED

• If the runner started on 2nd or 3rd and is going home, you may and +5 to the runner’s SPEED (This may be combined with the previous +5).

 Advancing on Throws: If a runner on 3rd is attempting to take home as an extra base, After the defense chooses to attempt the throw home but before the outfield makes a throw for a play at the plate, the offense may choose to send any runners on 1st or 2nd to the next base.  The outfield may then choose which runners to attempt to throw out.

Advancing on Outs:   If the result of the swing was an Out(FB), the batter is out.  If there is a runner on second or third the manager may decide to tag up and send the runner to the next base.  No runner from first may advance.  The offense decides which runners he is sending and the defense decides which runner to attempt the out.

• The Defense rolls the D20 + Outfield FIELDING.  If the roll is greater than the runner’s SPEED, the runner is out.

• If the runner is advancing to home, +5 to the runner’s SPEED.

• If a runner from third scores, it counts as a sacrifice fly (SF) and the batter gets an RBI.

House Rules 5 - Pitchers Fatigue

 Pitcher Control/Fatigue

House Rules 4 - The Manager's Options (SB, IBB, Bunts)

So I mentioned Manager's Options and one way we've played it but I thought I should go into a bit more depth for each of the options.  This is a bit different than most I'd guess but it adds some strategy and choice into the game.  The three options are Stolen Bases, Intentional Walks, and Bunts.

Manager Options

Each manger has a set of Manager Options that they may make each game.  You may use the following options up to 5 times per game but you may use each option a maximum of 3 times each.