Saturday, March 19, 2016

The New MLB Showdown?

I was browsing around Ebay looking for some cards of Red Sox players without many cards, when I stumbled upon this kind of odd-looking Ryan Hanigan card.  Apparently, there was a game kind of similar to MLB Showdown released last year.  The game is apparently pretty much the same, and the game came with 30 cards.  I bought a number of the cards after discovering them:
As you can see, there is no MLB license, and the pictures of the players have been altered quite bit, leaving the pictures looking like video game graphics.  But that is fine.  I am pretty happy with this selection of players.  There are more Red Sox, but I picked up a bunch that I was excited about.  Here is a brief discussion of each player:

1.  Allen Craig.  Craig has been a big disappointment in Boston after being acquired in the trade with Joe Kelly that sent John Lackey to St. Louis.  Craig has hit .139/.236/.197 with just two home runs for the Red Sox.  A far cry from his numbers in St. Louis.

2.  Anthony Varvaro.  Varvaro was picked up from the Braves after putting up a very impressive season in 2014.  Unfortunately, he did not do nearly as well for Boston.  He only pitched in nine games and was 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA and spent most of the season in the minors.  This is the first card of Varvaro with the Red Sox that I have seen, and so I had to have it.

3.  Brock Holt.  Holt is the player that is the largest in my collection from these six cards.  But I really like Brock Holt so I jumped at a chance to add an unusual card of Boston's sole All Star in 2015.

4.  Robbie Ross.  Ross was picked up in a deal with the Rangers in exchange for Anthony Ranaudo.  Ross was one of the principal members of Boston's rotation over the course of the 2015 season.  The left-hander pitched in 54 games with a 3.86 ERA and went 0-2 with 6 saves.  Like Varvaro, this is the first card I have seen of Ross, so again, I had to have it.

5.  Wade Miley.  Miley was traded this offseason to Seattle in a pretty good trade that brought Boston Roenis Elias and Carson Smith.  Miley lead Boston in innings pitched in 2015.

6.  Ryan Hanigan.  This is the card that lead to me buying these singles.  I only had one card of Ryan Hanigan from before.  I have not had the greatest luck getting Hanigan cards with the Red Sox.  His 2015 base card is the last one I need to have the full team set.  I still have not gotten his 2016 Topps card either.  He is expected to be Boston's backup catcher in 2016.

I would like to see this game continue in the future.  I loved MLB Showdown for its player selection, and this set seems to be in the same vein.  

3 comments:

  1. Unfortunately, despite announcing that they'd be back for 2016, their website has been unceremoniously shut down; it looks as though their toast. It's a shame as I was really curious to see how they'd grow and another card manufacturer is definitely welcome in the Topps monopolized world.

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    1. That's a damn shame. I'd heard that the games and cards were in some WalMarts, and I've been keeping an eye out for these cards in retail stores or even on COMC, and I just never saw any. I wanted to see them succeed because I'd like to think there is room in the market for a collectible card game, but I guess they couldn't make it work.

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  2. Had never seen these before. I popped over and purchased a couple

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