Serial Card Countdown -- The Grand Finale

    A huge thanks to The Diamond King for 100 serial-numbered cards. This post marks the last one in my countdown. I've moved on to my top five cards, and without further delay, here they are:

#5: 2019 Leaf Valiant Green Prismatic JJ Bleday Autograph (98/99)

    I like just about every aspect of this card. I think the design and background are spot-on (of course the color scheme works for me, because he's on the A's). I do like on-card autos, and this one looks very nice. A solid card at #5.

#4: 2019 Panini Crusade Pink Cody Bellinger (11/25)

    Panini Crusade is far and away my favorite Panini baseball card design. The designs are pristine, and the crests Panini uses for the cards are amazing. I wonder how Bellinger will fare in 2025 with the Yankees. He looks ready to have another solid season; it would be insanity to see him struggle like in 2021.

#3: 2017 Panini National Sports Collectors Convention Wrapper Redemption Memorabilia Rainbow Spokes Mookie Betts (22/25)

    Well that was quite the mouthful. Thanks to TCDB user jamestagli for clarifying just what type of card this is. It's a really nice card (it looks like Mookie is exploding); it's shiny, and has that lovely  (though a little bit plain) jersey swatch on it. I'm sure Mookie's headed for the Hall, the question is how much longer he can go. He hasn't shown too many signs of slowing down. other than getting hit by pitches and breaking wrists.

#2: 2018 Panini Immaculate Collection Rookie Auto Dual Materials Tyler Wade (09/99)

    This is a very intriguing card. The double patches plus the autograph are pretty cool, even though there's a ton going on in the card. I still think they did a good job with the card's photo -- Wade looks so young! I've always liked seeing player-used memorabilia cards, so the two and the autograph is really nice. Wade has been getting plenty of ABs in spring with the Padres. Maybe he'll play a lot?

    Now, we have really been through 99 cards, from the process of choosing the top 20 and then counting down all the way through card #2. The card about to be shown won the honors of the best card in the box. And that card is...

#1: 2023 Topps Pristine Gold Refractor Zach Plesac (35/50)

    This card was actually sitting on top of the box when I opened it and was therefore the first card I saw in the entire package. It's a real eye-catcher. The design is really good (the card is way nicer in hand than on the blog). Plesac has been in the majors since 2019, and in 87 career big-league games (86 starts), is 27-28 with a 4.31 ERA. Plesac lands #1 on my countdown. 

    So ends the serial card countdown. This was a fun little series that of course could not have been done without The Diamond King. Thank you for your generosity.

    Thank you all for reading the blog, have a great week, and happy collecting! Opening day's right around the corner, so good luck to your teams :)

I Think My Brain Just Broke

     We've successfully reached the end of the Divisional Series. It has been insane, to say the least. So much so that I think my mind needs a break before the Championship Series begin. But there's little time for that.

    Where to start? I know, how about in Philadelphia?
    Coming into this series, I don't know who ever thought that the Mets were going to take it, let alone in four games. The Phillies hitters forgot how to swing a baseball bat, and the whole bullpen forgot how to throw the ball. Meanwhile, guys like Jose Quintana are throwing gems for the Mets??? 
    Pete Alonso, after tripping over his bat and hitting into a double play because of it (which was hilarious to watch, by the way), cranked two home runs, both of them very decisive ones. And Francisco Lindor came up clutch in game 4, swatting a grand slam while down a run, and the Mets send the Phillies home, depressed and with some frosting to eat, while they move on. 

    I was rooting so hard for the Royals to beat the Yankees (sorry to a lot of people out there), but it just wasn't meant to be. They lost the series 3-1, though the offense of the Yanks looked a bit shaky. Giancarlo Stanton led the hitters with a .375 batting average and an OPS of 1.132. The pitching staff really did look good for the team though, who allowed just 14 runs across the four games. They're moving on too, hoping to take their 28th World Series, and first since 2009.

    Moving on to the final National League Series. The Dodgers and Padres fought an absolute war in this one. It was everything you ever wanted in a series, between staring at home runs for 40 years, getting baseballs thrown at you after robbing home runs, Mookie Betts finally doing something in a postseason, and a few blowout victories.

    After San Diego bashed 6 home runs en route to a 10-2 win and then took the next game, the Dodgers looked dead. But they came back to win game four by a score of 8-0, hammering Dylan Cease. 

    And when game 5 rolled around, the pitching matchup was two Japanese starters in Yu Darvish and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodgers came ahead 1-0 on an Enrique Hernandez home run in the second inning, and scored again in the seventh on a Teoscar Hernandez home run. And the Padres just forgot how to hit, so it's the Dodgers moving on. This messes up my entire bracket, which had the Padres winning the World Series. I am very unamused.

    And finally, for the Tigers. Oh the Tigers! They got shellacked in the first game of the series against the Flying Toasters; Indians, I'm sorry (by the way, shellacked is going to be used a lot more frequently on this blog). Then the Tigers won the next two, and the series looked in the bag. Then we lost. Oh well, Skubal is starting tomorrow, what could possibly go wrong?

    Everything. 

    Lane Thomas hit a grand slam off of Skubal, and he just plain got lit up, and the Tigers lost, 7-3. Now they're eliminated. I said before game two of the series that the Tigers need to win every game Skubal starts this postseason if they want a chance at the World Series. Well, this one was Skubal's fault. I have to be honest, though it hurts me to say it. He needs to own up to this one.

    Spoiler alert, none of these cards are actually mine. I've neglected to gather any 2024 cards of these guys, so I just scanned them. I know, I'm a liar.

    Now that the Tigers and Padres are kicked from the postseason, I just don't care anymore. I'll probably be rooting for the Mets, I guess, since I have a friend who desperately wants them to win, and I told him that if he roots for the Tigers, then I'll quit rooting against the Mets. Most likely I won't watch much of the rest of the playoffs. I am rooting against literally every team left (I know, it's a me problem), and have been more busy lately.

    Good luck to your teams if they're still in, and if not, I feel you. But, have a great rest of your weekend, happy collecting, and goodnight!

Remember that one Friday in 2021?

     October 29th, 2021 was a Friday. What happened in baseball that day? The Atlanta Braves defeated the Houston Astros 2-0 in game 3 of the World Series. Ian Anderson got the win for the champion Braves, going 5 scoreless and no-hit innings with three walks and four strikeouts. The Astros ended up getting only two hits all game, and game 3 put the Astros up in the series 2-1. 

    I remember the game well. I was rooting so hard for the Braves to win the series, and they won pretty convincingly to prove they're the real deal. They've been awesome ever since, winning 101 games in '22 and 104 in 2023, but can't beat the Phillies in the postseason (sigh). They are currently lined up to win only 95 games in 2024, due in part to injuries to their starting rotation and Ronald Acuna Jr. 

    Enough with that (although I could live in Braves land for the duration of a really long post) Now I must continue sifting through the 2021 binder and finish it. 

    Up to this time, I had forgotten to sprinkle trade bait into the mix. I'll make sure to do that sometime. Just like in fantasy baseball, I love trading.

    And this first card features a player from the team the Braves defeated in the 2021 Fall Classic:

    Not gonna lie; not a fan of the 1986 Topps design. In the 2021 World Series, Correa hit 6-for-23 (.261) with zero home runs and four RBI. This was pretty good considering the team slashed .224/.298/.299 as a whole and averaged just over three runs per game. 2021 was Correa's last season with the Astros; he has been playing with the Minnesota Twins ever since.

    Man, I loved Javy Baez, most especially when he was playing with the Cubs. He brought energy, defense and a strong bat to a Cubs team that looked really good, and won it all in 2016 (for some reason I was rooting for the Indians to win. What was I thinking?!). Unfortunately, Baez's last effective season was 2021, when he slashed .265/.319/.494 with 31 home runs, split between the Cubs and the Mets. He's been awful ever since for the Tigers.

    Corey Seager's awesome. You can't get past that fact. It was driving me insane when he was raking for the Dodgers. I didn't really like this card, because he wasn't in the field or anything, but standing next to a car. BOOOOOORING! What I neglected was the fact that Seager's holding one of his (two!) World Series MVP awards. Seager slashed .400/.556/.700 with 2 home runs, five RBI and seven runs in six Fall Classic games. I personally like it better when he's mashing for the Rangers in the World Series, but that's just me.

    And here's another guy raking for the Dodgers. In the 2020 World Series, Mookie slugged .577 and stole four bases. I wonder if he'll make the Hall of Fame, with the whole Red Sox scandal and everything. What do y'all think?

    I believe this is the third card featuring the 1965 Topps design that I've posted on, but this one is most probably my favorite out of all of them. I can't get over how young Acuna looks. He debuted and won the Rookie of the Year award at age 20! In 2021 he was playing his age 23 season. He's 26 this season, and has already been around for seven years, which is incredible to imagine. Unfortunately though, his '24 campaign has come to a close due to a torn ACL in his left knee. This makes a torn ACL in both of his legs now, which may affect the rest of his career. Yikes. I hope the recovery goes well, and good luck Braves. You may need it now with the losses of Strider and now Acuna for the rest of the season.

    I've got only one post left for the 2021 binder before I can move on to 2022. As always, thank you for reading, have a great weekend and Happy Collecting!