Waste Deep

 

The Seattle Mariners had a year where their top four starters made nearly all of their starts without letting their ERA rise over 4 or their WHIP rise over 1.2, and they still missed the playoffs. Bill Nye seems to think pitching wins championships, but the best rotation in baseball couldn't stop this team from failing, yet again, to make the playoffs. It's two years of this. Firing Servais didn't work. Bringing on actual hitters didn't work. 

It just feels like this team wasted amazing years from not only the rotation but Julio and Cal. Cal Raleigh had his best season to date, and at times felt like he was carrying the whole team. There's a small chance he squeaks out 100 RBIs before the year's up, but he at least walks away with 31 homers, which is great. Julio got so hot in the last third of the season, and finishes with a 20-20 season and 64 RBIs. Even J.P. Crawford is ending with a pretty solid year by-and-large, with continued defensive success boosting his appeal. And they somehow figured out how to revitalize Victor Robles, and make him a great contact guy again.

But...all for naught. So many people on this team were hired to hit and didn't. Mitch Garver and Mitch Haniger were both brought back to boost the team's power numbers, and neither did. Garver, a year after being a steady power DH for the Rangers, sunk under the pressure and hit .171 with 14 homers and 50 RBIs. Haniger, in his big homecoming to Seattle, managed to stay healthy for most of the year but only hit .209 with 12 homers and 44 RBIs. Others, like Jorge Polanco and Luke Raley, did well enough but took forever to really get going. And you ultimately just have a lot of guys who hit around .220 and played great defense without really making much of an impact in scoring. 

I really hope that the Mariners' pitching has a similar year next year, considering they're all pretty much in their prime, and hopefully being on all year didn't cause any wear and tear. But if they are able to recreate the rotation energy, even with a more durable bullpen, this team needs to figure out how to reverse its lineup issues. It cannot be just Cal and Julio doing everything, it needs to be a full team effort. If they do bring on new contracts or new hitters, they need to gel with the central momentum, and they need to get things going on a decent schedule. Because, like the Cubs, the fans aren't gonna be able to take a third year of this. The 2022 team is looking more and more like a distant memory, and this Mariners team needs to ensure a playoff success wasn't a fluke. 

Coming Tonight: He eventually recovered from an injury, just in time to be a key figure in a forthcoming playoff run.

Cub-terranean

 

2023 and 2024 have this in common: the Chicago Cubs made a serious run at the playoffs only to fall frustratingly short. Last year, the Cubs had to contend with the Reds making a lateral run in their own division, and strong stretch runs by the D-Backs and Marlins edging them out in September. With many of those elements altered, you'd think that the Cubs would find a way in this year. And yet...here they sit yet again.

At the very least, the Cubs can say they ended this season with a stronger, surer team than they ended 2023 with. Their starting lineup stayed practically the same all season, with only the addition of Isaac Paredes replacing Christopher Morel. And it was a working lineup, as Happ, Swanson, Suzuki, Hoerner and Bellinger all performed positively, and cemented their positions from the previous year. Dansby Swanson took a while to come alive, but by season's end he was at his best, coming off the field with 66 RBIs and a 3.8 WAR. Happ sprung out of nowhere to capture his second career 25-homer year, and led the team in WAR. And then new additions like Paredes, Miguel Amaya, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch filled in needed gaps. PCA is finally a really volatile MLB presence, Amaya's a solid defensive catcher, Busch was clearly a standout, and Paredes squeaked out 24 RBIs and 3 homers. There's also the prospect of Kevin Alcantara becoming a regular thing in 2025, though perhaps not right out of camp, and maybe the concept of Christian Bethancourt perhaps repeating whatever the hell he suddenly started doing in August. But if everything that came together this season recurs in terms of the hitting, the Cubs may have an advantage on a lot of their peers.

The trick for 2025 for this team is getting a rotation on the same page. Having Jameson Taillon, Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Javier Assad and Jordan Wicks in the same rotation, in concept, is a pretty solid idea. But getting them all to not only be good at the same time but be healthy at the same time, that is gonna be the real trick. So many MLB clubs had issues this year with keeping a group of 5 starting pitchers healthy, and even with Steele and Wicks missing months and the relievers conking out this was still one of the better cases. At least Steele came back and did damage. The Reds would have 'oh he pitched 3 solid starts then was out for the season'. The Cubs thankfully avoided that, and hopefully can avoid it again next year. Steele, given a full season, could chase his 2023 numbers...or he could get hurt again. It's his choice.

Still, whatever the Cubs try in 2025, they need to figure out how to do it without completely losing momentum. Because if they hadn't completely fallen apart in May and June, they'd almost certainly be a playoff team. If Counsell can circumvent that, and lead this team back to top the Brewers, he'll atone for a disappointing ending this year. But a third year of 'juuuust missed it' is not gonna help fans like him very much.

Coming Tomorrow- Another team that came within inches for the second year in a row, and their veteran shortstop.

A Bad Time for an Underdog Story

 

It's just funny the way it happens sometimes.

In the last 20 years of baseball, when I think about the epitome of an underdog story, I mean obviously you think of the 2019 Nationals, or the 2023 NLCS, or the David-Goliath battle of the 2011 NLDS, but...the team that has most regularly run the underdog status to glory has been the Kansas City Royals. And if you think about it, they've only really been *good* for like three or four of the last twenty years. From 2006 to 2013, they were routinely a punchline. Rebuilding, wasting away, trying to put something together, failing. You heard about their rookies, like Alex Gordon and Luke Hochevar and Billy Butler, and then nothing really happening to them. And then in 2014, they finally have the team to sneak into the postseason and upset literally everyone, including the Baltimore Orioles, who were looking like the favorite that year, to make a World Series. They did not win, but the legend was born, and in 2015 they were no longer the underdogs, and won easily. It was, of course, downhill from there, but it had been worth it. They built a team, rode the current, played the game and took it all. 

To this point, in 2024, it was looking like it was going to happen again.

I applauded the really smart moves the Royals made this year, from signing Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo to giving Michael Massey another chance to start. The team followed, with Bobby Witt having an MVP caliber year, Seth Lugo having his best season to date, Ragans and Singer delivering solid campaigns, Perez and Fermin becoming an excellent catching battery, and Kyle Isbel once again being an underrated, game-saving hero on many occasions. At their peak, the Royals chased 1st place, and nearly took it from Cleveland. And then around being staved off for 1st, the downturn happened, the schedule gave them some really tough teams, Vinnie Pasquantino got injured and the losses kept coming. There was a rebound in mid-September, but it was more of a race at this point. Against time, against inevitability...and against themselves.

The strangest part of this whole ordeal is that the Royals are in grave danger of being lapped for a playoff spot, and potentially forced to watch from the sidelines, by a completely different underdog team. The Detroit Tigers. Going back to 2014, the Tigers were not underdogs. They were the commanding leaders of the division, and they were ultimately the victims of the Royals' incredible come-up. The playoff drought caused by the shift in that division around 2014 and 2015 has lasted to this day, and up until very recently the assumption was that it would keep going. But midyear, the Tigers came alive, Parker Meadows caught fire, the bullpen solidified, the small-ball tactics worked, and the Detroit Tigers went from fourth to second.

As of right now, the Tigers, with more momentum than they've had in years, have sole possession of the second wild card spot. Meaning the Royals are in win or die territory. If they keep sliding, there's a very real possibility of the Twins, the team they've consistently staved off, or the Mariners, another wild underdog, taking their place in the 2024 playoff picture. They do technically have enough power to get out of this hole, but I worry about their lack of current momentum. As luck would have it, they do have the Nats this week, and they got Michael Lorenzen back last night.

As for the Tigers...if they manage to pull this off, and find genuine playoff success, it'll be one of the most inexplicable things I've ever seen. This team was dead on arrival months ago, and now they're genuinely exciting and have so many players on at the moment. 

It'll be wild to see how this shakes out. If the Royals miss the playoffs and the Tigers make it, that'll be the kind of ironic cosmic justice I wish I could write.

Coming Tonight: He may have missed the playoffs, but at the very least he's giving a decent preview of 2025.

Brother From Another Farm System

 

When the Rangers traded for Max Scherzer at last year's trade deadline, it was a move that, they felt, would ensure them an easier passage to the postseason, and give them an indefinite postseason starter. The person they dealt to New York in exchange for him was the kind of big piece that may not have had room in Texas, but wasn't as valuable to the Rangers as Scherzer. It is now a year later, and Scherzer has spent the majority of the season on the IL, as the Rangers have no shot of repeating as World Champions.

The guy they traded away, though...may still make the playoffs. And he may do it at the expense of his brother's team. Try explaining THAT to someone in April. Yes, an Acuña is gonna make the playoffs, but it's not RONALD Acuña...

The Mets, with less than a week to go in the regular season, have the thinnest of legs up on the Braves. Their current series with them has been postponed due to rain, and will be made up next Monday, so the season may literally come down to this doubleheader on what is now the very last day of the season, one day before the start of wild card series'. And it is between the Braves, who have lost their momentum, their best players, and much of their enthusiasm in general...and the New York Mets, who have been sent by Grimace the Magical Taste Bud to annihilate the rest of the MLB with their star third baseman, who literally no one ever thought would be a starting guy, and their infield bat who hadn't played in two years and has his own successful music career. Yeah, that's sensible. That's something you'd be able to predict. 

Oh yeah and Ronald Acuna's brother was the last piece to put the Mets over the edge. Of course he was.

Luisangel Acuña, in his first 10 games in the majors, is hitting .375 with 12 hits, 6 RBIs and 3 home runs. He nearly had another big hit last night, but it was robbed by an excellent Michael Harris II catch, followed by his older brother, from the sidelines, going, essentially, 'it's not my fault, you just tried hitting one to Money Mike'. Still, Acuña's early stuff has been proven fearsome, especially against the Philadelphia Phillies. It is bad enough sharing the division with one Acuña brother, but now there is suddenly another. Even better, Luisangel is succeeding as a New York Met, fulfilling his father's arc from 20 years ago, as a career minor leaguer stuck in double-A under the Mets umbrella. At last, an Acuña is working as a Met, and already seems to be a pretty nice addition to this roster. One must also think about the prospect of Acuña AND a healthy Ronny Mauricio boosting this lineup next year. 

The Mets have traded well, managed well, farmed well and planned well. Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo are walking away with excellent seasons, and people they sort of brought on without much thought, like Sean Manaea, Jose Iglesias, Luis Severino and Tyrone Taylor, have come through in major roles this year. And the momentum this team had midyear has returned in September, bringing them to this consequential moment. The Braves' doubleheader move has the potential to wreck everything, not only giving them two impromptu days off in the middle of a stretch run but cattycornering the last games to the immediate start of the playoffs. Even if the Mets win, the Braves want them to not have a single moment to enjoy it, which is a pretty villainous move, even if this is the Mets we're talking about. 

I think the Mets have the team to outrun inevitability, and keep themselves dignified for a while. But, of course, you can never tell with this team in October.

Coming Tomorrow- A versatile, defensively inclined outfielder hoping to fend off an attack from an errant underdog story.

Better Left Un-Ced

 

At one point this season, the Baltimore Orioles were a leading player in the AL, dominating the Yankees and looking at a stronger run than 2023. Then the injuries set in, the bottom fell out, and the Orioles are in full 'it's just an honor to be nominated' mode.

Yes, I know there is a chance that, seeing as Mountcastle, Westburg and Urias are all back now, the Orioles could get something done this year, but the joy is gone. Rutschman hit a cold spell months ago and hasn't left. Bradish and Means getting hurt means that a ton of alternate options have been pressed into crucial roles, and when those alternate options are Dean Kremer and Albert Suarez, it's not gonna be full throttle. Literally the only Orioles starter who's done absolutely everything asked of him this year has been Corbin Burnes, and he's probably gonna want to pitch somewhere else in 2025.The Craig Kimbrel experiment was a failure that cost them several close games. And with the exception of powerful seasons from Gunnar Henderson, Anthony Santander and Burnes, everything just seems to have slowed to a crawl.

And you hate to see it. The Orioles are a great team that doesn't know how to be this amazing for 7 months. They sort of mastered it last year, then October didn't work out. Then this year they had a better team but more people got injured. And it's hard to really sell this O's team as a better version of last year's when the pitching isn't as good. 

Cedric Mullins is one of the longest tenured people on this team, as he was around when Machado and friends left in 2018. Him having a fairly middle of the road season speaks less about him and more about the team now needing to rely less on him. It's very similar to Adam Jones when Machado came up, like the pressure wasn't on as much so he didn't NEED to be the MVP candidate, so he just did his thing. And Mullins has been fine this year, he's at least gotten 30 steals again and might squeak out 20 homers, but he's clearly had better seasons for this team. I think the team still values him, and seeing as 2025 might be his last year in Baltimore, he hopefully rewards them with a fuller, more-realized campaign.

The O's are stuck playing the Yankees this week. They match up well against the Yankees, but the Yankees do have the momentum right now, and are ultimately the better team. Having already been outlasted by the Tigers, potentially a wild card competitor of theirs, they just need to stay competent and stay dignified after the Yankees are finished with them, because whoever they get handed a playoff matchup with needs to underprepare. It's very likely it could be the Tigers again, or even the Royals, and both of those teams could be interesting. With the Royals it'd be a tougher, better matched series as both teams have lost a ton of momentum recently. But with the Tigers, they'd genuinely be fighting to keep from being lapped.

I really wish the Orioles had a sunnier path lined out for them this October, but they're gonna need to be the underdog for most of it. Hopefully that's something that doesn't worry them.

Coming Tonight- Months ago, there was a belief that there wouldn't be an Acuña in the playoffs this year. And now I think there's been some backtracking, just not in the way people might think.

Limping to the Finish

 
For the past 7 years, two of the constants of postseason baseball have been the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers. They've been there every year, in good form, roaring down the stretch. Some of them have even found a way in despite worse records, only to propel themselves further than better teams. This is the value of a great organization, and great managing- all you need to do is get close enough and inevitability will do the rest.

But as these 2024 iterations of these teams have all but secured firm spots in the playoffs, there's questions surrounding both of them, especially their durability. Both the Astros and Dodgers have serious injury concerns at the moment. 

The Astros were just dealt a very big loss, with an injury to Yordan Alvarez, as well as the reveal that Justin Verlander's poor performance was the result of being rushed back from his IL stint as well. And putting things further into perspective, you realize that this is the sort of thing they've been doing a lot. Earlier this year the Astros came under fire for downplaying Kyle Tucker's injury, which he's now back from but trying his best to make up for lost time from as well. They also probably didn't give the idea that all of Kendall Graveman, Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers would be missing the whole season, in addition to, cumulatively, J.P. France and Cristian Javier. If this team had started the season saying 'these six guys are off the table, temper your expectations', then maybe some of the team's terrible April would have been more understandable. 

They're very lucky the organizational makeup is so strong, though. Being able to have all those guys hurt and still have Spencer Arrighetti, who had time to come up, struggle and then figure it out, is a luxury most clubs do not have. Even as a rare Houston starter with a negative W/L ratio, he still has 167 Ks, and a number of truly dominant starts, under his belt. This team could have truly struggled without their top starters, and they've still made the playoffs with Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco, Arrighetti and Yusei Kikuchi all stepping up. The Alvarez thing, however big, could end similarly, with the DH role not being a sure black hole on the lineup and the offensive production still coming.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, have even worse rotation injury issues. It's looking like their postseason rotation will consist of Walker Buehler, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty and Landon Knack. They're...SO LUCKY that those four weren't injured right now. Yamamoto just came off the IL and has been looking very good. Buehler...clearly this is not his best year, he's 1-6 with a 5.63 ERA in 15 starts. The injuries have leveled him a bit, and he's still honestly playing catch-up. And Knack is fine, but he's the untested option comparatively. So between those four guys, I'm not given the same kind of confidence that the 2010s rotations gave. Y'know, Kershaw was still in his prime, Ryu and Greinke were around, Buehler was just coming up. This just feels like 'well hopefully this works', and...I dunno if that's the best way for a 1st place, possibly 1st-seeded team to go about things.

The lineup has been the difference-maker, and between Ohtani, Freeman, Betts, Hernandez and Muncy there hasn't been a ton of issues there. You're now seeing Tommy Edman get a ton more playing time, he's hitting .265 now with 19 RBIs and 6 homers. Somebody like that as a utility bat is an upgrade from Kiké Hernandez and Chris Taylor, who are both having down years. And look, considering that Ohtani's never seen a playoff game before, and he's as hot as he is, there's definitely a possibility that this Dodgers team still overperforms. I just see the limits of the rotation, and the pitching in general, and I'm just not sure.

Both the Astros and the Dodgers could still go far into this playoff season, or they could let their injury issues stop them. Neither team wants this to be a particularly simple October, and they're gonna try and get as much out of this season as possible. It's just a matter of is there gonna be a team that is ready to exploit these flaws?

Coming Tomorrow- Star outfielder for a team that's seriously cooled down in the past two months.

Left to the Wolves Again

 

The Brewers have made the playoffs numerous times in the last few seasons, but one thing that has never happened is a first round bye. Since the premiere of the new expanded postseason, the Brewers have always had to play in the first round, and it's never been very easy for them. Pretty much every time, they get matched with a team that has more momentum than they do. It happened in 2021, despite a 95-win finish, with the Braves. And it happened in round 1 last year, courtesy of the red-hot Diamondbacks. 

The Brewers have consistently finished in 1st, have built a team that withstood some major departures this year, and have crafted an entirely new young core. And because of the Dodgers and Phillies having better records, that all could be for nothing again if the right team squares up with them.

I cannot help but feel bad for the Brewers, because they just seem to have the worst luck imaginable. They've been so close to glory, going back to 1982, or even as recent as 2018. And they always meet someone who's just better. And that's how the story ends every time. And this is a very good Brewers team, solely because the depth that has been building for years has given this team a new and improved sense of security. Even without Christian Yelich, this team's outfield, consisting of Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Blake Perkins, is undoubtedly the best defensive outfield in the majors. All of these guys have some pop at the plate, and they're all really trustworthy in the field. Garrett Mitchell right now is the best of both worlds, as he's an excellent outfielder AND he's got an .830 OPS. Between then and Brice Turang, that's a lot of truly exceptional defense going on, and that doesn't go ignored. This team was not always defensively sound, and not always on the same page, and now they are, barring some one-dimensional outliers [but hey, Rhys knows how to compete].

With a better team, it's honestly going to come down to the matchup. As it stands right now, there are two possible outcomes. If things stay as they are, the Brewers will play the Mets, which is something that the Brewers could honestly win, even if the Mets' momentum is intimidating. If the Mets do lap to second, that means the Brewers would play the Diamondbacks, which would be a repeat of last year. On paper, the Brewers are better than the D-Backs, but that also could have been said last year. The D-Backs have made a lot of human mistakes down the stretch, and could hold themselves to a shorter postseason run, but do the Brewers want to get comfortable again? And then the unlikely third option is that the Braves somehow work their way back in, and if that's the case the Brewers need to hope that momentum doesn't last all of October or else they'll be the first of many victims. 

Logic dictates that this could be the year the Brewers return to a division series and work their way back up. I'd like to think that happens this year, but I've also been wrong before. So all I can do is hope that this is the team that makes the change.

Coming Tonight: He struggled with his aim throughout, but he never struggled with strikeouts. 

The 'Pen, on Paper

 

I think it's very easy to underestimate the Guardians, especially with the playoffs a week away. They've routinely dominated this season, and have seen great campaigns from Jose Ramirez, Steven Kwan and Josh Naylor, but there have been holes in the team that competitors have easily exploited. The back half of their lineup, for instance, which, while improved upon with the presence of Daniel Schneemann and Kyle Manzardo now, was a black hole of mediocre white guys named Will or Tyler. The infield defense, hammered down by Andres Gimenez and Brayan Rocchio, doesn't mean much when neither are especially sharp at the plate. And, as has been discussed, the starting pitching was more dilapidated than usual, with Tanner Bibee, Ben Lively and Gavin Williams being the only real anchors. 

And yet they still won 90 games, and the AL Central. And it may, in fact, be because nobody has been able to score runs on them after the sixth inning.

Okay, so it's been established that Emmanuel Clase doesn't give up runs. Clase might squeeze his way into the Cy Young conversation just by refusing to be human this year, because a reliever ending a season with a 0.63 ERA and 46 saves does not happen often. The last time a reliever won a Cy Young was Eric Gagne, and Clase is more dominant now than Gagne was because at least Clase stopped using HGHs before his peak. So that's already a given, nobody scores runs in the ninth.

Then you factor in the rest of the bullpen. Hunter Gaddis is on his way to finishing the season with a 1.51 ERA in 72 innings. Cade Smith, who just K'd his 100th batter [MORE THAN CLASE], is looking like he'll finish the season with a 1.96 ERA. Tim Herrin may just keep his season ERA under 2 in the next week. Eli Morgan's only pitched in 30 games this season but he's got a 1.60 ERA. The cumulative ERA of the bullpen is 2.61. That is insanely good, especially when you factor in that the cumulative starting ERA of this team is 4.43. It doesn't matter if the starters are getting beat up, the bullpen will ensure that's all that happens, and this team can certainly hit themselves out of a pickle.

And that's gonna be one of the big factors as the Guardians head into October, with their heroes still looking good. Can the bullpen bail them out if Bibee, Lively and Williams aren't enough? And there's no certainty that this will be enough. Odds are the Guardians get a round 1 bye, and have to play a momentum-chaser in round 2. Will they still have the leverage, and can the bullpen alone propel them to an ALCS? I think there's a chance, but knowing how these postseasons have gone, the Guardians will need to really pull something together to keep plowing through.

Coming Tomorrow- Another talented young outfielder for a fellow 1st place team. 

Our Harbinger of Doom

 

Statistically, Nick Castellanos's season may not be that impressive. He's only got a 0.3 WAR. To put that into perspective, Johan Rojas, who every Philly fan yells at for not being a great hitter yet, has a 0.8 WAR. Castellanos's defensive skills still aren't great, save for the occasional great catch, and his offensive ability is spotty at best.

But the intriguing thing about Castellanos is that he chooses the wildest moments to turn on. If Nick Castellanos hits a home run, odds are a national calamity has occurred. Ever since impeding on Thom Brenneman's apology, Casty has picked the most inopportune moments to go yard. 9/11? Home run. The queen's died? Home run. Mass casualty? Home run. And the times there isn't a tragedy attached to a Casty homer, he adds one, like the time he walked off for Cincinnati, and then we find out that it was because a fan behind home plate yelled 'pretend it's Manfred's face'. 

[By the way, every time I watch that clip, I laugh at the pause Jim Day gives, and the immediate frantic pivot away from it. Hysterical.]

Nick Castellanos has embraced his position as the harbinger of doom when it comes to hitting for power, and I think he's embraced the Philly fans as well. Because he knows he's not gonna be as accurate as someone like Bryce Harper, or even Kyle Schwarber, but he's gonna get it done in a pinch and it's gonna hit hard. Both Casty and his son have been practically canonized by the fans, and even if he pisses us off sometimes he still comes through when we truly need him. What's very funny, though, is that Castellanos has only had two seasons with an average below .250, and this is one of them. The other was the 2020 season. But even in a diminished season, Castellanos still has 84 RBIs and 22 homers. That's not bad. He's not chasing 40 like Schwarber, but he can still be relied upon. 

The Phillies are looking pretty good heading into a probable bye scenario. They still have issues with that fifth starter position, and hope that Kolby Allard will do the trick for the last week or so of the season. Ultimately, though, Wheeler, Nola, Sanchez and Suarez will be fine to coast off of during the postseason. Harper's getting his momentum back, Schwarber's still hot, Bohm's going for a 100 RBI year, Clemens and Wilson are excellent bench pieces, and Estevez works in the ninth. As a division leader, there's a chance this could all fall apart, but this team feels better built than its predecessors, and it truly could get something done this year.

Coming Tonight: Another member of the best bullpen in baseball, without a doubt.

The Philly Show Fall 2024: Part Two- Tailor Made

The contents of the first post on my findings at the latest Philly Show, in the considerably adequate suburb of Oaks, enough of a hike outside Philadelphia that the traffic has to be taken into account yet not enough to make an entire day around it, may have came off as basic, or understandable. There were some cool cards in there, some stuff I don't find particularly often, but you can see a lot of that and go 'yeah, that'd probably be in a ten cent bin somewhere'. 

Today...the cards I'll be discussing are a little more unusual, at least for me. These are the kinds of dealers that I hope for, the kind that keep me on my toes and, moreover, keep me sifting through for ages. Despite the success I had at the other tables, these are the ones I'll be remembering. 

First, the higher priced cards of the day for me:

Dealer #1: 3 for 1s

I remember specifically this was my first purchase of the day, not just because of the price difference but because when I scouted out which tables I'd be going back to, this one was the first one where I could actually park myself in front of the bins and start searching. This was all slightly higher-end than most quarter bin fodder, hence the 33c price, and promised inserts and rookies and all sorts of stuff. Finding a 2002 Diamond Kings insert of Eddie Mathews was certainly a good start.

What was assuring was that when this guy said 'inserts', he didn't just mean modern stuff, though, rest assured, they'd be there. 2000s Heritage inserts, people. Ones I don't see at most shows, not for under a dollar. This was extremely promising.

This is something I'm not sure if the dealer spotted, and I certainly didn't. I threw this into my pile seeing that it was a 2019 1984 insert I didn't have, and a rookie of the ferocious Pablo Lopez. Then, as I went through my findings from this dealer I noticed the '150 years' insignia, turned the card over and found out it was numbered to 150. Those are the happiest accidents at shows. I've found short prints, parallels, all sorts of stuff by accident. So getting this for 33 cents was pretty cool.

Yes, there were modern Topps inserts. Of course there were modern Topps inserts. I think I've committed to collecting Clarke Schmidt now, seeing as we share a surname and all.

There were also shinier, early 2000s Topps inserts as well. The dufex in that Bowman Walker insert is fantastic.

A decent amount of parallels from all across the last 20 years. I always like finding gold parallels of players I collect, and all of these apply. Phillips is from back when Topps numbered their Heritage Chrome cards to 1959 instead of 959. 

Continuing with my set-finding tear, these three were all 2010s Archives short print needs. McBride was from the 2012 set, Welch and Lynn from 2013. Together they were a buck, as opposed to finding them separately for a buck each regularly.

Requisite XRCs. I forget if I had Gray's already but Castellanos's was new to me, and a needed addition.

I threw this one in because I get a terrific vibe about Nick Yorke, and I still don't think the Sox should have given him up so easily.

Dealer #5: A Mirage of a Sportscar Sitting in the Mojave

One of the great things about the Philly Show, as I have been attending it sporadically for fifteen years now, is that sometimes you find a dealer, or a ten cent bin, or anything, that feels like they set up specifically for you. I've discussed these at many Philly Shows. People who have bins of 2000s-era stuff, star cards to specifically fit my player collections, wild uniform finds, all of those. And this, folks, was one of those.

Here is how incredible these 10 cent bins were. I was about to leave. I'd marked off all the places I'd remembered on my initial scouting trip around the convention center. I was gonna just...hop in my car, get home, brave the traffic. And then, around the corner from the last bin I'd been at, there was a table I hadn't seen yet, sort of tucked away around a cross-section. They were selling lots of stuff, a lot of bobbleheads and Philly wear, lots of higher priced cards as well. And it was a family affair, it was a guy running the booth but his daughters coming back from the fudge line, sort of helping out. 

And so I go up, and there's 10 cent bins, and I'm like 'well, shit, now I have to look.' And to give you an idea, after a good 20 or so minutes of me thumbing through boxes, another person asked to swap one from under me, and as he put the one he was just working through in its place, said 'there's some REALLY good stuff in this one. This while I'd already discovered that the contents of these boxes were, not just rare, off-the-beaten-path 90s and 00s stuff, but stuff I never see at card shows.

Me starting this section out with a Vladimir Guerrero insert from a Sports Illustrated set, marked by a wonderful photo I'd never seen before, should whet your appetites. Folks,...

PACIFIC PRODUCTS...WERE IN THIS BOX. A great deal of them. Pacific Private Stock, a set I didn't even know existed til a couple years ago. A bunch of that.

RANDOM TOPPS FINEST BASE CARDS...WERE IN THIS BOX. Of actual star players. Like that's the thing, these were star cards. Hall of Famers. Guys I collect. TONS of Vladimir Guerreros and Jim Thomas, a dime apiece. I was wowed.

TOPPS GOLD LABEL AS WELL. And from there, these boxes just kept topping themselves.

Random Donruss Preferred inserts. That Molitor one is a subtly cool one.

Some DK base cards I still needed, all Hall of Famers.

A mess of early 2000s Fleer Tradition. They had a bunch of the 2001 set as well.

A surprising amount of 2000 Upper Deck, a set I only see periodically. I adore that Randy Johnson shot.

Hey, how about this- a set I had never even heard of. 2000 Upper Deck Hitter's Club. I assumed these were both UD inserts, turns out this is a whole-ass set. Why 3K is an insert set from it, which is pretty cool, and the base is...essentially proto Pros & Prospects.

Oh, and a surprising amount of Fleer Ultra as well, reminding me how much I adore the early 2000s Fleer Ultra sets. 

The 2002 set is underrated. I'd never seen that Damon before.

Okay, I HAD seen that Hoffman before but it was wonderful to finally own it. 

This guy had a lot of 2000s-era Fleer Greats sets, and I threw in a Fall Classic card to complete the page. I love finding modern cards of some bums-era Dodgers. 

Late-career Braves aces, courtesy of Upper Deck. I wish we'd have gotten more cards of Smoltz actually pitching as a Red Sock, as they're all just publicity photos pretty much.

I did a lot of damage on player collecting here. There were a mess of CCs. Somehow that 2011 Heritage one was new to me, I love that one.

A TON of Mussinas. This is just the highlights. 

A bunch of Posadas, including a Bowman Heritage I rarely see in the wild, and a rare 2008 SC one.

And, knowing me this was bound to happen, a metric ton of Bernie Williamses, all needs. They also had the Pacific image variation, which was pretty cool.

And one more late-era Rickey for the road, from 2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars.

After going through the majority of his 10 cent bins, I'd accrued 150 cards, the most of any table that day. The guy behind the counter, seeing how much I'd gone through, and how exhaustive I'd been, gave 'em to me for 10 even. Not only does he have killer dime bins, but he gives a great deal as well. Gotta love somebody like that at a card show.

Now, clearly I spent a good portion of this Philly Show playing catch-up on my sort of lost year in the hobby, getting a lot of cards I could have found in packs had I bought more of them this year. But after that, when it was just about seeing how deep the well of this show ran, and seeing how many really cool, rare, fun stuff people were selling, it became a really enjoyable, substantial card show. And I'm glad I went.

I can't say if I'll be there in December, or how frequently I'll be posting about cards in the coming months, but know that this card show was exactly what I needed. 

The Philly Show Fall 2024: Part One - Room Tone

Being a collector without a steady paycheck is tough, you guys. 

I've been doing alright with it, freelancing and whatnot, making what I can and occasionally selling big pulls on eBay, but a lot of the time it's a better idea to conserve energy and funds rather than take a swing at 25 dollars for 7 packs mostly containing dupes. It's a shame that in a year where Topps has its most inspired flagship design in 10 years it still feels so uninspiring to collect it.

So I've only been collecting periodically. And honestly because every release date is pushed two months forward and everything Topps would have put out by now probably won't wrap up til February, I don't suppose I was missing much. But recently a few big paychecks cleared, and I had enough funds to comfortably spend money on cards again.

Interestingly, though, one of the people who employed me recently mentioned that the Philly Show was coming up, and he was planning on going. "We usually go Friday, there's less people, less signers." And that seemed like a good idea, if only to beat the rush.

Folks...you couldn't have been able to tell the difference. I think I would have had to park the same distance from the venue on a Saturday vs. where I parked yesterday. Hey, you have to admire the dedication of the hobbyists, I suppose. The Philly Show has only gotten better over the past few years, and it's done so by not catering solely to the mojo collector or the hard-case-lockbox type bro. There are still plenty of budget sellers in that room, and I made it a point to go through the majority of them. 

The most I spent for a single card was 33 cents. The least...well, let's get into the nitty gritty of the day:

Dealer #???-???

Okay. Let's go over the basics. When I go to card shows, I bring a ton of plastic containers to hold cards in, and for a while, until I start really running out of space, I designate containers to be specific to a dealer I get cards from. Ultimately I run low on space and just start filling the empty inches in preexisting containers. I go into card shows with a system of how not to mix up which cards came from who, and that system ends up dissolving into a disorganized mess. 

So, I apologize. The cards in this post probably came from one of three or four different dealers I visited throughout the day. But what we must make clear is this: they were all ten cents or less, and they were all very similar in output. There was one dealer with the patented Philly nickel bins, one where I every time I passed there were maybe three or four people crammed in front of the limited real estate. I got to talking to a Philly collector named John, who was next to me at the nickel bins, once I eventually edged my way in. Pleasant company. I later ran into John again at a completely different dime bin, where he even went 'this wasn't the one I left you at, right?'. 

Regardless of the jumble of different dealers throughout this post, I can confirm that I definitely enjoyed the crawl. A lot of the cards in here did feel like they were stretches for a dime, or nickel, bin, in a good way. Yes, the nickel bins were filled with Wander Franco cards, but you also found rookies that *had* gone on to good things. Or genuinely cool inserts, like this Tony Oliva from last year's Heritage High Number.
 

Still, the mix of the day did yield cards from sets I'd long held in high regard. These two were cool inclusions for the set of Upper Deck's Goodwin's Champions set, an underrated show of creativity undermined by the expiration of their license the same year.

This card of Luis Aparicio marked another in my conquest to eventually complete 2017 Archives.

Yes, there were current rookies. Getting a Topps PCA rookie for 10 cents is gonna be a serve in a few years. Same with getting a Wellsy rookie. My am I happy with what he's been doing in the bronx.

2023 rookies abound, including Greene and Mason Miller, two more I was surprised to see priced so low.

I'm puzzled by a great deal of the existence of these modern Topps Heritage Chrome sets, not only because it's kind of a wild idea to start Heritage over again in Chrome but also consistently committing to releasing it a year late. The one good thing about these sets is the checklist, which is routinely entertaining. 

A few recent Topps Holiday moments in time. I think these sets may be more important than Update in regards to chronicling late-season acquisitions. Bell and Benny's late season work with those teams haven't gotten much play otherwise.

A whole bunch of modern Stadium Club. I haven't been able to get my hands on the 2023 SC, so it's awesome to get some of these, including that AWESOME Ozzie photo.

Modern Topps inserts. I wish the 2024 Blueprint insert was on a similar stock to the Tarot of the Diamond ones from GQ.

Heritage Inserts. I found a lot of cheap Hunter Greene cards, and am relieved by that.

Various recent Topps 35th inserts. I like finding these, they're my kind of stuff. All three of those Sonny Gray's were in the same bin, the same row even. Was somebody just getting rid of their Sonny Gray cards??

Tons of really cool Chrome/Finest inserts here. LOVE the Heart of the City one. 

Various WBC cards from 2023. A nice smattering here of future MLB-ers [Lee], former MLB-ers [Didi] and up-and-coming MLB-ers [Duran]. 

Various Topps giveaway sets. The Hobby Rip Night ones were apparently very recent, so it was nice to find them in the wild.

Also cool to run into in the wild?

582 Montgomery cards. I'd never come across these before, as I am not wealthy, and there was a ton in some of these boxes. So I got as much as I could. I'm not sure they'd arrive at my price point again. 

Here's a whole pages worth of various 582 cards from over the years. Turner and Chisholm have since joined teams of mine, and so I enjoy finding their cards now.

I only did a tiny bit of prospecting yesterday, but all of these were understandable. Wood's supposedly gonna be huge, Manzardo's just heating up for Cleveland, and this Deyvison de los Santos character I've been following ever since he had an extremely good spring with the Guardians, though he'd be returned to the Diamondbacks due to not making the team. The Marlins have him now, and I do think he'll factor into the team's 2025 plans, especially since the roster seems to be so open. De Los Santos could be a major home run hitter for these guys going forward. So I figured I'd stock up.

An old Bowman brick rookie card of collection favorite Cameron Maybin, and a Bowman card of Luisangel Acuna, which I can admit to picking up just to ensure a Mets fan didn't get to it. 

One table had a ton of Upper Deck Retro from 1998. Like, I must have passed six or seven different swaths of purely the same 12 or 13 base cards, these ones included. Like somebody broke a couple tubs and they all came out the same. 

This did include some incredibly cool inserts, of HOFers, and a rare 99 Retro card of Scott Rolen.

These boxes did have some 2000s stuff to intrigue me, like some various 2000s Bowman Heritage material, and some requisite UD and Topps insert. I still don't know who Upper Deck was trying to fool with their 2010 sets. That's clearly a Twins logo there.

The 90s stuff did appear in droves, and an impressive amount, too. These were two very cool mid-90s Inserts. Like, any opportunity to get a Fleer Pro-Visions I'm gonna take, especially the super cool 1995 ones.

Various Topps inserts, ranging from subtle to dufex-friendly. 

A glut of 1993-era fun, including more SP base cards, as I feel like I'm finding these more and more in the past few years.

1996 Fleer E-Motion XL. Not a set you come across often. Even cooler that it also included a Padres Rickey. Gusto is right.

A lot of these 90s cards did feel a little bigger than dime box fodder. I found a couple Griffeys and Piazzas, and star cards from Collector's Choice. 

And we'll end this one on two very cool dime box choices- a Pinnacle Certified issue of Hideo Nomo, one I've searched for for a while, and a Baseball Heroes insert of Joe Morgan as a Philadelphia Phillie, a sight you don't see often at all.

Tomorrow, though, I'll cover the really interesting stuff. There was one table that I thought was made just for me.