Two Hanger Boxes of 2021 Topps Update

 I rounded the aisle to check for gift cards for the holidays and I had to triple-take.

The Target stock clerk. METICULOUSLY CURATING THE CARD AISLE SHELVES. Immaculately organizing the Update, the Archives boxes, the assorted basketball stuff. In a way I had not seen since before I left for college. I was floored. Not only was there product at a retail store, but there was LOTS of it. I couldn't believe it.

As I grabbed my hanger boxes, I thanked him. "It's good to see product back here. It's been a long few months." And I went on my way.

I grabbed a blaster of Archives, which I've already broke a box of for here, and this one didn't yield much else [I did get a Brian Anderson silver parallel #'d to 99, which...of course I would]. I also grabbed two hanger boxes of Update, because, HEY, IT'S DECEMBER AND I HAVEN'T BROKEN ANY UPDATE YET. GADZOOKS.

Here are the results. I'll do what I usually do and point out which players changed uniforms again by the end of the season, because the deadlines for this set are unreasonably early now.

Box 1-

225- Corey Knebel

28- Manuel Margot

231- Travis Blankenhorn

167- Juan Lagares. Thrilling stuff

179- David Phelps

79- Tatis/Cronenworth combo. So...the combo cards aren't checklists. They're set filler...in a set where the ASG cards are now inserts? WHY?

314- Liam Hendriks. 

22- Maikel Franco. The amount of goodwill wasted on this guy by Phils fans, has to be through the roof.

264- Jonathan Loaisiga. Thank god they did this guy

52- Kluber no-no CL. Yes, there were so many no-hitters that Topps had to do combo cards aside from them. On the bright side, this card exists.

282- Lance Lynn

246- Brent Honeywell. Has been traded, but after the season.

190- Rony Garcia

224- Steve Cishek. They've...done pretty well so far.

305- Bryan Garcia

287- BoSox combo card featuring the city connect unis

255- Jake Lamb. THERE WE GO. Outdated Update #1, finished the season with the Blue Jays

103- Kyle Finnegan. Annoyed with all these rookie listings for people who had substantial 2020 numbers

36- Wade Miley no-no CL.

13- Chance Sisco. Outdated Update #2, waived by the Mets IN JUNE. WE'RE THAT EARLY??

249- Jarred Kelenic RD. Okay, at least this exists

242- Dillon Tate

51- Roel Ramirez, the guy who gave up 4 straight home runs in 2020. SEEMS RIPE FOR 2021 UPDATE.

163- Spencer Turnbull no-no CL

278- Chris Rodriguez

34- Tyler Naquin

93- Corey Ray

328- Yu Chang

84- Bailey Ober.

238- Trevor Rosenthal ORANGE #'d to 299. That's right, a parallel base card of a player who didn't even play for the team depicted in 2021, due to injures. Thanks, Topps.

ASG Insert of Jake Cronenworth. Yes, an insert...of an ASG base card...of a player depicted NOT in the ASG. The deadline is too damned early.

Topps Cards That Never Were insert of Alex Rodriguez from 1994. I like the concept of this one. Hope it doesn't render my Should Have Been set too moot

86T insert of Jonathan India

92T insert of Randy Arozarena, the [sigh] ROOKIE OF THE YEAR.

92T insert of AARON JUDGE

92T insert of GIANCARLO STANTON. Double Yankee fun,

92T insert of Christian Yelich

33- Marcus Semien. Not outdated by the construct of this.

194- Miguel Castro, a good, smart relief choice by Topps

88- Victor Caratini

25- Chi Chi Gonzalez

316- Patrick Wisdom, thank god. NOT A ROOKIE CARD THOUGH.

61- Marvin Gonzalez. Outdated Update #3, finished the season with Houston

178- Ryan Weathers RD

283- Sergio Romo. 

174- Mario Feliciano

164- Andrew Knapp

41- Alex Kirilloff RD. Thrilling stuff

18- Billy Hamilton. GOOD. HE GETS A BASE CARD. GREAT!

30- Brock Holt, PRINTED UPSIDE DOWN ON THE BACK. Ughhhh.

26- Taijuan Walker, also printed upside down on the back

166- Chris Gittens. [loud sigh]

171- Matt Moore

105- Chad Kuhl, yeah, the Bucs' Opening Day starter didn't make Flagship

20- Josh Staumont

66- James Paxton

117- Hirokazu Sawamura

92- Tyler Stephenson RD

228- Dylan Moore, who, thanks to Adam Frazier, is now out of a job

19- Chase Anderson

67- Angel Rondon

120- Seth Brown

138- Will Harris

136- Nate Lowe

75- Kyle Funkhowser

236- Ross Stripling. Also should have been in Flagship

131- Jon Berti. Ditto

Box #2-

6 dupes

23- Jake Cave. Why wasn't HE in Flagship?

113- Aaron Civale. Okay. Another person who was definitely relevant enough in early 2021 to be featured in flagship. Why leave people out? Because it's easier to just do a Series 3 than actually do an Update Series? CHANGE THE NAME.

147- Luis Torrens

245- Gilberto Celestino

158- Darin Ruf. I'm just glad they remembered to make a Darin Ruf card at all

326- Aaron Fletcher

311- Jake Arrieta. Outdated Update #4, finished with San Diego

268- Geraldo Perdomo

189- Jeff Hoffman

260- Owen Miller RC. Oh yeah, he made his debut this year, forgot about that

139- Jake Odorizzi

250- Alec Bohm RD. DON'T...REMIND...ME.

90- Joe Kelly

63- Casey Mize RD

3 dupes

273- Mike Minor

148- Daniel Vogelbach. He was...he was with the team in January, why's he in Update? This set frustrates me.

175- Ha-Seong Kim RD

211- Luis Patino

140- Andrew Vaughn RD

196- Akil Baddoo RC. Okay, at least they got him

ASG insert of Fernando Tatis Jr.

70 Years of Topps insert of Christian Yelich in the 87T design

86T insert of Mookie Betts

92T insert of Ian Anderson

92T insert of Kyle Lewis

TWO 92T DUPES. JEEZ

186- Sixto Sanchez RD

128- Rich Hill. Outdated Update #5, ended the year with the Mets

144- Mariners combo

172- Giovanny Gallegos

150- Zack Wheeler. HOW DID HE NOT HAVE A FLAGSHIP BASE CARD? WHAT IS GOING ON??

58- Austin Dean

12- Nick Gordon RC

243- Lane Thomas. Outdated Update #6, traded to the Nats

46- Ryan McKenna

237- Will Craig. EVEN THE GUY WHO BOTCHED THE BAEZ PLAY GETS A CARD? Wow.

TEN DUPES

89- Brad Hand. Outdated Update #7, ended year with Mets

35- Joe Musgrove no-no CL

54- Yoshi Tsutsugo. Outdated Update #8, waived by the Pirates in July.

233- Nick Anderson. BARELY PLAYED THIS YEAR AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN FLAGSHIP.

149- Travis Shaw. Outdated Update #9, ended year with Red Sox

218- Connor Brogdon

43- Franklyn Kilome

160- Erik Gonzalez

253- Steven Duggar

325- Chris Archer

Man this set's a mess. A few cool things here, some actual needed cards, but a lot of making up for flagship while also failing as an Update set. This set has been flawed since 2019, ever since the deadline for this set was moved up to June, and ever since MLB laws have made rookies not count after then. This set needs to be seriously rethought, though it probably won't seeing as Fanatics isn't far off.

A Birthday Blaster of 2021 Topps Archives: A True Bullseye

 

So...I'm not collecting Archives this year.

I've made it a point to collect the base sets of every Archives set Topps has put out, mostly because I like the concept and the relative collectibility. For years I've begged Topps to take away the needless SPs that make the set even harder to complete, and for the 2021 set they finally did.

However, it's 2021, and it's impossible to find affordable cardboard anywhere, especially on retail shelves. I'm collecting the 2020 set, but I got a cheap enough hobby box of it last year, and attacked singles online. I don't think I can do that this year, so I'm just gonna collect what I can. I'm getting my Yanks and Phils thanks to a recent group break, that'll be the extent, I guess. 

This has nothing to do with hell occasionally freezing over, though.

My dad was in Target the other day and he found a blaster of Topps Archives...just sitting there. Unattended. No gun-toting southerners, no mandated abstinence. You could just...buy a box of Topps product at a Target. Imagine!

So he got it for me, cause I had a birthday coming up, which is tomorrow. And he figured that'd be a good enough pick me up. The man had no idea what lay inside this retail blaster. And I was very grateful once I found out what was.

Of course I'm showing this off to y'all, you deserve to see it. We've got 7 packs of 8, and a few packs of 9. Let's eat 'em up.

Pack 1- Eight designs instead of 3. That kinda threw me off. And they're not evenly cut in the base set as well. It's kinda tricky. Hey, whatever they want.

It's Archives, so it should be a well-oiled machine by now. The 83s work, the 91's are excellent likenesses, and the 73s are slightly flawed, but work. Plus, cool pulling a New York Giant in 2021.

I think they did a good job with the 62s, and both the 2001s and 2011s are recent enough to look cool. Especially the 2011s. But mostly it's just cool to pull new cards of Ozzie and McCovey.

Pack 2- The 57s are a bit too minimalistic imo. But the occasional cool photo selection, like Cain's can save it. Great to see Molitor as a Blue Jay in between his many Brewers modern issues. 

Inserts! Pache's is a Pop Up insert, which they had in Heritage a few years back. Could have used someone who could stay up in the majors, but hey, still cool. And Story's is a retail-exclusive 89 Big Foil, which is a nice design homage with some requisite shininess. 

Three more HOFers. Always great to pull a Clemente. Killebrew's is a Topps 2091 subset, a very silly idea that's cooler than one might expect. It honestly looks like a lost Topps Bunt design, if that set hadn't turned into Topps Big League [sidenote, when is 2021 Big League releasing? Next decade?]. 

Pack 3- Business as usual, aside from Votto's look of seduction. Adames is proof of updated uniforms in this set, something that not even Topps Update could muster. 

Three Hall of Famers and a Mariners rookie. Carew and Murray look awesome on the 2001 design.

Pack 4- Deivi Garcia may never pitch like we wanted him to, which is sad. Dallas Braden became such a fan favorite as a baseball personality and broadcaster that he landed in this base set, which is cool. Do Phil Hughes next. Always a joy pulling a Michael Jack, especially an early-70s one.

So we hit a parallel in this pack. Yes, it's a Cardinal, which...my luck, of course it is. But it's at least a respected, long-standing veteran Cardinal in Paul Goldschmidt. It's a green parallel, #'d to 125. Not bad at all. Those come 1:62 retail packs, so I beat the odds. Which would have been nice enough. 

And my second 89 Big Foil was someone who I respect less than Goldy, and that's Alex Bregman.

A HOFer and two rookies that barely played this year polish off the pack. 

Pack 5- Three retired stars, and also a very awesome photo of Lourdes Gurriel and his blue hair. Lincecum's inclusion in this set I can see, but this is 2012-era, post-awesome Lincy, rather than shaggy haired Lincy. Maddux and Chippah in the same pack feels right.

There was an insert here, a 91 Shining Stars of Andrew Vaughn, but it's not exactly a huge hit. So I looped it with the rest of the base from this pack, including a cool Dale Murphy. 

Pack 6- Vaughny shows up again, alongside some standard picks, and also the Iron Horse, fitting pretty well in 91T.

They made the Posters inserts rather than SPs, which works, though they're now multi-player, and therefore harder for me to collect. This was a cool one for the 80s Cubs, though. And my 3rd and last 89 Big Foil was Brooks Robinson, a great subject for one.

Some pedestrian choices to round out the penultimate pack. 

Pack 9- Easy ones. I like the India, and the Moran choice, but these were the kind of cards I expected out of something like Archives.

...and then,

So.

I mentioned sometime last year how rare it is for me to not only pull autos out of retail, but to pull autos out of retail of people who play for my teams and are actually good, well-tested players. Pulling a Hoskins auto out of 10 out of Stadium Club last year fell into this category. I pulled a Joe Pepitone auto out of Archives a few years ago, and a Polanco auto last year.

This...is a little different.

Greg Luzinski isn't just a Phillies hero, he's a Phillies legend. Played for some epic Phils teams back in the day behind Mike Schmidt, hit a ton of homers for us, nearly got an MVP in 75. Legendary. He has his own BBQ stand at Citizens Bank Park, Bull's BBQ. Admittedly never had any. Boog's I've had, but not Bull's. 

So pulling a Bull auto, in the Philly area, being a Phils fan...that's just nice. And for my birthday. AND out of a blaster my dad found when he wasn't expecting to.

There's a 1:73 chance of pulling an auto out of a blaster of Archives. Combine that with the green parallel means that this blaster was a 1:4526 find. Not quite the one in one and a half million SC box from last year, but still really damn good. One heck of a hit, and something that made it all worth it.

Oh yeah, rest of the pack,

Trio of rookies. Of the three, I think Weathers might have the longest career, though I'm still holding out for Mickey Moniak to be anything like what we drafted him for.

And that's the blaster. One heck of a find, right? A killer parallel, an AWESOME auto, and lots of fun base things. Worth everything. Might not find an Archives blaster as good as this one.

The Best of the Rest: 2021

 

Well, at the expense of two fanbases in particular, we have our playoff schematic, and we have our crowd of 20 also-rans. It's a depressing, maddening day for a lot of teams, both the non-competitive bottom feeders and the teams that seemed very close to breaking into the race. From last year, we have two new additions to the fold, but they are both teams who have won a World Series ring in the last 10 years. Alternatively, there are two teams who have never won a World Series in this playoff picture, and only one additional team that hasn't won in over 20 years. 

The teams that made the playoffs are a lot of the usual suspects, and so are the teams who made this Best of the Rest list.

Without an expanded playoff, eight teams that made the 2020 playoff picture are back on this list. Three of them were downright terrible this year. Everybody else is a barrel of surprises and not-surprises, and we're gonna give some superlatives for all of them, ranging from painful to mirthful. 

Most Likely to Succeed [According to the Sportswriters in February]: San Diego Padres

Most Depressing Example of Peaking Too Early: Kansas City Royals

Best Team That Peaked Too Late: For the 2nd year in a row, Seattle Mariners

Best Squanderer of Hopes Their Fans Had in 2020: Oakland Athletics

Best Squanderer of Hopes Their Fans Had in June: New York Mets

Biggest Proponent for an Expanded Playoff in 2022: Toronto Blue Jays

Biggest Proponent Against an Expanded Playoff in 2020: Miami Marlins

Most Willing to Settle: Los Angeles Angels

Most Blatant July Dismemberment: Chicago Cubs

Collapse That Makes a Lot More Sense When You Really Think About It: Minnesota Twins

Best Pitching Staff for a Team That Didn't Make the Playoffs: Cincinnati Reds

Worst Pitching: Baltimore Orioles

Best Farm System [Composed of Other Team's Prospects]: Washington Nationals

Biggest Anticlimax: THREE- WAY-TIE - Toronto Blue Jays/Seattle Mariners/Philadelphia Phillies 

Most Blatant Victims of a Rough 2nd Half: San Diego Padres

Most Inexplicably Reserved Trade Deadline Strategy: Colorado Rockies

Most Depressing Team to Talk About Every Few Weeks: Arizona Diamondbacks 

Most Comically-Timed Injuries: Cleveland Indians

Most Fun Last Place Team: Washington Nationals

Most Confused Youth Movement: Detroit Tigers

Most Likely to Just Accept Walk-Ons from the Public for Spring Training Next Year: Pittsburgh Pirates

Most Unwilling to Recapture the Lightning in the Bottle: Texas Rangers

Most Likely to Not End Up On This List in 2022: Toronto Blue Jays & San Diego Padres

That's the end of the road for these 20 teams. I'm gonna predict the other ten's playoff path sometime in the next few days, probably inaccurately. 

Your 2021 All Star Game Starting Lineups

 I do this every year. I missed doing it last year. So let's not prolong the inevitable. With, just like last year, specially-made ASG customs, cause that's the kind of free time I have this year.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...HERE ARE YOUR 2021 ALL STAR STARTING LINEUPS

[moderately baked Coors Field applause]

First up, the American League All Stars team!

Leading off for the AL...the STARTING PITCHER. FROM THE LOS ANGELES ANGELS, SHOHEI OHTANI!

[lots and lots of applause]

Batting 2nd for the AL, the first baseman, from the Toronto Blue Jays, VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR.

Third in the lineup, and at shortstop tonight, from the Boston Red Sox, XANDER BOGAERTS!

Batting cleanup for the American League, and playing right field, from the New York Yankees, AARON JUDGE!

Fifth in the lineup tonight, the third baseman, from the Boston Red Sox...RAFAEL DEVERS!

Batting sixth, and playing 2nd base tonight, from the Toronto Blue Jays, MARCUS SEMIEN!

Seventh in the lineup tonight, and behind the plate for the AL, from the Kansas City Royals, SALVADOR PEREZ!

In the eight spot tonight, and starting in left field, from the Toronto Blue Jays, TEOSCAR HERNANDEZ!

And batting ninth, and playing center field tonight, from the Baltimore Orioles, CEDRIC MULLINS!

Now, for your NL ALL STAR TEAM!

[louder applause because it's Denver]

Leading off for the National League, and starting at shortstop, from the San Diego Padres...FERNANDO TATIS JR.!

Second in the lineup for the NL, and the designated hitter tonight, from the Los Angeles Dodgers, MAX MUNCY!

Batting third, and playing third base, from the St. Louis Cardinals...NOLAN ARENADO!

[Loud cheers for the hometown boy]

Batting in the cleanup position, the first baseman, from the Atlanta Braves, FREDDIE FREEMAN!

Fifth in the order tonight, the right fielder, from the Cincinnati Reds, NICK CASTELLANOS!

Similarly, sixth in the order tonight, the left fielder from the Cincinnati Reds, JESSE WINKER!

Batting seventh, and starting behind the plate tonight for the NL, from the Philadelphia Phillies, J.T. REALMUTO!

Eighth in the lineup tonight, the center fielder, from the Pittsburgh Pirates, BRYAN REYNOLDS!

And in the same vein, batting ninth tonight, the second baseman, from the Pittsburgh Pirates...ADAM FRAZIER!

And starting on the mound tonight for the NL, from the Washington Nationals...MAX SCHERZER!

These are the lineups we've got tonight. I hope we get a fun game out of them.