PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 13

16. Tony Watson 

65. Joey Votto 

174. Marcus Stroman 

26. Justin Upton 

142. Dellin Betances 

54. Carlos Martinez 

247. David Robertson 

76. Joe Ross 

135. Brian Dozier 

DT4. Kris Bryant - Dream Team

Alright, let's finish up this box break. A little late on the release here considering three of these guys aren’t on the same teams now. I’m glad this Brian Dozier card is finally seeing the light of day, though. That’s such an awesome photo.

2017 SPIRIT BOX BREAK - PACK 5

286. Derek Dietrich

56. Troy Tulowitzki

55. Alex Gordon

292. Kyle Seager

222. Homer Bailey

235. Steven Wright

100. Hunter Strickland

2. Dellin Betances

300. Jharel Cotton (RC)

G121. Jordan Lyles

TL95. Zach Davies - Team Leader (MIL ERA)

This is a pretty solid pack player-wise, with the Davies insert and Lyles parallel the “lesser” names. I should probably note that the entire checklist was randomized as well as the pack collation. I’m sure with actual, physical cards, the collation and checklists are affected by the printing setup. I’m just kinda winging it here. If the base cards look a little paltry, I try to make up for it with the parallel and insert. In this case, since the base here is filled with stars and semi-stars, I figured it was a decent place to unload an underwhelming insert. (No offense, Zach Davies fans.)

2016 Clubhouse All-Stars

Voting for the 2016 All-Star is in full swing with early results pouring in. To nobody's surprise, there are lots of Cubs towards the top of tally on the NL side. Conversely, the Royals are either in first or second at every position on the AL ballot, despite some of those names being Omar Infante and Kendrys Morales. (Good job, Royals fans.) Luckily the squads will end up numbering 30+ so hopefully there won't be many snubs for next year's Clubhouse All-Stars set. But first, lets look at 2016.

I decided to keep the red/blue divide a little more ambiguous this year instead of overtly assigning one color or the other to a particular squad. Blue outer space/red metal on one and red outer space/blue metal on the other. Incorporating the star shape into the design elements was a good way for me to call back to the 2016 Clubhouse base design. Plus, having the players busting out of the shapes is kinda fun and fits the Clubhouse brand.

The back incorporates the same elements with some slight rearranging. Adding the team logos and a small (jibberish) write-up finishes things off.

Design On Deck

2014 Spirit Base: 706-720

#706 - Zach Duke, #707 - Caleb Thielbar, #708 - Daisuke Matsuzaka
It's nice to see Dice-K still kicking around in the league.

#709 - Dellin Betances, #710 - Jesse Chavez, #711 - Reid Brignac
Thoughts on the Jesse Chavez pic? I like that it's different but I could see somebody thinking it's just too odd.

#712 - Gregory Polanco, #713 - Seth Maness, #714 - Rymer Liriano
Polanco and Liriano's pics are pretty similar, along with them both being rookie rightfielders.

#715 - Jake Peavy, #716 - Chris Denorfia, #717 - Grant Balfour
That's actually Peavy's follow-through and not a celebratory fist pump. The Denorfia photo is the only viable one I could find with him in a Mariner's uniform. Luckily it's excellent.

#718 -Adam Rosales, #719 - Danny Valencia, #720 - Nate Schierholtz
The Schierholtz broken bat shot is actually from this year's playoffs but I airbrushed the postseason patch off his sleeve. We'll just ignore the fact that in the real world, these cards would've been printed by the time this photo would've been taken...