30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Blaster Box Prophecy

Although I really wanted to see Jose Altuve's Houston Astros face off against Christian Yelich's Milwaukee Brewers in the 114th World Series, I've gotta admit... I'm pretty stoked to watch the Boston Red Sox battle the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Both teams represent large sports markets, are loaded with talent, and are New York Yankees rivals.

For the first time in a few years, I'm not sure who to root for.  On one hand, I feel like I should cheer for the Red Sox, since that would probably annoy my friends who are Yankees fans more.  On the other hand, the Los Angeles Dodgers are representing California and the West Coast.

When it comes down to it... I'll probably be pulling for the visiting team and/or whoever is currently the underdog in the series.  In regards to specific players, I'll be actively rooting for Clayton Kershaw and Mookie Betts.  I'm a big fan of both of their games and would be pretty excited to see either of these guys win the 2018 World Series MVP Award.


As for predictions, I honestly have no clue who takes home the title.  So I'm going to let my two 2018 Archives blaster boxes do the dirty work.

It's pretty simple... I'm going to bust open both blasters and every time I pull a Dodger or Red Sox card, that team will earn points.  Whichever team has the most points after two blaster boxes will probably or probably not take home the 2018 World Series title.


Before I begin, each box contains seven packs of eight trading cards and one pack of two coins.  Here's a breakdown of how I'll be rewarding points:

Subset Base Card = 1/2 Point
Regular Base Card = 1 Point
Coin = 2 Points
Regular Insert or Parallel = 3 Points
Serial Numbered Insert or Parallel = 5 Points
Memorabilia Card or Autograph = 10 Points

To make things interesting, I've added a pair of multipliers:

Retired HOFer = 2x
Betts/Kershaw = 2x

Okay... let the games begin:

The first two packs revealed eight cards featuring players from playoff teams, but none of them were Dodgers or Red Sox players.


Then in the third pack, the Boston Red Sox kick things off with two points from Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. base cards.

Boston Red Sox 2
Los Angeles Dodgers 0



Lasorda immediately strikes back for the Dodgers in the fourth pack.  As a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, he takes advantage of the 2x multiplier and ties things up.

Boston Red Sox 2
Los Angeles Dodgers 2



In the fifth pack, the Duke of Flatbush gives the Dodgers their first lead in the series.

Boston Red Sox 2
Los Angeles Dodgers 4



Neither team scored any points in the sixth pack, but Devers closes the gap in the seventh pack.

Boston Red Sox 3
Los Angeles Dodgers 4

Neither team scored a point out of the coin pack from the first box, so after one blaster box... the Dodgers hold onto a slim lead.  Let's move on to the second half...

The first four packs of the second blaster box had zero Red Sox or Dodgers in them.  But when it rains... it pours.

Pack five held two current Red Sox:


Boston Red Sox 5
Los Angeles Dodgers 4

The Red Sox continued to pour it on in the sixth pack.  The gained two points with the Mookie Betts base card and added another with his subset card.


Boston Red Sox 8
Los Angeles Dodgers 4

The Dodgers are going to need a miracle in order to pull off a World Series victory and unfortunately they didn't get any help in the 7th and final pack of the box.  Their only hope is that there's a Cody Bellinger coin sitting in this pack:


Survey says...

Nope.

So there you have it.  The blaster boxes have spoken and if they speak the truth... the Boston Red Sox will be the 2018 World Series Champions.

What about you?

Do you have faith in my blaster box prophecy?

By the way... if you're wondering if I pulled anything else of significance from the two blasters... I'd have to say not really.

Here are my top three pulls:

#1:  Cal Ripken Jr. Silver Parallel (#'d 91/99)


Solid looking card.  I actually think the silver border goes really well with the sky blue on this card.  I'm always happy to add a new Ripken parallel to my collection.


#2:  1981 Topps Future Stars Trio Los Angeles Angels


I was really hoping to pull an Ohtani rookie card from one of these boxes.  Guess I'll have to settle for this insert.


#3:  Miguel Andujar Rookie Card


Andujar represents the best rookie card pulled from these two boxes and my third favorite card from the bunch.  Considering he's a Yankee... that should summarize how I feel about the stuff I pulled.

Oh well... at least I had fun opening packs.  That has to be worth something, right?

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

8 comments:

P-town Tom said...

I have faith your blaster prophecy. Fun exercise!

gcrl said...

Nah

Collecting Cutch said...

I believe your prophecy is on point

Chris said...

I hope your box is correct. That said, the Duke Snider is a great looking card! The Cal silver is fantastic, too.

Commishbob said...

Hey, blaster box predictions make as much sense as any other 'expert’ picks.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Good way to predict the winner. Go Boston!

Fuji said...

p-town tom - it seems to be accurate so far.

gcrl - lol

collecting cutch - hope so. if the cards are correct, the dodgers should bounce back in la

chris - yeah... that ripken was probably my favorite pull

commishbob - or it's at least as good as my own pick. it's a good thing i'm not a betting man

sumomenkoman - started out rooting for boston too... but now that the dodgers are in need of some wins, i'll be rooting for them.

Ana Lu said...

Yeah yeah yeah..I'll give you the annoy my Yankees fans friends =P

About the cards...I like the concept behind the Archives set. I bought boxes and packs in the past (when I could buy from USA without having to sell my house!) and I liked them. But these two designs are probably the least I like from Topps lol