Highlights:

• Inside the Candy Factory 
• Marketplace Highlights 
• MLB Watchlists

Baseball season is only three weeks in but it's buzzin’ in all departments. Pack releases are well underway, debuts have been made and records have already been broken.

Over 500 games have been played across the league so far. The Yankees, Twins, and Angels are leading the American League while the National League’s top teams are the Mets, Brewers, and Giants. Since week one, it has been a non-stop shuffle for number one. The Angels have knocked down the Astros, the Guardians took over for the White Sox then fell to the Twins. The Cardinals came and went after a week. And before the Giants pushed them out, the Dodgers told the Rockies to take a hike after their week stint. 

Overall in power rankings on the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers are still sitting pretty as the favorites to win it all, but the Mets and Blue Jays make up ground as their stellar play continues.

Inside the Candy Factory 

First and foremost….packs on Tuesday!! Don’t miss out and don’t be ill-informed - check our previous blogs for all you need to know about access, drop details and players included! 

ICYMI: All those who completed full sets of the 2021 MLB ICON All-Star Series or the 2021 MLB ICON Uncut Diamond Series, were airdropped their special edition NFT reward! The All-Star completionists received a Gold Shohei Ohtani Chaser that includes  Ohtani’s 42nd HR of his 2021 campaign and the Uncut Diamond completionists received a Silver Julio Rodriguez Chaser with video of his first Spring Training HR before getting the call to the big leagues. Congrats to the 97 people who completed the All-Star set and 143 that completed Uncut Diamonds!

The 2021 Atlanta Braves World Series Championship Collection ended last night! Our MLB marketplace was full of traffic during the release seeing as many as 120 listings change hands throughout the week!

A couple weeks ago, Candy launched the baseball season with a pack drop and a historic collection. The first being the 2022 MLB ICON Leadoff Series, drop 1 on Tuesday, April 12; the second was the Jackie Robinson Collection that was available from Thursday, April 14 to Monday, April 18. 

With a huge thanks to the incredible teams behind the scenes at Candy and our amazing customers, we really hit it out of the ball park (pun intended). Packs sold out in under two hours and the secondary marketplace was active immediately. 

Following the end of the Braves Collection, Lineup 2 drops May 3! A whole new group of 90 players and 31,000 packs will enter the market highlighting the new players. Lineup 3 with new players will drop May 10!

🔶There’s still 22 Legendary cards out there from Lineup 1 👀. Byron Buxton, Kyle Tucker, Julio Urias and Francisco Lindor have all been snagged. Pick up some more packs because some people are gonna get lucky. Here’s whos missing: 

• Bryce Harper
• Jonathan India
• Giancarlo Stanton
• Christian Yelich
• Jack Flaherty
• Shane Bieber
• Anthony Rendon
• Mike Trout
• Wander Franco
• Randy Arozarena
• George Springer
• Justin Turner
• Pete Alonso
• Paul Goldschmidt
• Joe Musgrove
• Alex Bregman
• Austin Riley
• Sandy Alcantara
• Ketel Marte
• Lucas Giolito

Also somewhere hidden in these packs is an ultra-rare Candy World Series NFT. Gotta rip some packs if you wanna find out what it is 🤷‍♀️. 

Marketplace Movement 

💸Jackie Robinson Collection💸

• Gold Bust went for $50,000 at auction 
• Number 1 serial baseball NFT sold for $3,000 on the secondary marketplace 
• Number 1/100 serial silver bust sold for $8,500 on the secondary marketplace 

There have been some pretty big sales from the Leadoff Series so far! Wander Franco and Mike Trout lead the pack in sale price on individual ICONs. 

Both Trout and Franco have multiple sales with a price tag of over $1,000: 

• Wander Franco Epic - $6,200
• Kyle Tucker Legendary - $5,500
• Julio Urias Legendary - $3,900
• Mike Trout Epic - $2,727
• Wander Franco Epic - $1,999
• Wander Franco Epic - $1,750
• Wander Franco Epic - $1,650
• Mike Trout Epic - $1,600
• Mike Trout Uncommon - $1,100

Another Legendary sale, Aaron Judge’s 1:1 from the All-Star Series sold for $21,000! It has been the sixth largest sale to date. 

Looks Inside the League

Play of the Day:

• 4/22: Wander Franco 2 HR Game 
• 4/23: Miggy 3000 🚀 ‍

‍Miguel Cabrera has entered the chat. He has been in the league for 20 seasons and has the stats to prove it. Congrats to Miggy for joining an elite club - only 33 players in MLB history have made it there. Good news is that we’re not even a full month into the season, Miggy’s got more in the tank. 

• 4/24: Buxton 2 HR Game 
• 4/25: George Springer Diving Catch 
• 4/26: Rizzo 3 HR game 🥶

R to the Rizzo! For the first time in his career, Anthony Rizzo had a three homer game. His second home run of that game vs the Orioles game him the league lead  in home runs with 7, his third putting him more over. 

• 4/27: Dylan Carlson Throw 
• 4/28: Kyle Tucker Pinch-Hit Homer 🫡‍

King Tuck coming in to keep the Astros on their hot streak. Kyle Tucker went yard pinch hitting in the eighth inning, bringing in two runs and putting the Astros on top. 

Uncut Diamonds and other top prospects made their major league debuts! 🎉

• CJ Abrams - San Diego Padres 💎
• Julio Rodríguez - Seattle Mariners 💎
• Bobby Witt Jr - Kansas City Royals 💎
• Nick Lodolo - Cincinnati Reds 💎
• Hunter Greene - Cincinnati Reds 
• Spencer Torkelson - Detroit Tigers 💎
• MacKenzie Gore - San Diego Padres 
• Josh Lowe - Tampa Bay Rays
• Diego Castillo - Pittsburgh Pirates
• Matt Brash - Seattle Mariners 
• Bryson Stott - Philadelphia Phillies 💎
• Steven Kwan - Cleveland Guardians 
• Heliot Ramos - San Francisco Giants 

Weekend Series Matchups:

You might want to have MLB Big Inning at the ready once games start today. All 30 clubs will be playing all weekend. 

Padres @ Pirates 

Mariners @ Marlins 

Red Sox @ Orioles 

Astros @ Blue Jays 

Twins @ Rays 

Phillies @ Mets 

Angels @ White Sox 

Braves @ Rangers 

Yankees @ Royals 

Cubs @ Brewers 

Diamondbacks @ Cardinals 

Reds @ Rockies 

Guardians @ Athletics 

Tigers @ Dodgers 

Nationals @ Giants 

‍

Wanna build a Play of the Day complete collection? Here’s what you’re missing:

• 4/7: Bobby Witt Jr’s first MLB hit 🌟‍

‍Uncut Diamond turned Opening Day starter, Bobby Witt Jr. raked in his first major league appearance. His RBI double in the bottom of the 8th won the game for the Kansas City Royals. There’s a lot to look forward to with this young star. 

• 4/8: Josh Donaldson walks it off for the Yankees 
• 4/9: Pete Alonso’s first career grand slam 
• 4/10: Seiya Suzuki’s first MLB home run 
• 4/11: Brett Phillips’ sliding grab in relief 🥷‍

‍Baseball is fun! Especially when watching Brett Phillips pseudo penguin slide to grab an out off the mound. Stepping in as the relief pitcher, Phillips copped an out by sprinting at the dugout in fashion during the game against the A’s 

• 4/12: Juan Soto reaches 100 home runs 
• 4/13: Vlad Guerrero Jr’s 3 bomb night ☄️‍

If seeing is believing then we all saw it again on Wednesday night. Vladdy lit up the Bronx with three massive home runs, all shots off pitches coming from Gerrit Cole. Undeniably one of the best to ever do it, he’s paving his way to the Hall of Fame game by game (and this time he did it even after being spiked on the hand).

• 4/14: CJ Abrams First Career Home Run  
• 4/15: Shohei Ohtani 2 Home Run Game 
• 4/16: Hunter Greene Record Breaker 💯‍

Greene had only 2 games under his belt in the big leagues when he broke a record. Imagine being 22 years old and breaking an entire MLB record.  Must be nice. The record in question is the most pitches thrown over 100 mph in a single game - he had 39 total at the end of his second game. 

• 4/17: Nestor Cortes Immaculate Inning 
• 4/18: Freddie Freeman First Homer as a Dodger (against his former team might I add) 
• 4/19: Francisco Lindor’s First Walk Off as a Met 
• 4/20: Shohei Ohtani Knockout Pitching Performance and Driving 2 in 
• 4/21: Jazz Chisholm Jr. HR 👀