Highlights:
- Inside the Candy Factory
- Marketplace Highlights
- MLB Watchlists
July 8th MLB Fun Fact: A conversation that took place on July 8, 1997 is one that helped propel baseball to what it is today. Baseball’s realignment committee discussed a variety of plans regarding how many teams will be in MLB and how divisions are separated.
One plan included the league having as many as 14 teams changing divisions and leagues for the next year. Kansas City would switch to the National League and the 8 Pacific and Mountain time zone teams would be grouped together if the sport moved back to 4 divisions from 6 in the 1998 season.
The 1998 season also welcomed two new teams: Arizona joined the NL and Tampa Bay joined the AL. The Major Leagues had until August 1, 1997 to present the proposed schedule to the PA. As you’d guess, the new plan for two 15-team leagues with 3 divisions each seemed to work best!
Division Leaders
AL East: Yankees (60-23)
AL Central: Twins (47-28)
AL West: Astros (54-28)
NL East: Mets (52-31)
NL Central: Brewers (47-37)
NL West: Dodgers (53-29)
Inside the Candy Factory 🍭
ICYMI: New feature alert! In your collection you can now find Data Visualization for your MLB ICONs! When viewing your favorite ICONs you can now see:
- Floor prices aggregated to a 30-day average
- # of owners of that ICON
- # of those ICONs wrapped in packs
- # listed and unlisted on the marketplace
- Highest Sale
- Mint Date
🔶Lineup 6 Legendaries (italicized have been pulled!):🔶
- Carlos Correa
- Austin Meadows
- Fernando Tatís Jr.
- Robbie Ray
- Corey Seager
- Ozzie Albies
- Trevor Story
- Corbin Burnes
- Javier Báez
- Jesse Winker
- Marcus Semien
- Matt Chapman
- Aroldis Chapman
- Jacob deGrom
- Kris Byrant
🔶Lineup 5 Legendaries (italicized have been pulled!):🔶
- Bo Bichette
- Carlos Rodón
- Kenley Jansen
- Luis Castillo
- José Ramírez
- Frankie Montas
- Yordan Alvarez
- Juan Soto
- Matt Olson
- Eloy Jiménez
- Clayton Kershaw
- Starling Marte
- Gerrit Cole
- Kevin Gausman
- Nick Castellanos
- Freddie Freeman
🔶Lineup 4 Legendaries (italicized have been pulled!):🔶
- Trent Grisham
- Mookie Betts
- Ronald Acuña Jr.
- Cedric Mullins
- Rafael Devers
- Tim Anderson
- Lance Lynn
- Lance McCullers Jr.
- Freddy Peralta
- Brandon Woodruff
- Bryan Reynolds
- Brandon Lowe
- Teoscar Hernández
- Adolis García
- Josh Hader
- Zach Wheeler
🔶Lineup 3 Legendaries (italicized have been pulled!):🔶
- Aaron Judge
- J.D. Martinez
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- Nolan Arenado
- Salvador Perez
- Walker Buehler
- Chris Taylor
- Manny Machado
- Cody Bellinger
- José Berríos
- Liam Hendriks
- José Abreu
- J.T. Realmuto
- Mitch Haniger
- Charlie Morton
- Luis Robert
🔶Lineup 2 Legendaries (italicized have been pulled!):🔶
- Max Scherzer
- Max Fried
- Trea Turner
- Shohei Ohtani
- Max Muncy
- Tyler O’Neill
- Jose Altuve
- Aaron Nola
- Whit Merrifield
- Xander Bogaerts
- Kyle Hendricks
- Jared Walsh
🔶Lineup 1 Legendaries (italicized have been pulled!):🔶
- Byron Buxton
- Kyle Tucker
- Julio Urías
- Chris Sale
- Christian Yelich
- Jack Flaherty
- Francisco Lindor
- Jonathan India
- Austin Riley
- Alex Bregman
- Sandy Alcantara
- Shane Bieber
- Giancarlo Stanton **Most recent
- Bryce Harper
- Anthony Rendon
- Mike Trout
- Wander Franco
- Randy Arozarena
- George Springer
- Justin Turner
- Pete Alonso
- Paul Goldschmidt
- Joe Musgrove
- Ketel Marte
- Lucas Giolito
💸Marketplace Movement 💸
You can tell that the All-Star Game is upon us just by looking at the marketplace sales of the week! An influx of All-Star packs and individual ICONs have been changing hands!
- Mike Trout All-Star Epic 11/30 - $4,999
- Gregory Soto All-Star Epic 30/30 -$1,500
- Mike Trout All-Star Rare 26/60 - $1,100
- 18 2021 MLB ICON All-Star Packs for a median price of ~ $587
- Manny Machado All-Star Rare - $699
- Fernando Tatis Jr. All-Star Rare 49/60 - $500
- Ronald Acuña Jr. All-Star Rare 60/60 - $500
- Ozzie Albies All-Star Epic 17/30 - $425
- 2021 Uncut Diamonds Chaser - $420.69
Looks Inside the League
Play of the Day:
- 7/1: Nolan Arenado Hits for Cycle ♻️
For the 17th time in Cardinals history and second in Arenado’s career, a cycle was hit. The 9x Gold Glover and 4x Silver Slugger added another check to his resume. The all-time career record for cycles hit is 3 and only 5 MLB players have hit that mark.
- 7/2: Riley Green First Walk-Off HR ☝️
- 7/3: Jeremy Peña Crushes Walk-Off and First Multi-HR Game ☝️
- 7/4: J-Rod Becomes Fastest Player to Reach 15+ HRs and 20+ Stolen Bases ☝️
Going to bundle these first 3 together here—all rookies, all showing up and showing out. The month started hot with Riley Greene bringing in his first career home run which also happened to be a walk-off securing a win for the Tigers. The next day, Astros rookie Peña also walks-it off with his second homer of the night, giving the star his first career multi-home run game. Topping it all off Julio Rodriguez launched a home run all the way to the fourth deck in Petco Park. Just 81 games in, the star rookie has become the fastest MLB player in history to reach 15+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases.
- 7/5: Sandy Alcantara 11th Outing with 7+ Innings Pitched
- 7/6: Leury Garcia Walk-Off
- 7/7: Spencer Strider 9 Ks in 3 Innings
Congrats on the major league debuts of the week! 🎉
- Korey Lee - Houston Astros
- Michael Stefanic - Los Angeles Angels
- Cristofer Ogando - Tampa Bay Rays
- Garrett Hill - Detroit Tigers
- David Villar - San Francisco Giants
- Brayan Bello - Boston Red Sox
- Jason Delray - Pittsburgh Pirates
Weekend Series Matchups:
Marlins @ Mets
Rays @ Reds
Angels @ Orioles
Yankees @ Red Sox
Nationals @ Braves
Twins @ Rangers
Guardians @ Royals
Tigers @ White Sox
Pirates @ Brewers
Phillies @ Cardinals
Rockies @ Diamondbacks
Astros @ Athletics
Giants @ Padres
Cubs @ Dodgers
Blue Jays @ Mariners