Greetings!
Hope everyone is doing well and got to enjoy the holiday season. The time between Halloween and New Years seems to go by like that. I don't know about you all, but I get a little bummed out when all the Christmas decorations start coming down.
The Update series was released in mid-November, and I think it took till after Thanksgiving for packs to start showing up on retail shelves. The eldest got a pack for each of us, the usual 7 bucks for 36 cards. Here's what he got:
#US240 - Randy RodrÃguez
#US247 - Tyler Owens (RC)
#US1 - Kristian Campbell (RC)
#US172 - Daylen Lile (RC)
Not surprisingly, 3 of the first 4 cards are rookies.
Lile's wearing Washington's 2025 City Connect uniform, which feature D.C.'s street grid on the jersey as well as a 3D interlocking D.C. logo on the jersey’s chest, referring to the 1956 Washington Senators logo.
#US113 - Drake Baldwin ((RC - Rookie Debut)
#US105 - Marcelo Mayer (RC)
#US199 - Roki Sasaki ((RC - Rookie Debut)
#US314 - Matthew Lugo (RC)
4 more rookies. Everyone's not a fan of the Rookie Debut cards. Make them an insert set put more players in the release.
#US300 - Rafael Devers
#US320 - Austin Kitchen (RC)
#US195 - Isaac Paredes
#US139 - Jon Berti
I'd rather have more journeymen like Berti in the set than those Rookie Debuts; there's 40 of them in the set!
#US161 - Armando Alvarez (RC)
#US50 - Cody Bellinger
#US68 - Matt Mervis
#US291 - Mickey Gasper (RC)
"Mash" Mervis has yet to do so, hitting only 10 homers (and a .165 BA) with the Cubs and Marlins. He signed with Washington for the 2026 season.
#US82 - Max Kepler
#US29 - Luis Matos
#US130 - Ben Williamson (RC)
#US256 - Dalton Rushing ((RC - Rookie Debut)
Matos is wearing the Giants' 2025 City Connect uniform, based on graphics inspired by the 1960's "Flower Child" era. OK then.
#US242 - Charlie Morton
#US86 - Aaron Judge Season Highlights (Checklist)
I enjoy a good season highlight, but this seems more like an excuse to get another Judge card in the set. The highlight seems a little too team-specific.
#US350 - Paxton Schultz (RC)
#US116 - Aroldis Chapman
The Update set ends (and also started) with a Rookie. There are 153 Rookies in the set. That seems to be a lot.
#US121 - Ryan Johnson (RC)
#U90-18 - Tomoyuki Sugano (RC)
I think both of these are Rainbow Foils. The 1990's from Series 1 and 2 were not all foiled up, so the decision to make the Update Series all foily was a curious one indeed.
#SMLB-73 - Andrew McCutchen (Stars of MLB)
#SMLB-77 - Shohei Ohtani (Stars of MLB)
There are 25 cards in the Stars of MLB insert set, and you get 2 of them in each rack pack.
#US56 - Dominic Canzone
#US146 - Kade Strowd (RC)
#US264 - Kumar Rocker (RC - Rookie Debut)
#US38 - Dalton Rushing (RC)
It's a Dalton Rushing hot pack!
#US269 Shohei Ohtani / Roki Sasaki (Veteran Combos)
#US14 - Denzel Clarke (RC)
The Veteran Combo cards (there's 15 of them total) can also follow the Rookie Debuts out the door. In MLB terms, Roki isn't a veteran, right? He doesn't get the RC logo because Ohtani?
#US345 - Matt Shaw (RC - Rookie Debut)
#US282 - Coby Mayo (RC - Rookie Debut)
And we end with 2 more Rookie Debuts. Since the Cubs signed Alex Bregman over the offseason, it appears Matt will take on a Utility role with the team.
Here are some backs because Ohtani:
Anyway, that's the pack. Not much to say other than enjoy the Super Bowl, and thanks for reading!
