Brandon Cline

Some Personal News™: this is my last week with The Ritzville Journal. I’ve accepted a position with the @chinookobserver & begin there next week. I’m incredibly excited to be living and working on the Long Beach Peninsula, a place that’s been like a second home for me.

@Jolly_Olive Just realized that pitching changes for infielders and outfielders is their version of gathering around the watercooler for people working office jobs.

Can you imagine being Ewing or Benge and immediately sharing the OF with Juan fucking Soto after getting called up

@minakimes Jerry clearly listens to House of R, is my main takeaway.

@byjoelanderson @VanLathan @billygil @tatefrazier Look how Grok's doing you, smh

@VanLathan @billygil @tatefrazier We got some extra Tailgate YouTube shit coming out tomorrow and I’m guessing Frias and Billy ain’t put none of that in there.

Ok so I was wearing baggy jeans and Chucks and I’m maybe 25 dad of two pounds heavier than I want to be. When we lace this back up later this summer, it’ll be in cleats and shorts and they better be ready to roll. 😤😤😤

@FoolishBB *George Kirby liked this tweet*

Front door sinker to a left-handed hitter is the most beautiful pitch in baseball

@TyDaneGonzalez And I just remembered that Refsnyder's probably not available, so then they'd pinch-hit Garver for Canzone. And I'd have thought before this inning that they'd want Garver to get a full day off after going back-to-back (which he probably hasn't done in awhile), but idk now.

@TyDaneGonzalez I thought the calculus of not pinch-hitting for Joe was that they'd just walk Raley to get to Pereda, & then pinch-hit Canzone for Pereda, but the Braves would go to a lefty & then they'd have to pinch-hit Refsnyder for Canzone -- burning their bench with 3 innings left.

If Dan feels like he can't pinch-hit for *Connor Joe* with the opportunity to deliver a killshot because he doesn't have a real backup infielder, shouldn't the question be: why the fuck does he not have a backup infielder?

@RyanDivish Those extension talks not gaining traction might not be the worst thing in the world for this franchise.

@WaxMetrix The only thing that's missing from Graphite -- and it's the same problem with most of Topps' other tennis sets -- is an enticing auto checklist. No Alcaraz, no Sinner, no Federer, extremely sparse Djokovic and Nadal. Those are the 5 biggest names in (men's) tennis this century.

2026 Topps Graphite Tennis Analysis Didn’t want tennis getting left out now that we finally have an odds sheet. Tennis Chrome and Sapphire never gave us one, so this is already a step up. Graphite dropped April 24th at $280 a box, which seemed to me a bit lofty. We had Graphite in 2024 at a $150 price point, but the market isn’t the same animal anymore. Still, $280 for tennis out of the gate felt questionable. The market seems to agree somewhat…boxes are still sitting around that price on the secondary market, so demand seems to be a bit tempered. But once you dig into the numbers, it may not be as crazy as it sounds. Welcome to 2026 Topps Graphite Tennis. If you need more analysis like this in your life, please consider following me on Substack, where you'll find over 100 product breakdowns in an easily navigable archive. @slabsquatch" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">substack.com/@slabsquatch Part 1: The Basics At a glance, Graphite, with its matte black finish, feels like the tennis version of Topps Chrome Black. But once you dig a little deeper, there’s more going on here...like a lot more. Honestly, if Chrome Black Baseball looked like this, $500/box would seem like a bargain. Stronger hit structure, super rare case hits, patch autos- much more juice than you typically get out of Chrome Black. What's in the box? 3 packs of 6 cards @ $280...that's $15.56/card. However, you're not getting predominantly base. Just the opposite, in fact. Out of 18 cards in a box, only 5-6 will be base. The rest will be parallels, inserts, autos, or relics. Part 2: Production Numbers Total cards in the product: 274,800 Total boxes produced: Hobby- 15,267 (1,272 cases) This is an extremely limited product. I get it. It's tennis, so it has to be. But this is less than your average Sapphire release, which usually falls at about 330,000 cards. For context, this places Graphite production between Tier One on the baseball side (225k) & 2023/24 Midnight Basketball (295k). What this also means is that boxes feel absolutely juiced- packed with low numbered hits. Even base and inserts have extremely low print runs. Base card print run: ~420 copies ea Part 3: Hit Rates Per Box Autos- 4 Parallels- 3.75 (not including Autos or Relics) Relics- 2 Numbered cards- 2.8 (not including Autos or Relics) Inserts- 2.8 There are 3 "case hit" level inserts, and all are legitimately scarce. Mirrored, Confetti, and Intricate Images all look fantastic. The most common of which, Intricate Images, falls at a rate of about 1 per 25 boxes (~2 cases). Combined, you should see one of these rare inserts fall 1 in ~10.5 boxes. So you should expect one from a case, and an occasional case may actually produce two. Keep in mind, with the ultra low production, these inserts have print runs in the 15-25 per card range. If the market is anywhere close to rational, these should hold solid value. Part 4: Value Map $/card- $15.56 $/parallel- $75.07 $/auto- $70 $/# card- $100.33 Part 5: "Value" Compared to other sports, these boxes seem loaded. From a pure “chasing hits” standpoint, this should be a fun rip. But the real question is- are they actually worth $280? I’m not going to pretend I know this checklist inside and out, but it doesn’t feel especially deep. Early sales give us at least a starting point. According to CardLadder, roughly 20 cards have already sold for more than the price of a box in the first week of release, with a few pushing up to $1,500. And we’re still early. Plenty more singles will inevitably join that group as the product continues to be ripped. No, singles pricing probably won't blow you away across the board. But the hit volume here is substantial. There are enough quality pulls per box to keep the floor relatively high, even if you don’t land a monster. Put it this way…if Topps Chrome Black baseball had this kind of hit structure, it wouldn’t be a $280 product. It’d be $1000-$1500/box. Part 6: What Would the Squatch Do? I don't believe this is a leave sealed and stash type of product. I just can't see them increasing enough in value over time to make it worthwhile. 2024 Graphite is still available on the secondary market for $5 over it's original cost. Do I feel like these will go down in price? Possibly. They're already in the $225-$240 range on ebay, though I'd much prefer to find them at an LCS for that price as I generally try to avoid ebay sealed wax. I really don't feel like they'll rise sharply over time, or at least not enough to make it worth stashing sealed. However, if you are a Tennis fan, I think these will be a fantastic rip with a solid floor. If you are simply a fellow degenerate ripper who seeks value regardless of your familiarity with the sport, I think there's fun to be had with Graphite. If I'm able to run across some for the price range I'm seeing on ebay, I see a fun little rip session in my future. Overall, this product was a pleasant surprise to analyze. I went in thinking there's no way a Tennis product that's not "Royalty-esque" should command a $280 price tag. Now, I will likely be grabbing some to rip myself. And if you're on the fence, be sure to take a look at the print run numbers below and notice how truly short printed everything is. Part 7: The Print Runs Base- ~420 copies ea Unnumbered Parallels: Base Refractors- ~115 ea Unnumbered Inserts: All-Court (20 card CL)- ~230 ea All-Court Refractors- ~100 ea Court Masters (25 card CL)- ~230 ea Court Masters Refractors- ~100 ea Match Masters (15 card CL)- ~235 ea Match Masters Refractors- ~100 ea Break Point (20 card CL)- ~230 ea Break Point Refractors- ~100 ea Full Extension (20 card CL)- ~230 ea Full Extension Refractors- ~100 ea Case Hits: Mirrored (25 card CL)- ~15 ea Confetti (20 card CL)- ~25 ea Intricate Images (30 card CL)- ~20 ea Unnumbered Autos: Graphite Signatures (49 card CL)- ~315 ea Match Point Marks (18 card CL)- ~95 ea Signature Serves (14 card CL)- ~70 ea Grand Slam Debut Signatures (11 card CL)- ~15 ea Graphite Signature Relics (55 card CL)- ~170 ea Tour Relic Autos (38 card CL)- ~175 ea Unnumbered Relics: Graphite Relics (47 card CL)- ~165 ea Ace Relics (23 card CL)- ~165 ea Rally Relics (23 card CL)- ~165 ea #thehobby #SlabSquatchAnalytics #2026ToppsGraphiteTennis

@jowrotethis “No, that took four days” got me pretty good.

I’ve been describing it as Parks and Recreation meets Midnight Mass and I feel really good about that.

Should we cover WIDOW’S BAY on the Prestige feed? Are you watching? (If not why not it’s so good!!)

@hawkblogger FYI: x.com/DylanByers/sta…

The article notes Cook has a reported net worth of $2.9B. His path to being the primary owner is tougher given the team is expected to go for around $10B.

@craighorlbeck How was he not a worst draft pick nominee on the pod?

This guy better be the second coming of Joe Montana

@RyanDivish Except build roofs for their large entertainment complexes, apparently.

Hearty midwestern folk can accomplish anything

@LSscribe @azcsports How I imagine you looked having to type “fading dynasty” lol

Do or die tonight for the Phoenix Suns against the Golden State Warriors. Will the Suns prevail to keep their surprise season alive? Or does the fading dynasty live to see another day? @azcsports

@Mariners Yeah?

Back at home on Friday against the Astros at 6:40pm.

@JoezMcfLy Aaron Sorkin is a gifted writer

Why is the west wing so good?

@TyDaneGonzalez Whole lotta discourse over something that wasn’t the difference in the game. Gabe didn’t get it done, plain and simple. But now they have four of their six top guys ready to go tomorrow, rather than burning one or two more of them while trailing tonight.

Four of your six best guys weren't used tonight. I think you could survive using at least one more of them. Plus, you want me to buy in on throwing Legumina or Criswell in a close game? Then I should trust using them tomorrow if I'm down a couple of my best guys.

ESPN Sources: Offensive Player of the Year and Super-Bowl champion Jaxon Smith-Njigba reached agreement with the Seattle Seahawks on a four-year, $168.6 million contract extension that now makes him the highest-paid WR in NFL history.  The deal averages $42.15 million per year, and includes over $120 million guaranteed, both setting records for any wide receiver. The deal was confirmed by @WINSportsGroup.

@JoezMcfLy Man can't beat the allegations to save his life

Judgeeee omg

🤌🤌🤌

@RealShelfy @TheRedStripesSG @Don_MannyOG Feels like only a few fanbases are capable of (partially) overcoming the corporate/neutral vibes at the Super Bowl -- when you can actually hear it come through on the broadcast. Eagles, Seahawks, prolly the Bills and Lions if they could ever make it.

@TheRedStripesSG @Don_MannyOG 100% I think this would be a shockingly supported take. Passionate fans got priced out of the Super Bowl yeeeaaarrrssss ago.

Hot take: the Super Bowl crowd isn’t that passionate. Very corporate experience with small contingents of actual fans mixed in