9/25/26 – Last MLB Fun of 2026: Cubs @ Red Sox

I thought the pair of Guardians-Orioles games I caught at Camden Yards in early September would be my last MLB games of 2026, and that would have been fine.

But then I started getting the itch early this week to try to sneak in one more game at Fenway with the Red Sox hosting the Guardians in a mid-week series.

That possibility ended due to work, but Boston was also to host the Cubs Friday-Sunday. Tickets were expensive and the games would be crowded so the series was not originally on my radar, but a Nor’easter currently hitting the East coast changed things. First, Sunday’s game got moved to 1pm on Friday, setting up a two-admission double-header. Eventually, Saturday’s game was moved to Sunday in Tampa due to the Boston forecast.

The 1pm Friday game particularly caught my attention because:

  • I haven’t seen the Cubs play yet this season.
  • We don’t have Pete Crow-Armstrong (PCA) on a lineup card; PCA just reached the 40 HRs / 40 SB plateau, and will undoubtedly be named the National League’s Most Valuable Player for this season.
  • The Cubs are using 150th anniversary commemorative balls during their home games this season, and there’d be a chance they’d have some in their BP, bullpen, or practice ball bags.
  • The stadium probably would not be packed like normal, which makes Fenway more enjoyable.

The downsides to the game:

  • Weekday day games mean I can’t park on the street near the stadium for $5.
  • I’d likely hit a lot of traffic leaving Boston around 4pm on a Friday afternoon.

In the end, my itch to chase another MLB lineup card and Cubs’ commemorative ball won out, and off I headed to Boston Friday morning.

For parking, anything near the stadium was going to cost between $50 – $80, if they even had open spots on a work day. I don’t mind walking, so I researched and found a garage in Brookline for $25 that was a 31-minute walk to Fenway Park.

The trip into Boston went smoothly, and I was outside Fenway about 10:30am.

And here was my view after I entered the stadium a few minutes later.

I figured there’d be no BP for a 1pm start, and I was right. But the good news is that some Cubs pitchers were loosening up in the bullpen (see pitcher circled above).

I was able to spot some Cubs’ 150th baseballs fairly quickly, but there were also some regular MLB balls, too, which I wasn’t as interested in. Long story short, I was able to get a couple Cubs’ 150th balls, and gave a regular MLB ball to a boy after the game.

One of two Cubs’ 150th anniversary commemorative baseballs I was able to get

First mission accomplished!

The second mission was to try and get a lineup card from the game. I was able to talk to one of the Cubs’ bullpen guys pre-game, and he said I could have their card after the game. That doesn’t mean I’d get the card as has been well-proven in the past (coach forgets; a player reaches a milestone during the game and they give him the card, etc), but it meant I had a chance.

Here is where the Cubs posted their bullpen card (circled), on the front of the bullpen wall:

Given the possibility of rain, posting the card on the outside wall wasn’t ideal from my perspective, but nobody asked me. And as it turned out, it never rained, so all was good.

Now it was time to settle in and enjoy the game. Because the stadium was not full, I was able to find into a seat a few rows behind the Cubs’ dugout.

I had a really good chance of snagging a 3rd-out ball from Dansby Swanson at the end of the 1st inning, but the guy circled in the pic above was standing in the aisle, and slid into the open row in front of me and stuck his hand in front of my glove at the last second. Good for him. He was there with his kids, so a nice memory for them.

The Cubs, who had just earned a playoff berth the day before but were still playing for a home wild card game, jumped out to a 3-0 lead through 2 innings and looked to be in control.

But the Cubbie bats went cold, and Boston clawed back with a run in the 3rd and 2 in the 5th to tie it. Connor Wong, replacing Mickey Gasper who left with an injury, doubled in Roman Anthony with what would be the game-winning run in the 7th.

After the Cubs went down 1-2-3 T8, and with Boston still clinging to a 1-run lead through 8, I thought the Red Sox would bring in Aroldis Chapman for the 9th inning save opportunity, but instead they stuck with Raymond Burgos for a 2nd inning, and again, he closed the door on Chicago, 3-up, 3-down for the 4-3 Boston win.

Meanwhile, I found a seat in the first row behind the Chicago bullpen for T9, and had no issues collecting the lineup card after the game.

Awesome!

PCA had a hit and his 41st stolen base of the season. Roman Anthony went 3-for-3 including his 4th career triple, and Adley Rutschman 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. Greg Weissert got the win in relief, and Burgos his 2nd career save.

For me, it was my 12th MLB game this season (10 regular season and 2 Spring Training), and 9th game from which I got a card. It was a fantastic way to end the lineup card-chasing season (I highly doubt I will go to any playoff games).

Oh, and adding another commemorative MLB ball to the collection was the cherry on top of the cake. I’ll close out this post with a pic of most of the MLB special baseballs (plus the yellow Banana Ball) we have gotten over the last 15 or so years, including the newly added Cubs 150th ball.

9/16/26 – Bull Durham in Worcester

The Durham Bulls, made famous by the 1988 movie Bull Durham, visited Worcester the final week of the Triple-A regular season.

I met a nephew at the Wednesday game, my 10th trip to Worcester for a WooSox game this season.

I got to Polar Park early, and was able to ask a Durham coach for the team’s dugout lineup card after the game. Not only did he say yes, but he also offered me the card from the previous night’s game which was apparently still in the dugout.

9/15/26 Durham Bulls lineup card, with wrong opponents name (should be WooSox” rather than “Sounds”)

It was Wednesday night’s card that I most wanted, but it was nice to know I’d be leaving with a card one way or the other, especially since this is my first Durham Bulls card.

9/16/26 Durham lineup card posted on the team’s dugout bulletin board

Durham had leads of 3-0 and 5-3, but Worcester scored 3 in the 7th and 2 in the 8th to score an 8-5 come-from-behind win over the visiting Bulls.

Sun setting over Polar Park

I made my way to the Durham dugout as the game ended, and the coach came through with the team’s dugout card.

Ten WooSox games this season, and I was fortunate to get cards from all of them! I gave the Tuesday card to my nephew.

The card is kind of basic, but there are a few things of note.

First, there are 2 MLB Top 100 prospects on the card: Worcester’s Franklin Arias (#3) and Tampa’s Caden Bodine (#48). Unfortunately, Bodine didn’t play.

Second, as noted in a caption above, the Rays have the wrong opponent’s name on the card. It should either be the “WooSox” or “Red Sox” instead on the “Sounds”.

Finally, and most interesting to me, is the Viking helmet on the top-center of the card. It has nothing to do with the Bulls or Rays, so why is it there? I asked another lineup card collector, who amazingly knew that another Rays’ farm team has a sombrero at the top of its card, apparently because the manager is of Mexican descent.

Durham’s manager, Morgan Ensberg, is apparently of Norwegian descent, so that is presumably the reason for the Viking helmet.

Stuff like this is why I love collecting lineup cards!

9/8/26 & 9/9/26 – Guardians @ Orioles

I made my third trip of the year to Baltimore for baseball, this time for a pair of Cleveland Guardians @ Baltimore Orioles games at Camden Yards on Tuesday, September 8th and Wednesday, September 9th.

I got to the stadium early on Tuesday, but the Orioles did not hit, and the Gaurdians went through a fairly quick BP session.

After BP, I hung out out near the Baltimore dugout. I was suprised to see the lineup card already posted in the Orioles’ dugout more than an hour ’til game time.

I was able to ask a Baltimore coach for the bullpen card, and he said he’d bring it to me near the Baltimore dugout after the game. [Fans can’t access the Baltimore bullpen.] That was great, because it would also give me a chance to first ask the umpires for their cards. So I’d have 3 shots at getting a card(s).

Cleveland jumped out to a 6-0 lead, Baltimore battled back to make it 6-5 (including Pete Alonso’s 298th career HR), but the Guardians added three runs in the 7th inning and went on to win, 9-5.

In the 8th inning, I managed to grab a seat by the tunnel the umpires would exit after the game.

After the game ended and the umpires exited, I was able to ask both the home plate and 3rd base umps for their cards, but each ignored me. 0-for-2, but still with a seemingly good chance to score a card.

I hustled over to meet the Baltimore coach on his way from the bullpen to the dugout, but when he got to me, he said he had forgotten the card in the bullpen. Oh man. I asked him if I could could get the card the next night, and he said yes.

I ran out to the bullpen area in the hopes that someone could get the card for me. I asked a couple younger groundscrew workers, and one indicated he’d go look. Cool, I had a shot.

But he then proceeded to ignore me, and eventually the 2 smiled wryly toward me a few times. Apparently, they were messing with me. That definitely stunk. So it goes.

In hindsight, I could’ve chased Cleveland’s bullpen card, in which case, I would’ve stayed out by the CLE bullpen. But the Orioles coach said yes, and getting it by the dugout would give me a chance to increase my odds by also chasing the umpire cards. Sometimes things just don’t work out.

I had been skunked 2 MLB games in a row, arguably 3 given the ‘blank’ card I got from AZ @ BOS. But I’d be back at it again the next day.

And there I was again on Wednesday, feeling pretty good about my chances, but knowing nothing was certain. David Rackley was going to be behind the plate, and he’s good about giving his cards away. And the Baltimore coach couldn’t forget the card two nights in a row, could he?

I managed to get a ball during BP, then hung out by the Baltimore dugout where I connected with the coach who said he would bring me the card.

Cleveland scored twice in the first inning, but Baltimore scored 8 runs in the home 3rd and that was enough for a 9-5 win for the home team.

Late in the game, I settled into a seat along the umpire exit tunnel again.

See the guy in the white shirt/circled?

That would be Cal Ripken Jr. I was in good company!

The game ends, Rackley gets to the tunnel, tosses a ball to someone, and I’m asking him for the lineup cards. There was a teenager on the other side of the tunnel, a row ahead of me. I’m not sure if he also asked Rackley for the cards or not, but that’s who Rackley gave the cards to. Uh-oh.

Like the previous night, I head over to the OF side of the Baltimore dugout to wait for the coach. I see him approaching, but he does NOT have the card with him.

Oh-no!

A few seconds later, he sees me, realizes he left the card in the bullpen, looks around for a second, then heads back out to the bullpen.

He gets the card, and eventually makes it over to me and hands me the card.

Wow and Phew! It was incredibly nice of him to go back out to the bullpen to get me the card. I was extremely appreciative.

A highlight of the card is the “Orioles” watermark on the bottom. Usually, that’s where the MLB logo would be. I love special or unique watermarks on cards.

Also, Jose Ramirez for the Guardians, is considered a potential if not likely Hall-of-Famer.

But most of all, it was great to head home with a card in what may be my last MLB game of the year!

8/25/26 & 9/1/26 – WooSox and Red Sox

Time has been tight of late, so a catch-up post.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (SWB) Railriders @ Worcester Red Sox, August 25, 2026

I had seen the WooSox and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (SWB) Railriders play earlier in the season, and both had bullpen cards I was able to get after the game.

But this time, neither team had a lineup card posted in its bullpen. Worcester, with Roman Anthony and Trevor Story starting in rehab stints, won 8-5. I was really hoping to score a lineup card from the game, but with no bullpen card posted, I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen.

I started with the umpires, but got the cold-shoulder. I then hit the WooSox dugout, but it was packed with autographers and manager Iggy Suarez was ignoring everyone.

My last hope was the Railriders bullpen. The bullpen coach had something in his pocket that he kept marking during the game, but I was pretty sure it was not a lineup card. It was my last shot at that point, though, so what the heck.

I caught the coach as he was walking back to the dugout, asked him, and he said something about having thrown it out. So I went to the bullpen, asked the grounds crew guy if he could fish out the card the coach said he threw away, and he was nice enought to do so.

He gave me 2 cards, both 8.5 x 11″, each with printing on both sides. Here are 2 of the sides:

The top pic is a lineup card of sorts. It has both lineups, but also A LOT of other info including batting averages, SWB player pitch counts by inning, and other matchup info. The Railriders’ coach also kept score for the WooSox players.

The bottom card is what I’d call a “pitcher usage” card. It summarizes which relievers are available, when they last pitch, pitch limits, etc. It also has “guidelines” for the SWB relievers. I have gotten “pitcher usage” cards a couple times in the past, but not in a few years. The other cards I am not showing have info on them that I am sure SWB would not want publicly posted, so I’m not going to do that. I assume the coach didn’t expect I’d get someone to fish the cards out of the trash.

While not traditional lineup cards, they are all super-cool. I love the notes and info on cards because it gives insight into what the manager and coaches are thinking in preparation and then playing the game.

And yes, I am considering the two cards shown above as lineup cards.

Mariners @ Red Sox, September 1

I started off September heading to Boston for the Mariners at Red Sox.

I spoke with the Mariners’ bullpen coach before the game, and he said yes to giving me the card after the game.

Long story short, I did not get the card because Mariners’ player Lazaro Montes had a couple hits, including a HR, in his MLB debut (a 9-6 Seattle win), and the bullpen coach wanted to give him the card.

The thought had crossed my mind when Montes hit the HR that Seattle could decide to keep the card — something similar happened last season when an A’s player hit a milestone HR and the A’s bullpen coach decided to give him the card — but I didn’t think it was likely they’d keep the bullpen card for that reason, and I didn’t have another option other than to try the umpires, which is always a crapshoot.

But I was wrong, Seattle did decide to keep the card for Montes. I was a bummer for me, but good for Montes, he earned it.

There was one other thing I could do. Seattle is using a 50th anniversary logo baseball in its home games, and I knew there’d be a chance the Mariners had one or two in their bullpen bag, so when the coach told me they were keeping the card for Montes, I thought quickly and asked him if he had a 50th anniversary baseball. I guess the coach felt bad after telling me pre-game I could have the card because sure enough, he went over to the bullpen bag, pulled out a ball, and tossed it to me.

I would have preferred to get the lineup card, but getting the 50th anniversary ball was a pretty good alternative.

It had been a long time since we scored an MLB commemorative ball at a game, so it was nice to be able to add another to the collection.

8/17/26 – Crazy Night in Beantown

I’ll cut right to the chase. This was the card I got after Monday night’s Diamondbacks @ Red Sox game.

How’d I end up with a blank card?

Well, it’s not completely blank. Yeah, the lineups are missing, but the teams/logo watermarks, date, umpires are all on there. More on that later.

I had asked for Arizona’s bullpen card before the game, got an unclear hand gesture, but decided to go with it.

A coach brought the card to the bullpen before the game, as usual.

A lineup card clearly in the coach’s right hand

The strange thing was, I noticed a relief pitcher also carrying a card out to the AZ bullpen just before first pitch. Why would they bring another card out?

I dug around on X and saw that the Red Sox had a last minute linuep change, and the DBacks were dealing with the Ketel Marte no-show drama.  Apparently hoping Marte would show, Arizona did not post its lineup until a few minutes before first pitch.

At the time, I assumed the coach brought out the original card, and the reliever brought a card with the updated lineups.  In hindsight, I assume the coach brought the empty lineup card pictured above, and the reliever brought the card with last minute lineups on it.   

The Dbacks posted the card on the outside wall of the bullpen.  

Bullpen lineup card circled in ‘yellow’

Fast-forward, the game ends, an 11-1 Boston spanking of the Dbacks, and I get right behind where the card is posted and the coach takes down the card. I’m right on top of him, politely ask for the card, and he ignores me. He takes it into the bullpen dugout. I’m waiting for him to re-emerge, he finally does, I ask again, this time he acknowledges me and then looks to his left where the bullpen catcher has just handed it to 2 or 3 young guys on the other side of the bullpen. The coach says he forgot, and there’s clearly nothing he can do now. But I know he has another card, see it in his hand, and ask him for it. He says it’s not filled in, I say that’s OK, and he hands it to me.

So…first question: Do I consider this a lineup card? You could argue this either way. The fact that there are no lineups on it is a problem, of course. I’ve gotten a few cards over the years that did not contain both teams’ lineups, and I counted those. Having no lineups is rough, but it has the teams, logos, date, even the umpires, and was in the Dbacks’ bullpen during the game. Of course it wasn’t used, but I have gotten a few bullpen cards that I know were never used, and I counted those. Given that this is a “for-fun” hobby, I’m counting it as a lineup card.

Second question, should I fill the lineups in, after-the-fact? I have never added anything to a lineup card I have ever gotten, even though I’ve been tempted to add a missing date, number in the linescore, etc. I am still deliberating whether this card is cooler as it is — I’ve never gotten an MLB card with missing lineups like this — or I should fill it in. If I was to fill it in, I think I’d prefer to do it on a computer/printer to look like it would have been if the team did it, as opposed to filling it by hand. If I do either, I don’t think I’d handwrite in the lineup changes.

To be clear, if I did fill in the lineups, I would never try to sell the card as a game-used item (I wouldn’t sell it anyway, of course).

I’d love any thoughts any of you might have as to what I should or shouldn’t do in the comments sections.

As for the rest of the game and my time at Fenway. I stumbled upon these empty Rawlings boxes outside the Media room entrance.

Boxes from the game balls, maybe? I’d think there’d be more than 5 dozen, but cool, if so.

Monday night might have been my last trip to Feway for 2026. We’ll see. If it was, at least I got a card. Kinda, sort of…

8/8/26 – Oh Canada, Part Deux

For the second straight year, we headed to Canada for vacation. And for the second straight year, we checked out a Frontier League game across the border.

Oh, Canada!

This year it was Ottawa Stadium in Ottawa, Ontario, home of the Ottawa Titans, who were taking on the Trois Rivieres Aigles (TRA). Last year, we saw the Aigles play at their home stadium.

It was a fantastic evening for baseball. Ottawa Stadium, with a capacity of 10,000+, is perhaps a little outsized for the Titans and made the announced crowd of 2,100 appear sparse on this night, but it is a solid stadium otherwise.

Ottawa Stadium

Ottawa is in Ontario, but borders on the province of French-speaking Quebec. Pretty much everything in the stadium, from signage to announcements, was in both English and French.

The Titans jumped on TRA with 4 runs in the bottom of the first and coasted to a relatively easy 12-5 win in a game played in an efficient 2:34 despite the 17 runs.

I of course wanted one or more lineup cards as a souvenir. The plan was to first hit the umpire exit directly behind home plate, then work my way to the home plated side of the Titans’ dugout on the 3B side.

In this case, things worked out smoothly. I got the umpire cards, which were generic Frontier Lg cards, then asked for and received the Ottawa dugout card from the team’s manager.

I love the card. Lineup cards from indy teams generally are short on aesthetics, but not this one. For starters, there is the commemorative logo top center (circled) celebrating the team’s 5-year anniversary. There are also 3 watermarks: The Titans logo, Frontier Lg logo, and MLB Partnership Lg logo.

The only disappointment is the fact that Ottawa didn’t fill in the date.

Good stuff from North of the border!

8/4/26 – Arias & the Pigs in Town

Another week, and another baseball game.

It was back to Worcester, where the WooSox were hosting the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Phillies) at Polar Park.

I had wanted to go to Boston for the White Sox @ Red Sox, but with an early work morning Tuesday, it was just too much/far to pull off both in one day.

Plus, Boston’s top prospect, Franklin Arias, was recently promoted to Worcester, a shorter drive for me than Boston. Arias is MLB’s 7th overall prospect, so the goal was to get him on a card.

Arias at the plate for WOR on August 4, 2026

There are apartment buildings out beyond the right-center field portion of the ballpark. Walking around the stadium early in the came, I noticed someone watching the goings-on from one of the apartments.

LHV never trailed, but it was close late. The Pigs led 6-5 entering the 9th inning, but scored 4 insurance runs and then closed out Worcester in the bottom of the inning for the 10-5 win.

Arias lived up to his billing on this night, going 3-for-5 at the dish in the loss.

I was able to get LHV’s dugout card after the game to complete a good night.

I accomplished the goal of getting the 20-year-old Arias on a card. The “Iron Pigs” watermark is also cool.

Another great night at Polar Park!

7/30/26 – Double-Header in Wappingers Falls

Wet weather last week set up a Jersey Shore (JS) @ Hudson Valley Renegades double-header Thursday in Wappingers Falls, NY.

I met one of my brothers for what was supposed to be a 7-inning Game 1, my first HVR game of the season on a gorgeous late July afternoon for baseball.

And we got a good game, with the visiting Blue Claws pulling out a 2-1, 8-inning victory that ended with an HVR player gunned down at the plate with what would have been the tying run.

I had asked the JS manager for his card before the game, and he came through after the exciting win!

The only real prospect of note is HVR starting pitcher Henry Lalane, a 6’7″ lefty. His name is crossed out on the card after leaving in the 7th inning, giving up just 1 earned run on 3 hits. Lalane was traded by the Yankees to the Giants a few days later.

Interestingly, while Lalane was New York’s 5th top prospect, he only registers as the 9th best prospect in San Francisco’s farm system.

7/24/26 – Bonus Banana Ball

I had plans for Friday evening that fell through at the last minute, leaving me with Plan B: Head to Hartford where the Savannah Bananas were playing at Dunkin’ Park (DP).

Actually, it wasn’t the Bananas, but two of their ‘affiliates’, the Indianpolis Clowns and Party Animals. While the Bananas played in Hartford in 2023, they have gotten too big for a stadium like DP, instead playing primarily MLB stadiums.

I would not be able to get into the Party Animals-Clowns game — it had been sold out for weeks — and that was fine. ‘Banana Ball’, as it is known, is essentially ‘baseball meets a loud circus’. It’s not my thing, but a lot of people love it, and that’s great. I could chase foul balls outside the stadium, hopefully. The Bananas and affiliates use their own baseballs. This was a ball I got 3 years ago when the Bananas played in Hartford.

The game started at 7pm. I purposefully got to the stadium about 7:15, wanting to miss the traffic for the sold out exhibition.

My plan was to stand outside the stadium on the 3B line, where I knew foul balls have come out of the stadium in the past. It’s admittedly boring sitting outside a stadium like that, and risky because nothing might come out on a given night. But if/when a foul ball does exit the stadium, it’s a neat rush.

What was helpful in terms of entertainment and knowing when to be ready for a possibiity of a ball leaving the stadium was that I could watch the scoreboard, which was showing the game feed.

DP scorebard watchable from outside the stadium

I was interested in lefties, who primarily hit foul balls down the 3B line.

This is the corner of Main Street and Pleasant Street in Hartford. Main Street runs along the 1B line (green arrow), and Pleasant Street (red arrow) along the 3B line.

I watched the game on the scoreboard. Even outside the stadium, it was incredibly loud. They play an ongoing mix of high-energy song clips while the game is being played. Between that and the car traffic, I had to pay attention to the possibility of a ball bouncing outside the stadium without being able to hear it.

The first 50 minutes or so, I was the only one on Pleasant Street save for the occassional passing car, but there was no action. Of the 18 batters, I think only 7 were lefties, which did not help my cause.

On a couple of occasions with righties at bat, I walked up to the corner of Main and Pleasant in case a ball might come out of the Main Street side of the stadium. But that street is far busier than Pleasant, so even if a ball came out on Main Street, there was traffic and a few people on the sidewalk, so there’d be no guarantee I’d get it, which is why I mostly stuck to Pleasant.

The 3rd time I walked up to Main Street and just started back down Pleasant, I heard and saw what I was hoping for: A ball flew out of DP, hit the street and ended up on a grassy area on the other side of Pleasant Street.

Awesome!

Here is the ball.

The ball is different than the previous one I snagged the same way: The font size on front is larger, and you can’t see in this pic, but instead of the Banana logo on top of the old ball are the letters “BBCL”, which stands for “Banana Ball Championship League”. I like the old ball better, but was still very happy to get the new one, too.

It was about 8:10pm at this point. I knew the game would end about 9pm, and some people would probably start leaving early, so I had set 8:30pm as the cut-off as to when I would take off to avoid traffic. I stuck around the next 20 minutes, but nothing else came out of the stadium on Pleasant Street, so I called it a night.

No lineup cards on this night — the Bananas and their affiliates use lineup cards, but I thin they sell them at this point — but that was quite alright.

7/22/26 – Choices…

I had 3 choices Wednesday:

  1. Go back to Nashua for the postponed FCBL ASG. It’d be fun to chase more ASG balls for people I know would want them, but…I already had one, and it’s a 4:30 round-trip.
  2. Go to G1 of the Orioles at Red Sox DH, due to Tuesday’s rain-out. The Sox were chasing history, it’d be fun to chase a lineup card, but it’d be a long ride and day.
  3. Go to Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins’affiliate) at WooSox G1 of a DH due to Tuesday’s postponement.

And I chose…#3. It was the closest option, the game time was good…it just made the most sense.

2:10pm – I left home for Worcester, hitting traffic on the way. G1 start time was 4:05pm.

4:05pm – I walked into the stadium just as first pitch should have been happening…but a quick but strong rain storm had hit Worcester and pushed the start time back to 4:45pm.

4:30pm – Because of the delay, I was able to ask a Worcester coach for its dugout lineup card. In 5+ years of going to games at Polar Park, I’d never gotten a Worcester dugout card.

4:46pm – Miami #7 prospect Cam Cannarella led off the game with a home run to centerfield. But the WooSox answered with a run B1 to tie the score, 1-1.

Not many on hand for the start of G1

5:45pm(ish) – Jax scores T1, but WOR answers with 2 in the bottom of the inning for a 3-2 lead.

6:52pm – WOR closes out a 1-2-3 bottom of the 7th inning to hang on for the 3-2 win.

6:55pm – A WOR coach gives me the dugout lineup card

My first WooSox dugout card, and it’s a nice one! Worcester tracked lineup changes, the line score, and even mound visits and challenges. It’s also my first card with the Jumbo Shrimp on it.

8:30pm – I arrive home.

Some more background; it was a good thing I asked for the card before the game, because there was a kid behind me also asking for the card after the game.

I had debated trying the umpires as they exited the field and then hitting the Worcester dugout, but the stadium had filled in nicely for G2, and I wasn’t sure I could get to the Red Sox dugout quickly enough. As it turned out with the kid asking, I’m glad I bagged the umpire route and just focused on the dugout.

This was my 7th WooSox game of the season, and I have been able to get a card at each one. It’s also my 61st card of the year.