[Renfro]

FRANCHISE HEROES #1

The whole having to lock the "goal" / "fake topper" cards is kind of depressing for an FTP team like my Hosts. I do appreciate the two Diamond Packs as rewards, but I dislike having to hope for an amazing pull (which sort of happened) to generate the real PP needed to advance. Otherwise, it's the grind.

After a bit of debate, I decided to lock the 4 BaLs that I have. I mean, each of the 100 BaLs play an important part. Charles Nagy (8-7) and Jake Peavy (6-3) are in the rotation while Paul Goldschmidt and Harry Heilmann are in the everyday lineup. Heilmann is having his best year, slashing .345 / .425 / .524 with 60 RBIs and 59 runs. He's on track to beat the 5.8 WAR he posted in Bronze in 2028.

So I unlocked Ken Caminiti, Rocky Colavito, Justin Upton, and Dick McAuliff.

I immediately slotted Caminiti in for the struggling Rico Petrocelli (HL 100). Petrocelli had been a solid hitter ever since 2024 but this year he's been struggling to the tune of .221 / .303 / .332.

I also put in Dick McAuliff for Tony Fernandez (90 BaL). McAuliff takes over for Craig Biggio (92 BaL) at 2B, and Biggio moves over to DH vR, replacing Rico Carty (SE 92).

The other two I kept on reserve. Caminiti hit a home run in his first game.

The 8 Diamond Packs resulted in: 2 Live Juan Sotos, 2 Live Aaron Nolas, a Live Aaron Judge, Hitter of the Month Carson Kelly (95), Randy Ready (OHW 91), and Emmet Heidrick (SS 91). The latter has an L10 above 65k because he's needed for Tim Raines BaL.

This means that I can complete Tim Raines tonight if I wanted to, as there're two HAS George Springers (91) on the AH right now and I have nearly 100k to burn. But that 100k was ear-marked for John Henry Lloyd (NLS 99). But his L10 has been cratering, and 100 Tim Raines looks amazing. So the Diamond Pack rewards did payoff. And now I'm faced with the delicious choices that often presents itself to an FTP player.

I think I'll sleep on it.

At the end of today's games, our Hosts are 3rd in the AC East with a 58-50 record, a 1/2 game out of a Wild Card spot. It's quite a turnaround because we stumbled badly out of the gate, going 9-17 in our first 25 games. I hope that my meager improvements after tonight's content drop are enough to keep us in the hunt.