Update on the Braves storyline from earlier this week: after losing 7 of 9 and watching the division lead shrink to 3 games, Atlanta actually answered back Tuesday night — a 3-2 win over the Dodgers built on a three-run first inning (Dubón, Michael Harris II, and Albies all drove one in). Meanwhile the Phillies got run over by Seattle in back-to-back games, 9-2 Monday and 1-4 Tuesday, which — fittingly — ties directly into this issue's Card Worth Knowing pick below. Net result: instead of the race tightening to three games like it looked a couple days ago, Atlanta's actually pushed the cushion back out to 4.5 games heading into Wednesday. I'm not ready to call the slump officially over, but Tuesday was the kind of response you want to see before a rough stretch turns into a real problem.

On a lighter note, ESPN ran a really good feature this week on Shohei Ohtani's cards — his path from Angels prospect to Dodgers superstar and how that's shaped his relationship with Topps along the way. Worth a read if you collect him or just want the full arc: ESPN — Shohei Ohtani's baseball cards. ⬜ [Allen: confirm the details in the piece match before we publish — full text didn't pull cleanly on our end.]

Speaking of things worth paying attention to right now — the grading side of the hobby has its own version of a slump. More on that below.

PSA's grading backlog problem isn't going away — if anything, it's gotten worse since the company first pulled the emergency brake this summer. PSA paused every grading tier under $80 (Value Bulk, Value, Value Plus, Value Max) starting June 2, after the backlog swelled past 10 million cards. By mid-June, PSA updated that number to 14 million. In their words: "trust is built on honesty, and we owe you a grading infrastructure built on reality, not optimism."

Source: Baseball America

The patient play: with grading this backed up, raw cards are sitting undervalued relative to their graded comps for longer than usual. If you've got a want list, this is a good window to buy raw and sit on it — you're not competing with as many buyers racing to grade and flip, and you can submit once the backlog actually clears instead of paying premium turnaround fees now.

The lead was down to three games and shrinking fast — Manager Walt Weiss summed up the low point bluntly: "Over the course of the season, I think we're a top-10 offense in all of baseball. Doesn't feel like it right now." That was after a stretch that saw the Braves go 12-for-69 with runners in scoring position. But Tuesday's 3-2 win over the Dodgers, paired with the Phillies dropping both ends of their series in Seattle, pushed the cushion back out to 4.5 games heading into Wednesday's games — the biggest single-day swing in the race in weeks.

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution · Atlanta News First · MLB.com standings, Aug 26, 2026

Last season Raleigh was one of the best stories in the sport — 60 home runs, 125 RBIs, the most ever by a catcher, the most ever by a switch-hitter, and a runner-up finish to Aaron Judge for AL MVP. This year has been the opposite: a .166/.249/.325 slash line, a 43-plate-appearance hitless streak in April and May, and the steepest OPS drop of any regular player in baseball. His rookie autos have quietly softened right along with it — down 5.6% over the last 30 days.

Then on August 24, he hit three home runs in a single game at T-Mobile Park — a two-run shot, a solo blast, and another solo homer — matching Edgar Martinez's franchise record. It's one game, not a trend reversal, but it's exactly the kind of signature performance that can flip sentiment on a card that's been priced for a lost season.

Sources: MLB.com · AP via Hawaii Tribune-Herald · Sports Card Investor — verify current comps before treating this as a live price.

Sources: Waxstat release calendar · Checklist Insider (Allen & Ginter) — dates subject to shift; confirm before ordering.