Some breaks can serve as a healthy reminder that "a new box" isn't always the best method to fill the void. In this particular instance, the results from my 2026 Topps Series 2 All-Star Game Mega Box felt like more of a rebuke on my entire participation in the hobby.
I covered this year's MLB All-Star Game in Philadelphia on-site. The All-Star Game is my favorite event of each calendar year, and this was a meaningful moment I'd been looking forward to for years. Typically, locations of All-Star Games are announced about two seasons out. The foundation for this one was laid in 2019 to celebrate America's 250th. I am both the father of a newborn trying to save money and a deeply emotional man who looks for any excuse to ascribe extra meaning to the process of breaking cards (with a nominal fee attached). Looking for something to scratch the itch, a $50 mega featuring 14 packs and All-Star branding felt like a fun complement to this particular moment in history.
My first idea was to purchase a box at the stadium and potentially break it on camera. Fearing they wouldn't be sold in Philly, though, I ended up snagging one online at Target and shipping it to my home. When I arrived at the ballpark, it was evident my fears about potentially not being able to find any product were unfounded.
Oops!
2026 Topps MLB Series 2 All-Star Mega Box Break results
The event was a total whirlwind, but when I returned home, exhausted, my box was waiting for me. I knew it would be a lengthy and fun opportunity - 14 packs! - and I was right. I knew I'd forever associate it with a great week in my life - I was right, but that association sucks, actually! And I'd heard Megas were loaded - wrong!
In all, I received not only a startlingly low amount of value, but a number of my "notable pulls" felt like direct personal attacks as a Yankees fan. I received the requisite amount of diagonal-striped All-Star logo parallels, and they were cool. Other pros included a Cam Schlittler insert (which I had just purchased as a single for $3 at a local hobby shop), two different Cole Young RC inserts and a Chase DeLauter (commons), and a Munetaka Murakami RC, which is at least a feather in the cap.
There was not a single numbered card in this box; my parallels were Lars Nootbaar teal and Jarren Duran sand glitter, not only a player on my least favorite team, but somehow the only player on that team that that team's fans also hate, rendering it completely unflippable. Poor collation granted me not one, but two copies of a common card featuring Duran and Trevor Story hugging one another, with the caption reading "Beantown Buds". In the final pack, the one I'd saved for post-trade deadline madness, a 1991 ASG parallel featuring ... Adley Rutschman, Boston's newest gem, locked eyes with me. The only thing that could've made this worse would've been opening a pack with a terrible smell or one that featured an auto card of my childhood bully with a photo of him kicking my ass.
In all, I wish I'd had a brighter experience, but these are the risks we take. What I really wish is that this break had been captured on camera so that I could've monetized my failure and helped out our college fund as much as I'd harmed it in the first place with the decision to purchase the box.
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