Major League Baseball’s postseason has a way of turning already-known names into hobby heat. A big October can do that. It only takes a few loud games for a player’s card market to move, and the National League playoff field has plenty of candidates.
Bryce Harper is a perfect example. He’s already a star and probably an early, if not first, ballot Hall of Famer.
Even with his career on the back end, he still put up nearly 30 home runs and 87 RBI this season. That’s why he’s on this kind of list: not because collectors are discovering him, but because they already know exactly what he can do.
Recent memories fade fast, but the long view sticks. A strong playoff run could give Harper’s market a real bump.
There’s still a path to affordable Harper rookies, too. PSA GEM MT 10 copies can still be found for under $100.
His 2012 Topps Finest rookie card in PSA 10 last sold for $74 on September 27, 2026, after going for $110 as recently as September 10, 2026. Harper is also the only player here who did not debut with the same Major League team he’s on now.
Ronald Acuna Jr. belongs in the same conversation. He’s another potential Hall of Famer whose peak came a few years ago, but collectors know the ceiling.
Injuries have been part of the story since 2023, though he still won Comeback Player of the Year last year and finished with 20 home runs and 55 RBI in just 107 games. His rookie cards came out in 2018 products, right as the market was on the edge of the parallel boom, so there are plenty of options.
One example: his 2018 Topps Chrome rookie debut pink refractor last sold for $20, according to Card Ladder.
Pete Crow-Armstrong is the presumptive National League Most Valuable Player, and that makes him a little different from the others on this list. He’s already in the middle of a huge year, but a strong playoff run could still send his market even higher.
His card market is already hot - maybe hotter than anywhere else on this list - but if you believe in the MVP case and in the Cubs advancing, there’s still room for more. His last Topps Chrome rookie refractor sold for $40, according to Card Ladder.
Jackson Merrill also fits the profile of a player whose hobby stock could climb with October production. He broke in during 2024 and immediately looked like a name to chase, hitting .292 with 24 home runs and 90 RBI while making the All-Star Game and winning a Silver Slugger Award.
Injuries cut into his 2025 season, and his batting average dipped this year, but he still set a career high with 26 home runs and finished with 87 RBI, just shy of his career best. At 23, the upside is still obvious, and the prices reflect that.
A 2024 Topps Chrome rookie X-Fractor graded SGC GM MT 10 sold for just $22 on September 30, 2026.
Jackson Chourio is another young player whose market hasn’t fully caught up to the production. Maybe it’s the Milwaukee factor, but he doesn’t seem to get the same hobby attention as some of the other young names.
That could be a buying window. In 127 games, Chourio hit a career-high .291 and a career-high 25 home runs for a Brewers team that set the franchise record with 103 wins.
He’s only 22, and Card Ladder shows a rookie debut Topps Update Aqua parallel graded SGC MT 9 selling for $10.
Shohei Ohtani is the one name here that raises the obvious question: does he even have room to rise? Maybe not much, at least not in the usual sense.
But he’s on the list because of the injury. Even if his market hasn’t really fallen, or only minimally, a deep postseason run would still push it higher, perhaps beyond where it already sits.
He’s unlikely to pitch this postseason, but collectors may not care the first time he sends one into the bleachers. The bigger issue is deciding which of his many cards to target.
His rookies still carry a premium, as do his numbered parallels, while his refractors remain more approachable at around $20. With MVP effectively out of reach, the Chrome refractors aren’t drawing the same frenzy.
A 2026 Shohei Ohtani refractor last sold for just under $20, down from $40.50 on August 13, 2026, according to Card Ladder.
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For a Padres team with its own October path still in view, the ripple effects are hard to miss. MLB has floated two possible start times for Braves-Phillies, 2:15 p.m. ET or 8:15 p.m. ET, and the winner will move on to face the Dodgers in the NL Division Round beginning Oct. 3. Until the other playoff results settle the schedule, the league has left one of the most important games on the board hanging in the balance. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Owners Already Face A Harsh Test In San Diego
Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones arrived with the kind of ambition Padres fans want to hear, making clear that their goal is a World Series title. The timing is encouraging, too, with San Diego fresh off a wild-card sweep of the Cubs and carrying one of the more energized home crowds in the sport after topping 3 million fans in the 2023 regular season.
Still, the job in front of the new ownership group is not only about sustaining momentum on the field. An anonymous general manager has already raised concerns about the financial strain created by the clubs big payroll commitments to key players, which adds an immediate layer of pressure to the transition. Feliciano has framed those obligations as opportunities, but how the Padres balance that view against the realities of the market may become one of the first defining tests of the new era. [Read more 🡒]