2016 BBM Team Sets

After last year's experiment with buying each of BBM's pack based team sets went so well, I decided to do it again this year.  Like last year, the only way I was able to do this was because Ryan doggedly tracked down every set for me and tirelessly found good deals.  So once again I want to thank Ryan for all he does for me and again hope that I haven't exhausted his patience.

Like last year, this year's BBM pack based team sets (as opposed to the various team box sets) had 81 cards in their base sets (except one which I'll explain in a minute).  Each set featured the team's manager as well as all the players on the team's 70 man roster at the time the set went to press (which was never 70 players).  Each set also had several subsets plus at least one card showing the team's mascots (the Marines had four!).  Several of the sets also had a separate checklist card.  (Some of the sets had the set checklist on the back of the mascot card).  Here's a breakdown of the cards in each set:

Team	Player/Manager Cards	Mascot Cards	Checklist	Subsets
Chiba Lotte Marines	64	4	1	2015 Highlight (1), 2015 Honor (2), Strong Six Pack (6), Sonic Boom (3)
Chunichi Dragons	69	1	0	2016 Highlights(6), Key Player(3), Respectable(3)
Fukuoka Softbank Hawks	67	1	1	Triple Three (3), 2 (3), Road To Record (5), 2015 Champions (1)
Hanshin Tigers	68	1	0	The Brightest Hope(3), Empowerment(3), Franchise Player(3), Great Record (3)
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	68	1	0	Take The Mound(3), Rising(3), Show Time(3), Honor Of Carp (3)
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters	66	1	0	Brilliant Stars (11), Early Sensation (3)
Orix Buffaloes	68	1	0	Newcomer(3), Bs Starters (3), Bs Backbone (3), Bs Leaders (3)
Saitama Seibu Lions	70	1	1	New Impact (3), Record Breaker (3), Gold Standard '15 (3)
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	68	1	0	Newcomer (6), Make A Headline (6)
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	68	1	0	Combination (3), 2015 Leaders (3), Newcomer (6)
Yokohama DeNA Baystars	68	1	1	Award Winners (2), Puzzle (9)
Yomiuri Giants	65	1	0	Speed Star (3), New Face (5), Force To Recapture (6)

If you do the math, you'll notice that the Giants set only has 80 cards.  Card number 10 (Kyosuke Takagi) was not issued.  Takagi was released by Yomiuri on March 24th, after the set had gone to press but before it was released.

Like last year, there's a number of "significant" players who had cards in the team sets but not in BBM's flagship sets - Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tony Blanco, Hotaka Yamakawa, Kam Mickolio and Yuki Saitoh for example (and obviously "significant" may have different meanings for different persons)  Here's an example card from each of the twelve sets showing a player who did not appear in either the 1st or 2nd Version sets this year:

2016 BBM Marines #M50

2016 BBM Dragons #D35

2016 BBM Hawks #H07

2016 BBM Tigers #T67

2016 BBM Carp #C66

2016 BBM Fighters #F11

2016 BBM Buffaloes #Bs54

2016 BBM Lions #L51

2016 BBM Eagles #E20

2016 BBM Swallows #S32

2016 BBM Baystars #DB31

2016 BBM Giants #G61

The sets were released between March and July.  Normally the Giants set is the last one to be released but I think BBM wanted to get a card of Yoshinobu Takahashi as manager out as soon as possible so instead the set came out in March.  You can see that each set has a different design.  I really liked the Dragons set this year and not just because I'm a Dragons fan.  I felt it had the most attractive design.  The designs that I liked the least were the Hawks, the Eagles, the Swallows and the Giants, simply because I don't really care for card designs that crowd the photos.

If Ryan's willing to help me out again (translation - do all the work again) next year, I think I'll do this again.  I really like feeling like I've got cards of everyone and this is the best way to do that.