Analyzing the Market of 4 Key Players in the Championship Series

The Milwaukee Brewers won their first-ever National League pennant on Oct. 15 since moving from the American League after the 1997 season. While in the American League, the Brewers won their lone pennant in 1982. The Cleveland Guardians led the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 in the American League Championship Series entering Game 4 on Oct. 16. The card market is incredibly volatile in the postseason. The Brewers and Rays (2020 AL champs) have never won a World Series championship; the Guardians' last title came in 1948, when they were still the Cleveland Indians (2016 AL champs). The Dodgers, swept by the Brewers in the NLCS, fell short of the three-peat, a feat that hasn't been accomplished since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000.

CardWire tracked 590 sales of four base Topps Chrome rookie autos: Jackson Chourio, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Junior Caminero and José Ramírez. The bigger moves tend to come later, if last fall is any guide.¹

Last year's test case: Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Yamamoto's 2024 Topps Chrome rookie auto raw sold for a median of $242 before the 2025 postseason. By November, after he won World Series MVP, his regular-season dominance had kept his prices rising.

PSA 10s told the same story on fewer sales: $478 before the playoffs, $1,225 during the World Series and $1,325 in November. Investors and collectors show that buying into Yamamoto's rookie autos before a title run, not after, can pay off. Yamamoto won three of the Dodgers' four World Series wins last year, leading to an MVP performance that fueled his rise in card sales.

Jackson Chourio: his card market hasn't caught up to his postseason dominance

2024 Topps Chrome Rookie Autographs #RA-JC · Brewers sweep Dodgers 4-0

Chourio's raw auto sold for $120 and $143 in late August. In the first week of October, after his Division Series home run against the Padres, it sold for $160, $199, and $240. That's roughly a 50% jump on a not-very-high volume, and it went from about one sale every two weeks to more than two a week.

Then the market went quiet on Chourio. No copy has sold since the NLCS started on Oct. 11, even as the Brewers won three straight and Chourio homered on the first pitch of Game 3. The lowest-priced raw copy listed on eBay at the time of writing is $250.

Chourio's Chrome rookie base auto, graded PSA 10, is the scarcest of the four cards mentioned. Only 89 total copies have been graded by PSA, including 51 PSA 10s, for a 57% gem rate. One PSA 10 has sold since August for $311and with Chourio staying hot in the postseason, that $311 price point looks like a steal. The Brewers swept the Dodgers in the NLCS, and I predict Chourio's card is most likely to skyrocket because of the low pop report and his hot postseason.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto: the test of what losing does

2024 Topps Chrome Rookie Autographs #RA-YY · Dodgers lose series to Brewers 0-4

Yamamoto's cards have already been through a World Series cycle, and it has helped his cards, particularly rookie autographs, stay afloat and desirable in the market. His raw auto now trades around $550 to $600, more than double where it sat before last October.

Yamamoto's postseason started well, striking out 10 Braves on Oct. 6; however, the Brewers knocked him out after 2 2/3 innings in NLCS Game 2. No raw copy has sold since then.

Yoshinobu's card market remains relatively quiet and worth watching. With the Dodgers' elimination, Yamamoto's card becomes the prime example of whether a losing October takes back what a winning one gave him. PSA 10s of Yoshinobu's Chrome rookie auto are also hard to find: only 51 exist, and his card grades a 10 just 29.5% of the time.

Junior Caminero: plenty of buyers, plenty of cards

2024 Topps Chrome Rookie Autographs #RA-JCA · Guardians led Rays 2-1 entering Game 4

The Tampa Bay Rays are hot, and Junior Caminero is one of the primary reasons why. He has the busiest market of the four by far. His raw auto has sold an astonishing 30+ times since August, and the pace has picked up every round: 2.7 sales a week in the regular season, 3.5 in the early rounds, 4.2 so far in the ALCS.

Prices haven't followed, unfortunately. Raw copies still sell for about $175 to $210, which can be a great buy if you have disposable income. Caminero, albeit on a cold streak right now, can still be a great investment because if the Rays win the World Series, you can expect his cards to rise.

Key players on championship-winning teams usually have huge spikes in card prices after winning a title.

PSA 10s touched a staggering $700 during the Rays' sweep of the Yankees, then sold for $610 only a few days later. He went 5-for-21 with no home runs through ALCS Game 3, which gives buyers little reason to chase, but he is a high-level performer and can get out of his cold streak at any time.

PSA-graded Caminero rookie autos are plentiful. There are 684 copies of the card graded by PSA, and nearly half (340) are 10s, more than six times Chourio's count. Many 10s are currently on the market, creating competition among sellers as they try to offer the best sell-now price to make a profit. A big homer on the World Series stage could raise his market; however, supply is high, and demand doesn't seem as strong as Chourio's or Yamamoto's cards.

José Ramírez: a hot October, a flat card

2014 Topps Chrome Rookie Autographs #45 · CLE led 2-1 entering Game 4

José Ramírez is having the best October of the four: 11-for-30 with two home runs and eight RBIs through ALCS Game 3. Despite being a probable future Hall of Famer and one of the most consistent players for years, his cards do not get the attention they deserve, whether that's because he plays in a weak division or the fact that he is yet to win an MVP; his high performance shows his cards are bound to go up eventually.

PSA 9 copies of his 2014 Topps Chrome rookie autograph have sold for $785 to $805 in September and $775 and $870 in October, a steady increase for Ramírez's cards, but not a surge. Strangely, PSA 10s went the opposite direction and lost value: from $2,328 in late summer to $1,823 on Sept. 28, which was the eve of the postseason. Sellers are currently asking $4,800 to $5,000 for PSA 10s, more than double the last sale, and nobody is buying.

That gap says something about a 12-year-old rookie card. Investors usually prefer flashier, younger players, not a 14-year veteran who seems to be in the MVP discussion every season. A World Series trip might move his card sales, but veteran rookie cards like this one tend to move on careers, not Octobers.

For some cards, the low supply can only improve the ceiling

The fewer PSA 10s, the more eyes the card will draw when it hits the market. On that measure, Chourio's card has the most room to run, and Caminero's has the least.

Population from GemRate, as of Oct. 14, 2026.

What to watch before Game 1 of the World Series

The World Series starts Oct. 23. Three things will tell us how this October shakes out for these cards:

1. The first Chourio sale of the NLCS. The Brewers swept the two-time defending champs, and as of writing this, there have been zero PSA 10 sales, but if one hits the market, a surge wouldn't be shocking.
2. Yamamoto's sales following the Dodgers' exit's effect. The Brewers swept the Dodgers. The next few Yamamoto card sales will determine if the $550 price point is permanent. A drop toward $400 would show it's tied to winning.
3. Whether Caminero's volume turns into price, his card is selling more than four times a week. If the Rays advance and that pace rises but raw prices stay near $200, the supply will outweigh the demand.

CardWire will update all four cards before Game 1 and again two weeks after the final out.

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