September Sports Crate Review - Chicago Cubs Crate #5

Alright, so the final Sports Crate for this season is (finally) here. This is Crate #5 and the theme is "Finish Strong."

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love!

As most of you who follow and/or subscribe to this box probably know, Sports Crate has been riddled with shipping issues and production problems. Sports Crate is part of the Loot Crate family and I recently saw that Loot Crate is also having a production issue with their specialty Stranger Things Crate, so it looks like this has been an issue across the board with Loot Crate.

Crate #5 is the last Crate in this series, but Sports Crate sent out an email saying they're making some changes to the subscription going forward. Crates will now be bi-monthly (six total per year) throughout the whole year instead of five Crates from May to September for baseball season. They've partnered with brands like '47, Stance, Tervis, and New Era for future Crates. There are also new pricing options:

• Bi-monthly: $29.99 every other month ($29.99 per Crate)
• Three months: $85.50 every six months ($28.50 per Crate for three Crates)
• Yearly: $162.00 once a year ($27.00 per Crate for six Crates)

Crates were previously $39.99 per month, so I am wondering if the drop in price means a drop in the retail value of the merchandise as well.

I can say that I will not be resubscribing to Sports Crate as of right now. The next box will be in December, so if you sign up for their new plan that will be your first box. I'm still waiting on three BALLERS figures from this past subscription, so I don't want to sign up for anything new until I get those items and see what kind of merch they include in the next few boxes.

So! All of that stuff aside, the September Crate was pretty good. I was glad to get another t-shirt with a good design, and I was happy that Javy Báez was the featured player.

Unfortunately, this month's Crate was without the BALLERS figurine yet again. Sports Crate advised everyone last month that they were re-tooling the figurines to be better quality and look more realistic, so there would be a delay in shipping. Last month's Anthony Rizzo figurine is supposed to ship sometime this month (if I recall correctly, Sports Crate said we should have them "by the end of October), and Javy's is also delayed. Furthermore, if you purchased the Season Pass option like me our extra bonus figurine is still on the way but I don't even remember when Sports Crate said that one would be shipping.

Anyway, so regardless of what team's Crate you ordered, according to the insert pictured above we should be getting our BALLERS for Crate 4 and 5 by the end of October. Fingers crossed that we actually see them by then!

This is called the 2 Cubs Lanyard on the info card,d though I'm not sure why. Maybe "2" is the name of the brand? Either way, it's a nice lanyard made of what I'm assuming is a polyester blend. It's soft and shiny, as you can see from the photo above. I like having my keys on a lanyard because it makes them easier to grab out of my bag.

I don't know why, but I just had a feeling when I first subscribed to this box that an apron would be included at some point. I was right, since this box has the Stadium Apron. I really like the Wrigley Field design and the material is nice and sturdy, but I don't grill so I might gift this to my brother or someone else who will use it.

My favorite item in the box is the American Needle Cubs T-Shirt by Wright and Ditson. The design is simple, but I prefer my sports t-shirts to just have a simple logo on them. I also like the lighter blue background since I didn't have any Cubs shirts in that color until now. I put my size down as medium when I first signed up and I probably could have used a small for this since it's a looser tee, but it still fits fine and I will definitely still wear it.

I also wanted to note that MLB licensed apparel is usually pretty pricey regardless of how simple it is ($35 for a player tee, anyone?), so I figured this shirt had a decent retail tag. This particular design isn't available on the Wright and Ditson website, but similar tees range from $30-$38 so I think this was a good deal.

• Visit Sports Crate to subscribe

Bottom Line: Am I bummed that Sports Crate had so many issues with these boxes? Sure. I totally understand everyone else's frustration, too. But I guess because I've been subscribing to sub boxes for so long these kinds of things don't really come as a surprise to me. I hope that we get our BALLERS figurines soon, but I guess there isn't much we can do other than wait.

What do you think of Sports Crate? Do you think you'll subscribe to the new bi-monthly plan>