This is the first card I’m receiving from the Topps Update 2025. It’s a foil parallel of the Miguel Rojas card. I scored it during a competition on Bluesky. We need to have our World Series heroes in our collection.
I didn’t bother looking for Update, I’m just about done with that dance. If I’m not excited about the design, there’s no reason to collect a set with a lot of filler. I’ll just bring my team kit, thank you. And it arrived today.
Not the most exciting 14 cards, I already saw that coming when I went through the checklist. There is both good and bad in that.
THE GOOD
Update went wild on relievers this year. I’ve seen a few mentions of that from other team collectors when they received their team sets. I know the set design makes it hard to read, but that’s Evan Phillips, Jack Dreyer, Anthony Banda, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, and Roki Sasaki (not a reliever except in the postseason). But no Tanner Scott, which is kind of funny.
That seems like a lot compared to other Update sets. I’m glad I’m getting these guys, even though the bullpen was almost the Dodgers’ downfall. Everyone who plays a role must be represented in cards (although with the way the Dodgers use pitchers, the team set would be 65 cards strong).
There is only one starter in the team set: a starter who is no longer on the team. Jack Dreyer started five games when the Dodgers were searching.
Oddly enough, there are only two position players, catcher Dalton Rushing and infielder Miguel Rojas. Looking through the roster, that’s probably all Topps can add. Alex Call played 38 games, but arrived late. Alex Freeland was next with just 29 games.
IT’S BAD
Let’s go to the default Update filler.
Shohei Ohtani is included in this set just to give player collectors one more card to find. The other two cards are Rookie Debut extras, which Topps has been making for a number of years. Hyeseong Kim (and Roki Sasaki, whose rookie debut card I showed earlier) also had cards in the main set. While I like to note the player’s debut date, it could easily be included on one card. Put it on the back and give collectors a reason to turn the card over.
The two horizontal cards are combination cards. Not necessary, but fun, and a little less pointless than the Dodgers combos in the main set. The Glasnow-Snell card appears to show a photo of the first games of the season in Japan. I turned back to see if there was an explanation for what they were eating, but I expected too much.
Also more equality in the Update set. Other than Vesia screaming, there wasn’t much going on.
So that means going back to the flagship set for the best card. Update didn’t do its job. There is no update.
Series 2’s Hyeseong Kim is officially “the best Dodger card” for 2025.
I used to present every “best Dodger card” for each year I collected, but I’m just going to list them now. Your favorite blogger is getting lazier.
1975: Ron Cey
1976: Mike Marshall
1977: Reggie Smith
1978: Dusty Baker
1979: Bob Welch
1980: Ron Cey
1981: Rudy Wet
1982: Pedro Guerrero
1983: Dave Stewart
1984: Jerry Reuss
1985: Pedro Guerrero
1986: Pedro Guerrero
1987: Bill Madlock
1988: Tom Lasorda
1989: John Tudor
1990: Eddie Murray
1991: Fernando Valenzuela
1992: Tom Lasorda
1993: Mike Scioscia
1994: Roger McDowell
1995: Orel Hershiser
1996: Hideo Nomo
1997: Delino DeShields
1998: Raul Mondesi
1999: Raul Mondesi
2000: Orel Hershiser
2001: Adriaan Beltre
2002: Terry Mulholland
2003: Hideo Nomo
2004: Robin Ventura
2005: Kaz Ishii
2006: Brad Penny
2007: Greg Maddux
2008: André Ethier
2009: Clayton Kershaw
2010: Juan Pierre
2011: Casey Blake
2012: Javy Guerra
2013: Hanley Ramirez
2014: Ricky Nolasco
2015: Clayton Kershaw
2016: Yasiel Puig
2017: Dodgers team card
2018: Walker Bühler
2019: Enrique Hernández
2020: Enrique Hernández
2021: Corey Seager
2022: Max Muncy
2023: Will Smith
2024: Miguel Vargas
2025: Hyeseong Kim
But maybe not as lazy as Topps. I’ve had a hard time choosing a favorite over the past four years.
This should be the end of my treatment of the 2025 design and set for the year, which would be great because it wasn’t easy to photograph. I don’t plan on buying the Holiday set. It’s still possible I’ll get the entire flagship as a gift for Christmas, but I’ll sort that out if/when it happens.
#Update #update