This is the first card I received from 2025 Topps Update. It's a foil parallel of the Miguel Rojas card. I grabbed it in a giveaway on Bluesky. We have to have our World Series heroes in our collection.
I haven't bothered to go looking for Update, I'm pretty much done with that dance. If I'm not thrilled with the design then there's no reason to collect a set with a bunch of filler. I'll just take my team set, thank you. And that arrived today.
Not the most exciting 14 cards, I saw that coming when I reviewed the checklist. There's 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 make it difficult 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). No Tanner Scott though, which is kind of funny.
That seems like a lot in comparison to other Update sets. I welcome getting these guys, even if the bullpen was almost the Dodgers' undoing. Everyone who plays a part should be represented in cards (Although with the way the Dodgers use pitchers, the team set would be 65 cards strong).
There is just one starter in the team set -- a starter not on the team anymore. Jack Dreyer did start five games when the Dodgers were searching.
Weirdly there are only two position players, catcher Dalton Rushing and infielder Miguel Rojas. Looking through the roster, that's probably all that Topps could add. Alex Call played 38 games but arrived too late. Alex Freeland was next with just 29 games.
THE BAD
Let's get to the standard Update filler.
Shohei Ohtani is in this set just to give player collectors yet another card to find. The other two cards are Rookie Debut extras, which Topps has been doing for several years now. Hyeseong Kim (and Roki Sasaki, whose rookie debut card I showed earlier) also had cards in the main set. While I like noting the player's debut date, that could easily be included on one card. Put it on the back, give collectors a reason to turn the card over.
The two horizontal cards are combo cards. Not necessary but kind of fun, and a little less pointless than the Dodgers combos in the main set. The Glasnow-Snell card seems to show a photo from the first games of the season in Japan. I turned to the back to see if there was an explanation of what they are eating, but that's me expecting too much.
I had another unreasonable expectation with Update, too -- I had waited to officially declare "the best Dodger card of the year" until Update came out even though I usually just base my choices on flagship. I was pretty underwhelmed by the choices in the main 2025 set. But I should have known ...
More samey sameness in the Update set, too. Except for Vesia screaming not much to go on.
So that means going back to the flagship set for the best card. Update didn't do its job. There is no update.
Hyeseong Kim from Series 2 is officially "the best Dodger card" for 2025.
I used to showcase every "best Dodger card" for each year I've been collecting, 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 Law
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: Adrian Beltre
2002: Terry Mulholland
2003: Hideo Nomo
2004: Robin Ventura
2005: Kaz Ishii
2006: Brad Penny
2007: Greg Maddux
2008: Andre 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 Buehler
2019: Enrique Hernandez
2020: Enrique Hernandez
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 difficult time selecting a favorite the past four years.
This should be the end of me dealing with the 2025 design and set for the year, which would be great because it has not been easy to photograph. I don't plan to buy any of the Holiday set. There is still a possibility I get the whole flagship set as a gift at Christmas, but I'll deal with that when/if it happens.
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