2025 Topps Baseball Series 1 MLB Tokyo Series Cards
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At the beginning of March, Topps released the Japan-Exclusive 2025 Topps Baseball Series 1 MLB World Tour: Tokyo Series, as buzz grows for the season-opening two-game series between the defending World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. The two clubs feature an array of the game's best Japanese players, like L.A.'s Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and phenom Roki Sasaki, facing off against Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki. The secondary market is showing interest. Boxes are already being sold and listed at a premium
Of course, the showstopper in the set is Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, who continues to light the Hobby up, seemingly with every new release. Ohtani is featured heavily throughout the set, and there are some visually stunning designs to try to get a hold of.
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The Stars of Japan Exclusive insert features some of the greatest Japanese baseball players in the history of the sport. The Japanese cherry blossom-themed art is eye-catching. Ohtani is joined here by the likes of Ichiro, Hideki Matsui, and more. A dual autographed card in this insert featuring Shohei Ohtani and Ichiro is certainly one to chase. The Japanese cherry blossom-themed art is eye-catching. A Yu Darvish/Yoshinobu Yamamoto Dual Auto /10 sold for $750 on March 12.
Tokyo Nights is an intriguingly-designed insert as well, setting the player image directly in the heart of a night cityscape of Tokyo. The 35-card insert features Dodgers and Cubs players who will be facing off to start the 2025 MLB regular season.
The History of Japanese Baseball is a 19-card insert that commemorates and chronicles past MLB visits to the country. The design mimics a newspaper front page, complete with the date when the player appeared in a game held in Japan.
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World Tour Domination is a debut insert, with its design influenced by the MLB World Tour branding, and also has autograph variations to be chased. A colorful and bold background and action shots of the players combine to make what looks to be a popular offering. In fact, the top sale per Card Ladder, at writing, of any card from this Tokyo Series set so far, is a Mookie Betts World Tour Domination Auto /25, which sold for $1,550 on March 13.
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Perhaps the most intruiging cards in the entire set are the Murakami Base Card Variations. Visually bright, with a floral design, these cards include 100 Series 1 base cards, numbered to ten, are designed by renowned artist Takashi Murakami.
The cards will be fascinating to monitor as they find their way onto the secondary market. Obviously, the Ohtani should be in demand, but it will also be interesting to see how other stars of The Hobby like Elly De La Cruz, Paul Skenes, Aaron Judge, and more will be received on this variation card. RC's from James Wood, Brooks Lee, Jacob Wilson, and Rhett Lowder also feature here.
Ebay listings are trying to get an early read on the ceiling and floor for these cards. A Yoshinobu Yamamoto /10 is currently listed for almost $850. A Kyle Schwarber /10 is listed at $350.
Michael Terry is a writer based in Brooklyn. He specializes in sports, culture, and collecting. His work has appeared at Topps RIPPED, ESPN, Grantland, Vice Sports, and more.
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