2025 Topps Chrome

The 2025 Topps Chrome was released in late July. This set is always a popular one that attracts many collectors. Each year, I bought some hobby packs or jumbo packs of this product. A few weeks ago, I was in Japan and I found that there was a sports card shop near the hotel where I stayed.

 

I was thinking if there are cool products. Well, it turned out that baseball cards actually are popular there and there weren’t so many choices left. However, I still saw hobby packs and jumbo packs of the 2025 Topps Chrome there. So, I decided to buy some.

 

After opening them, I found something interesting. I found a Paul Skenes baseball card with a rookie cup logo. At the same time, I got a Jacob deGrom baseball card. Looking at these 2 cards, I began to think about their careers so far.

 

Firstly, they are both winners of the NL Rookie of the year award. Jacob deGrom made his MLB debut in 2014. He made 22 starts, tossing 140.1 innings with a 2.69 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. Jacob deGrom threw 144 strikeouts in 2014. He received 26 of 30 first-place votes and won the 2014 NL Rookie of the Year award. Last season, Paul Skenes made his MLB debut. He instantly made an impact. Skenes made 23 starts in 2024, posting a 1.96 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP over 133 innings. Skenes struck out 170 batters in his rookie season. He got 23 of 30 first-place votes and won the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year award.

 

In addition, they don’t have serious problems in the sophomore season. In 2015, Jacob deGrom made 30 starts for the Mets. He owned a 2.54 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP over 191 innings. In the 2015 season, deGrom struck out 205 batters. And he finished 7th in the 2015 NL Cy Young voting. Now, let’s look at Paul Skenes’ performance so far this season. Skenes has made 25 starts, posting a 2.13 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP over 148 innings thus far. He now has 166 strikeouts in 2025.

 

Well, it’s deGrom’s 12th season in the majors. We have known that he’s a 2-time Cy Young award winner. Nonetheless, we know that injuries have limited his performance as well. In particular, from 2021 to 2024, he never finished a season with at least 100 innings.

And now, looking at Paul Skenes’ career thus far, he’s been pitching excellently in the majors. Without a doubt, he’s one of the best pitchers in the majors. Additionally, he shall receive some Cy Young votes in his career. Well, Jacob deGrom won his first Cy Young award in his 5th season in the majors. And, looking at Paul Skenes’ performance, we might not have to wait so long. Perhaps, things will come even faster. Well, we don’t know the results of the 2025 NL Cy Young voting. Nonetheless, it will be worthwhile to see Skenes’ performance in the rest of the 2025 season. But, a very important thing is that we want to see him avoid injuries as deGrom used to face. Moreover, we don’t know when, but it will be cool to see him pitch in the postseason.