2023 Topps Rays team set

 Yesterday the family and I went to Wal-Mart, and while I wasn’t really expecting to get any cards there, I did end up with a small stack of them. 

The one we frequent sometimes has stuff when new product is out, but the last month has been bare other than blasters of ‘22 Archives, ‘22 Allen & Ginter, and ‘22 Optic. I’ve already sampled Archives and Optic, and A/G isn’t my style, so unless something new was there, I wasn’t planning on getting any. 

They didn’t have much else new, but did have Topps team sets of the Rays and Orioles. I was hoping for the Tigers as well, but I haven’t got the Tigers team set in probably 15-20 years, so it wasn’t a big loss. I got the Rays set and was wondering what the guys who would probably be on Series 2 or team set exclusives would be. 

Not many surprises here. I think maybe Adam and Poche might not be Series 2 guys. I was surprised not to see Zach Eflin and Tyler Glasnow in the set. Eflin was the big free agent sign (largest in Rays history I believe), and Glasnow did get a couple of innings last year, and is still expected to be a big part of the rotation this year. I assume they will be in Update, as will Taj Bradley, and perhaps Curtis Mead and a few other prospects should they get called up before the deadline to get in Update. I hope Ryan Thompson will get his first Topps card as well. I think Luke Raley, Pete Fairbanks, Yonny Chirinos, and Josh Fleming  will get cards in Update as well if they keep producing and stay relatively healthy.  Of course, if Manfraud has his way, everyone on the cheating Yankee$ and the overspending Padre$ gets 2 cards each. We’ll see towards the end of the year. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy