2018 Topps Series 2 Chicago Cubs Preview

Tomorrow (Wednesday 6/12) marks the release date for 2018 Topps Series 2. Normally, I don't even buy blasters of this product, only picking some up in my stocking at Christmas. But this year it seems somewhat enticing, maybe because I had fun breaking Topps Series 1 this year. Also, my wife will be out of town for 10 days so I'll have more than enough baseball card time. So, I decided to buy a few hobby boxes.

The Cubs are well represented in the checklist, as they also were in Series 1.

Series 2 Cubs base checklist

384 - Addison Russell

391 - Ben Zobrist 

399 - Cubs team card

422 - Victor Caratini 

432 - Albert Almora 

436 - Yu Darvish 

487 - Carl Edwards Jr.

498 - Jen Ho Tseng 

500 - Kris Bryant 

529 - Cubs Combo Card

552 - Kyle Hendricks

572 - Dillon Maples

643 - Justin Wilson

691 - Jason Heyward 

699 - Drew Smyly

Love the series 2 base checklist. Another Drew Smyly card is odd (he was also in Heritage), since he won't play this year. Other than that nothing stands out here.

The Cubs also get several variations and short prints, including the above Yu Darvish variation.

There are plenty of inserts, including the 1983 All-Star cards.

83AS-33 - Kris Bryant

83AS-34 - Anthony Rizzo

83AS-35 - Addison Russell

83AS-49 - Ryne Sandberg

Jen-Ho Tseng and Dillon Maples are in the 83 Rookies Insert set.

I will have to pick up some retail boxes, because it's the only place to pull the Future Stars cards that include a few Cubs.

FS-23 - Ian Happ

FS-33 - Addison Russell

FS-35 - Javier Baez

FS-37 - Kyle Schwarber

Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Willson Contreras all have Home Run Challenge cards. Billy Williams is in the Instant Impact set.

Legends in the Making is also available retail only.

LITM-5 - Kyle Schwarber

LITM-6 - Addison Russell

LITM-7 - Javier Baez

Another subset with plenty of Cubs honors the home run. It's the Long Ball Legends.

LL-4 - Willson Contreras

LL-20 - Kris Bryant

LL-26 - Anthony Rizzo 

LL-33 - Kyle Schwarber 

Another retail only is the United States flag patch, in which Javier Baez has a card.

Additionally, there are autographs to these Insert sets and other relics available. After seeing the checklist, I seem to want more cards out of retail than hobby. Stay tuned, I will be ripping 2018 Topps Series 2 later this week.