Can Shohei Ohtani Make Topps Now History Again After Legendary World Series Performance?
A week after Topps announced the Shohei Ohtani Topps Now Baseball card recognizing his historic performance in Game 4 of this year’s National League Championship Series would become the first card from the series to receive Opal Chrome parallels, Ohtani put up a World Series performance that could make for another large print run of Topps Now cards.
In Game 3 of the World Series on Monday, Ohtani collected 12 total bases on two home runs and two doubles and reached base nine times overall as part of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 18-inning, 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays that gave them a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Fall Classic.
And he now has a pair of Topps Now cards to celebrate the historic occasion.
Card #903 pays tribute to Ohtani’s pair of home runs, which made him the first player in major-league history with three multi-homer games in a single postseason.
Collectors who purchase at least one of the cards from Topps have a chance to receive a short-printed image variation, relic version (/25, /10, and /5), and/or a 1/1 autographed relic version of the card.
Card #906 recognizes Ohtani for becoming the first player ever to reach base nine times in a postseason game. Chase versions of that card include relic versions (/25, /10, and /5), and a 1/1 autographed relic version.
Collectors who purchase at least one of Ohtani’s cards from Topps.com during the 24 hours its available also have the chance to receive Gold Foil (/50), Orange Foil (/25), Black Foil (/10), Red Foil (/5) and/or 1/1 Foilfractor parallels with their order.
Last week, Topps announced that with a final print run of 253,309 cards, Ohtani’s dual-image card (#884) honoring his electrifying NLCS single-game showing of three home runs as a batter and 10 strikeouts as a pitcher would become the first Topps Now card from 2025 to clear the 250,000 print run required to unlock Opal Chrome parallels.
The company introduced new Chrome parallels for Topps Now Baseball in 2025, but very few cards have reached the threshold required to unlock even the basic /99 and /50 Chrome parallels (50,000).
At 100,000, Chrome parallels numbered to /25 or fewer are unlocked, while Opal Chrome cards come into play at 250,000 and a 1/1 White OpalFractor is unlocked if a card’s print run exceeds 500,000.
Unlocking the Opal Chrome parallel marked another Topps Now milestone for Ohtani, who also has the highest-printed Topps Now card. In 2024, the card commemorating him becoming the first player with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season had a print run of 653,737 cards.
Earlier in 2025, Ohtani and Japanese teammates Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki nearly unlocked the second level of Chrome parallels, when card #7 featured the trio during the season-opening Tokyo Series and had a print of 99,226. Other 2025 Ohtani Topps Now cards to reach a 50,000 print run include: #721 (First player with 50 home runs and 50 strikeouts as a pitcher/PR: 62,411) and #527 (1,000th career hit/PR: 52,589)
Could one or both of Ohtani’s cards from Game 3 of the World Series have enough popularity to break through the 100,000 print run ceiling — or higher?
