2016 Topps Opening Day

Another year, another Topps Opening Day release. This release may be just popular enough to stick around each year, but it's not all bad. A truncated release of the flagship set, it combines a lot of base cards from series one and peppers the set with a few previews of series two players.

Is this release necessary? Yes and no.

The Opening Day base set really just becomes a parallel handpicked set of the flagship release, but the upsides generally outweigh the downsides. The major upside is that, at $1 a pack for seven cards, this is a very affordable option for kids. This is usually a gateway pack to bigger and better sets. I hate to put it like that, but it does give novice collectors a very approachable way to get their hands wet into the world of card collecting. It also has fun and kid-friendly options for inserts.

The White Sox have four cards in the base set and a mascot card.

OD-55 - Carlos Rodon
OD-57 - Chris Sale
OD-170 - Jose Quintana
OD-198 - Avisail Garcia
M-21 - Mascot (Southpaw)

Opening Day is definitely no collectors' definition of a perfect set, but it doesn't need to be either. I commend the set for being very affordable and kid-friendly. It also gives a nice preview of a few players not represented in the flagship series one. Those are really the only reason for this set to exist. For some people, that's enough.