MLB The Show 23

Release and General Reception

MLB The Show 23, released March 28, 2023 (with early access via special editions), arrived with Jazz Chisholm Jr. as the Standard Edition cover athlete and Derek Jeter headlining the “Captain” special edition. Reviews were broadly positive on polish and content depth, but community conversation centered on new Diamond Dynasty systems—especially the first year of Sets & Seasons and the debut of Captain cards—plus the usual debates over online play and hitting feel.

Diamond Dynasty: Captains & the First Year of Sets & Seasons

MLB 23 introduced two defining systems. First, Captain cards: you could assign a Hitting Captain and a Pitching Captain, each with tiered team-wide boosts unlocked by meeting lineup requirements (e.g., X players of a team/series/trait). Early in the cycle, Captains were exciting—theme teams and creative builds became viable through Tier 2–3 boosts, and Jeter’s own Captain card fit the moment. As the year progressed and 99-overall cards flooded the mode, most Captains fell out of the meta; a handful of niche options (e.g., switch-hitting or bullpen-focused Captains) retained value, but the majority were sidelined by sheer card quality elsewhere.

Second, Sets & Seasons debuted: Ranked eligibility rotated to favor the newest content (with limited Wild Card exceptions). The intent was freshness; the effect was periodic lineup churn and a sense of progress being time-boxed. While less contentious than it became in 24, the seeds of “reset fatigue” were planted here—especially for players who couldn’t grind every new Season on schedule.

Top Cards and Meta Highlights

The consensus breakout was Milestone Elly De La Cruz (Cycle) at shortstop: elite power/speed/defense with a top-tier swing, widely cited as one of the strongest—and most beloved—cards ever released. Late in the year, Finest Shohei Ohtani landed as an endgame two-way monster, but its very late arrival and heavy collection gating limited how many players fully leveraged him during the live cycle. Across the year, swing quality continued to matter: certain budget or mid-tier bats with elite animations “played above attributes,” carving out cult followings despite not being the highest-rated options.

Gameplay Changes and Online Performance

On-field, MLB 23 emphasized incremental tuning over wholesale change. Many players described hitting as streaky: extended foul-ball sequences, occasional poorly-centered contact flying too well, and good input not always rewarded consistently. Fielding animations and urgency saw modest refinements; pitching balance was serviceable but not immune to meta ebbs and flows (sinker/cutter mixes remained prevalent). Online, experiences varied—match quality and latency spikes could undermine Ranked sessions, and sporadic freeze-offs or sync issues cropped up during the cycle. Overall feel was playable and familiar, but not universally “locked in,” which amplified frustration when the Ranked meta demanded repeated grinds each new Season.

Community Sentiment and Frustrations

Early-year excitement around Captains and WBC/Team Affinity programs gave way to mid-year practicality: once premium 99s were everywhere, lineup slots became too valuable to spend chasing Captain tiers. Sets & Seasons kept content lively but also introduced a treadmill vibe—if you paused, your best cards could lose Ranked eligibility next Season. The net takeaway from many players: creativity was possible, but the optimal path generally reverted to stacking the best 99s and keeping pace with the newest Set.

Legacy and Long-Term Impact

MLB The Show 23 set the template that 24 expanded: Captains as a team-building layer and Sets & Seasons as the cadence engine. Community reaction—enthusiasm turning into “reset fatigue,” and Captains fading as power creep escalated—informed how 24 was received and ultimately shaped the franchise’s course-correction in 25. In hindsight, MLB 23 is remembered for pioneering ideas that were bold, sometimes fun, but ultimately provisional: Captains became niche, and the seasonal eligibility experiment proved polarizing. Its enduring bright spot is the content slate—headlined by Milestone Elly De La Cruz—which delivered some of the most memorable cards in Diamond Dynasty history.