True Overall and Meta Overall Explained; Recent Updates to Algorithms
What Are True Overall™ and Meta Overall?
If you’re a fan of MLB The Show’s Diamond Dynasty mode, you’re probably familiar with the standard Overall rating — a number out of 99 that reflects a player’s general ability. But anyone who’s played the game knows: not all 99s are created equal.
That’s why ShowZone built two proprietary rating systems to help you better evaluate cards: True Overall™ and Meta Overall.
True Overall™
True Overall™ is ShowZone’s attempt to replicate SDS’s card rating system — but without the 99 cap. Originally created in 2020 using simple regression models, True Overall has evolved over time into a deep neural network (DNN) that predicts SDS ratings with high precision.
With our 2025 update, True Overall is now more accurate than ever — within 0.5 points of SDS’s own calculations. It also accounts for changes SDS made to how they rate cards (such as hiding elite attributes behind low-importance stats like Plate Discipline).
💡 Note: If a card shows as a 92 but has 125s in key hitting attributes, True Overall will recognize it as an elite card — even if SDS doesn’t display it that way.
👉 Learn more about our 2025 updates
Meta Overall
Meta Overall, introduced in 2022, answers a different question: How good is this card in-game right now? It adjusts attribute weights based on how the game is actually played.
Meta Overall favors what truly wins games:
- Power and speed for hitters
- Effective pitch mix for pitchers
- Quirks, pitch speed gaps, and switch hitting
- Pitchers who can hit (Ohtani effect)
- Tunneling pitch combos (e.g. sinker/cutter)
2025 Meta Overall Upgrades
The Meta Overall formula was significantly enhanced for MLB The Show 25 to match what truly defines elite cards in the current meta:
- Swings now matter (community-sourced input)
- Pitchers who dominate get boosted, those who get shelled drop
- Fielding and Clutch are more heavily weighted
- Pitch quality now matters — not just quantity
- Meta+ introduced: a new stat showing how far above average a card is at its position
(Meta+ will appear on player pages soon)
🔍 See full breakdown of all recent updates
TL;DR:
- Use True Overall™ when you want to understand how SDS is rating a card (beyond the 99 cap)
- Use Meta Overall when you want to build the best lineup for competitive play
These tools work together to help you find not just the best-rated cards — but the best-performing cards.
Corey
Corey was the original founder of ShowZone.