Weekend Classic 5 Primer and Guide

The last weekend of each month plays host to the Weekend Classic, Diamond Dynasty's ultimate competitive format within Ranked Seasons. Queuing into 1v1 Solo Ranked during the Weekend Classic groups players into divisions based on their Ranked ratings, and then leaderboards are formed from subsets of the player base in each division. The first six games are meant to be the most action-filled, as escalating rewards are earned with the number of wins you achieve in your division.

I just got into World Series a few nights ago, meaning I'll start in the Gold II Division as I jump into the fray this weekend. You can see in the center how increasingly valuable the rewards are the more you win. Again, the focus is on the first six games as they will heavily weigh your seeding in the final leaderboard results. As you can see at the top, top-10 finishers get even more rewards on top of whatever they earn in their first six games.

The leaderboard itself features 99 OVR 2026 All-Star Jacob Misorowski as the #1 place reward for leaderboard performance. This card is extremely rare and has been floating around 1 million Stubs, and I personally believe the best starting pitcher in Diamond Dynasty.

Within the core rewards, the Weekend Classic Choice Pack is featured at 3 and 4 wins at this divisional tier. That's where the following new cards can be found.

Weekend Classic 5 Choice Pack Breakdown

The Weekend Classic 5 Choice Pack features 99 OVR Signature Series Ray Durham and 99 OVR Milestone Johan Santana.

Weekend Classic is supposed to bring out the best of the best, so the rewards should match that. I think SDS has done a great job with the last few Weekend Classic Choice Packs, as these cards are both outstanding and immediately take claim to top spots in the meta at their respective positions.

We already touched on the switch-hitting meta, so Ray Durham is unsurprisingly going to be a very sought after card. It's not just the switch-hitting, of course, it's the overall excellence of Ray Durham. Elite contact, vision, and clutch with surprising power makes Durham an offensive force at second base. He's no one-trick pony, either, as you get elite 92 speed and 98 stealing to go along with 87 fielding at base level. You can get Durham to Parallel 3 pretty quickly, make him a Diamond fielder, and then Power Mod him into an all-around five-tool machine.

An elite offensive player is paired with an elite left-handed starter here in Johan Santana.

Santana immediately becomes one of the best starting pitchers in Diamond Dynasty, bringing his trademark circle change with an elite 4-seamer and some of the absolute best attributes we've seen on a starting pitcher yet. Usage rates are especially important on the upper difficulties, so the 4% usage on the sinker and 1% usage on the cutter would have me extremely cautious in high-leverage situations.

Despite MLB The Show 26's blemishes, I consider the online gameplay to be the best it's been since I started playing consistently in 2019. That includes the dynamic changes to gameplay from fielding, all the way down to the expanded attribute impact with handedness ratings for pitchers debuting this year. I mention these factors because I believe this Santana has all the tools to be the best Santana we've seen.

If I Had To Choose One?

Johan Santana. I'm more than satisfied with 2026 All-Star Ozzie Albies at the keystone right now. Ozzie won't have the same speed that Durham brings, but I have him maxed out and upgraded to be a Diamond fielder himself. Santana's a clear upgrade for my rotation and is the exact type of pitcher I love using on Hall of Fame+, where the gameplay truly shines.

My Weekend Classic 5 A-Team

I'm expecting a ton of right-handed pitching, so I'm bringing Drake Baldwin as my starting catcher and playing Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez between DH and 1B. Nasim Nunez has been the shortstop that stuck for me, as other cards just haven't panned out. I love everything about 2026 All-Star Bobby Witt Jr., but I haven't had great results. Nunez is hitting over .400 for me with a healthy number of at-bats, so I'll take the switch-hitter with elite contact and speed and hope he finds some gaps. As long as he makes every play up the middle, he's doing what I need him to do.

I'm not even chasing the switch-hitting meta build, yet I have five elite switch-hitters in my lineup. This is an inevitability, and real-life MLB teams would absolutely stack their rosters with elite Hall of Fame switch-hitters if they could.

That's what makes Diamond Dynasty and Weekend Classic so fun! It's a literal who's-who of current stars and legends smashed together in fantasy configurations. It wasn't long ago that most teams were identical, and while metas always exist and there will always be similarities, I have enjoyed the 700+ Ranked gameplay this year and team variety has been fun to see.

Meta Tips for Weekend Classic 5

• Expect to see a ton of Jacob Misorowski. The free Spotlight version is essentially a 99 OVR itself, while the more premium 99 OVR 2026 All-Star version should be a rarer sight in the wild.
• Overall, I am expecting to see mostly right-handed pitching. Keep in mind that you're matching up with new players each game; there's no semblance of a "series" where you can plan for different starting pitchers. Spotlight Jacob Misorowski is the starting pitcher I expect to see the most, followed by 2026 All-Star Shohei Ohtani, Awards Felix Hernandez, 2026 All-Star Cam Schlittler, 2026 All-Star Paul Skenes, and Summer Tarik Skubal.
• I built my squad by considering the top starting pitchers, how easy the best cards are to acquire, and the general trend of starting pitchers I've seen across Events and Ranked at 700+. Most of the starting pitchers I listed are righties, but that's where the heavy dose of switch-hitters available almost makes this planning unnecessary. I could end up facing a completely different group of starting pitchers, but I like the lineup configuration against anyone.

"Darkhorse" Starting Pitcher Suggestions

I firmly believe that starting pitching can make a huge difference in your Ranked results if taken seriously. Here's a couple of pitchers I've had success with online that aren't "top-Meta" arms, but have performed as if they should be.

97 OVR All-Star Roger Clemens was a Boss a few weeks ago, so he's not exactly cheap at around 60,000 Stubs right now. The same is true for Luzardo at 88,000 Stubs. However, they're middle of the pack in terms of current Meta Overall rankings, so they don't stand out as the sexiest options.

I'm calling out Roger Clemens with an admittedly small sample size of 10 innings online; however, my Clemens has struck out 24 of 30 batters faced online. Those numbers include Hall of Fame difficulty. The Outlier 4-Seamer, Splitter, Slider mix has been absolutely deadly, and this card also has strong H/9 versus left-handed hitters. If we're going into the Weekend Classic expecting right-handed pitchers, that means others will be as well. Clemens neutralizes the left-handed advantage in a big way, as he also carries 120 Clutch, which replaces H/9 with runners in scoring position.

He has virtually no ability to locate for me, so be warned. However, the results have been explosive and warrant further usage by me, so he's still in my rotation for now.

Jesus Luzardo is a solid pick for an underrated Diamond Dynasty starting pitcher basically every year. Part of the recommendation here is the expectation of a righty-dominant starting pitching meta. If that means more switch-hitters, you're at the mercy of the matchups no matter what. However, it could end up paying off in the margins against 2026 All-Star Yordan Alvarez, who I would expect to see quite a bit of on the offensive side of the ball.

Luzardo holds his own against right-handed hitters and absolutely dominates lefties. A primary Outlier sinker with a ton of movement leads a mix that also includes a devastating sweeper, a 4-seamer that will hit 100 MPH though it does not have Outlier, a circle change with 92 break that creates a ton of vertical depth, and a slider that gives you another shape to play with on the sweeping breaking ball.

Against the best hitters in competitive games, you will need elite velocity, and these two pitchers bring that. Luzardo and Clemens aren't cheap, but in my opinion starting pitching is always a worthy investment of Stubs for the right pitchers. Your mileage will always vary with how they perform in your hands, but Clemens is absolutely getting a start for me in this Weekend Classic. Luzardo will probably get a look if he recovers enough stamina in time.

Are you jumping into Weekend Classic 5, or working on the offline content instead? Let us know in the comments!

Whether you're playing online or offline, share your squads with us in the comments! Let's see what variety is out there with how content has been released to this point!