The mid-season drama is rampant across Major League Baseball, and we are merely weeks away from the 2026 MLB All-Star Game. This will bring a ton of content into Diamond Dynasty, and typically marks the "sailing off" point for many as the other sports games begin releasing.
We're not quite there yet, though. SDS flexed some creative muscles this week with the introduction of a unique new program style, on top of the usual Diamond Dynasty-fare.
Mookie Betts Milestone Program
Earlier this week, future Hall of Famer Mookie Betts hit his 300th career home run. SDS continued the trend of immediately releasing a commemorative program, giving everyone a chance to acquire a free Red Diamond Mookie Betts easily.
I can't really explain how this is a 96 OVR card, so I won't attempt to.
Mookie is a great player that usually gets great cards, but this one is pretty meh. Perfect candidate to upgrade with a Mod, but just not exciting other than that.
June Countdown Program
A new, time-limited June Countdown program has landed in Diamond Dynasty. It's essentially an "event" for programs, as it expires early next week. There are online and offline missions contained within the program. The missions are separated by difficulty tiers.
The design of the program is different but refreshing. Missions like "Tally 1,500 PXP with Supercharged players" encourage engagement with cards that people might not typically use. There's also a "Hard Mission" requiring at least 24 strikeouts in a single game in any mode. These are definitely missions for the more dedicated gamers that stick around when the new games roll out. Or perhaps it's a valuable send-off for those that take an extended break from The Show soon.
Either way, the rewards are great with a bunch of XP and Stubs in the program to earn, as well as a couple of cards that can be earned early in the program. So even if you don't want to grind out the entire program, you'll be able to play as much as you want and earn the cards. You can also buy them on the marketplace.
Britton debuts as the new #2 Closing Pitcher in Diamond Dynasty. Whereas the Betts highlighted above puzzles me as a 96 OVR, I'm almost surprised this Britton is only a 96 OVR. This card is nuts.
The trademark Britton max-Break sinker is here and accompanied by the also trademarked Britton nasty 99-Break slider. You're going to be using these two pitches more than the 4-Seamer and circle change. Be mindful of the 1% usage rate on the 4-Seamer and circle change, as that influences the PAR-size in addition to the 89 Control.
Even if you're not interested in completing this entire program, Britton is absolutely worth the time. You'll earn him at 50 stars in the program.
Awards Ronald Acuna Jr. also drops, though this card isn't as sexy in terms of Meta Overall or attributes. It's a fine Ronnie card and will immediately land in my outfield, but it's not an impressive card on paper. This is absolutely a stud with a Diamond Parallel Mod once you reach P5 with him. This card strikes me as a "greatest hits" Ronald Acuna Jr., as it features reasonable attributes in every facet of the game to represent his elite tool-set.
Beyond Acuna, you'll earn a bunch of Stubs and XP if you keep playing. You'll also earn a Rising Rookies pack, which has been available in the Show Shop for a while, as SDS tries to pump out more copies of cards for collections.
June Spotlight 3 Program and Pack Breakdown
You're unlocking the following players in this week's Spotlight drop:
- Nasim Nunez, 2B WSH (96 OVR Spotlight)
- Cooper Pratt, SS MIL (94 OVR Topps Now)
- Kyle Freeland, SP COL (94 OVR Topps Now)
The featured cards in the pack this week are:
- Dustin May, SP STL (96 OVR Spotligh2
- Colt Keith, 3B DET (96 OVR Spotlight)
- Justin Dean, CF CHC (94 OVR Topps Now)
- Dalton Rushing, C LAD (94 OVR Topps Now)
- Kyle Bradish, SP BAL (94 OVR Topps Now)
We'll highlight St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Dustin May this week.
May is a fan-favorite in Diamond Dynasty, and has battled injuries the last few years to get to this 96 overall Spotlight card. This is another prime candidate to turn into a legitimate "endgame" starting pitcher with a Diamond Parallel 5 Mod. The attributes are great across the board, elite velocity, and nasty Break on every single pitch. If I was tasked with picking a card from this week's Spotlight pack, it's gonna be May.
Gauntlet Mini Season Breakdown
Joe Mauer is an icon within Diamond Dynasty lore as a multi-time cover athlete, and also a Hall of Famer that was really good at baseball.
The new #5 catcher in Diamond Dynasty does everything you could want from a 96 overall card. The Contact attributes are what you'd expect from Mauer's elite hitting, with modest Power on the back burner. Mauer is a strong catcher that will throw out plenty of baserunners that can also moonlight as a strong defender at first base.
Unlocking Mauer, however, will require the Herculean effort of tallying 20,000 PXP inside the Gauntlet Mini Season. With many of the missions requiring play on Hall of Fame difficulty, it's important to note that you'll earn PXP faster on Hall of Fame. Still, you're in for the long-haul in this Mini Season to unlock Mauer. I think this Mini Season is worth doing because of the rewards, in addition to the June Countdown program. It's a great way to maximize a ton of rewards at once.
Godspeed.
Moonshot II Event Breakdown
Load up your favorite hitters against the worst pitchers in the game and power through a new Event. The "extra" rewards in addition to the player reward aren't that exciting this time around, but I still enjoy events and recommend playing all of them. Moonshot events are a great way to grind PXP and offensive stat missions since you're facing Bronze and lower pitchers.
The most infamous driver to deep left in history, Nick Castellanos appears alongside global catastrophe as prophecy foretold eons ago.
This is purely a DH unless you're a psycho, and even then there's already better options if you care about the "best" pure options. Castellanos has a great swing and will hit absolute bombs, but probably profiles best on a Reds' theme team.
Chase Pack 16 Featuring 98 OVR 1B Bryce Harper (Philadelphia Phillies)
They didn't do the meme!
Bryce Harper hit for the cycle and gets commemorated as the new Chase card. He's not a switch-hitter, but he has one of the best swings in Diamond Dynasty and is always one of the best pure hitters available when released.
This isn't exactly the most attractive Chase card. As is true with all cards, getting this thing to P5 with a Diamond Mod will make it even better.
However, the Fielding is atrocious even for a first baseman and he has no secondaries. The card has pretty much every offensive Quirk you could want, but this isn't how I typically I envision an incredibly rare, 300,000 Stub card looking.
