While most of the Diamond Dynasty community’s attention will be on the Extreme Program and the amazing cards featured within, Diamond Duos 30 features two of the very best cards in the game. If you aren’t looking to torture yourself with the Extreme grind, these two cards are available now in the marketplace to immediately upgrade your squad.

MLB The Show 23 Diamond Duos 30

SP Milestone Joe Musgrove (San Diego Padres)

Meta Overall rating: 103.21 – 7th best SP

While Matt Cain’s Milestone card might be in the headlines thanks to the aforementioned Extreme Program, Milestone Joe Musgrove actually rates out just below Cain in Meta Overall. Musgrove’s No-Hitter card features 120 H/9, 103 K/9, 95 BB/9 and 116 Clutch. These are pretty stellar attributes for a SP and a big part of Musgrove’s stature in the meta. We’ve looked at a ton of SP cards so far this year that have great attributes but middling pitch mixes that drop them way down the ranks. Not the case with Milestone Joe Musgrove.

Musgrove features a primary Slider with max Break and 84 Control, a 4-Seamer at 94+ MPH, a Cutter with 92 Break and 88 Control, a Sinker with 90 Break and 91 Control and a good ‘ole fashioned Changeup with 86 Break and 82 Control. The fact that Musgrove features the two main staple meta pitches (Sinker and Cutter) is obviously a huge plus. The primary Slider, however, can be a vicious tool to keep batters off-balance. Sitting around 84 MPH, the Slider is roughly 7 MPH slower than the Cutter and 9 MPH slower than the Sinker which should really let you start and stop hitters if sequenced effectively. As usual this pitch mix will play much better on the higher difficulties online, but I still think this Musgrove can be effective on All-Star. Using the primary Slider to slow down your opponent’s bat can allow you to start hammering Sinkers inside the zone. If they adjust, you can go back to the Slider and get them out in front again while mixing in the Changeup and painting with the 4-Seam to steal strikes. Running the Cutter up-and-away to righties after establishing your pitches can get some very weak rollover outs, if not outright strikeouts.

If there’s a major downside to this Musgrove, it’s the fact that he lacks any meaningful Quirks. Still, I think this is a very solid SP and the kind of card that will be oodles of fun to use in Ranked.

1B Home Run Derby Justin Morneau (Minnesota Twins)

Meta Overall rating: 109.82 – 13th best overall card in Diamond Dynasty

Superlatives are always fun and I use them a lot when reviewing cards and analyzing their Meta Overall ratings. This Home Run Derby Justin Morneau deserves pretty much all of the superlatives. Talk about a surprisingly juicy card, this Morneau is way better than I would have anticipated any card of his could possibly be. Obviously, being a Home Run Derby series card meant huge power was expected but maxed out 125 PWR against both sides is insane. Morneau features 107 CON L and 114 CON R as well which means the PCI will always have a really good shot at finding the baseball. To boot, 125 Clutch rounds out this card as an offensive juggernaut that deserves to be in every single Diamond Dynasty lineup.

This half of the mid-aughts M&M boys only has 1B eligibility so you’ll have to use him at 1B or DH. Morneau comes with 70 Fielding and 75 Reaction which means he’ll be just fine in the field. Obviously, the bevy of options always makes the DH choice a difficult one but this really does seem like the perfect DH with a better fielding/more athletic card at 1B.

Not only is this card the 13th best overall card in Diamond Dynasty right now, he actually rates out as the #1 1B in the game as well.

MLB The Show 23 Double XP Days

Last but not least, today  also brought the beginning of Double XP weekend. Starting today and running through August 1, you can earn double XP to help progress in the main XP Reward Program while grinding the Extreme Program. I highly recommend at least attempting the Extreme Moments this weekend to take advantage of the double XP if you’re going to attempt them ever. You’ll most likely be restarting and replaying the Moments quite a bit, so you might as well maximize your time investment by squeaking out some extra XP.