Off the heels of the Great Race of ’98 Program, Diamond Duos 37 brings us two new cards from that series. Tom Glavine typically has pretty good cards and Luis Gonzalez as a Tiger? Let’s jump in.

MLB The Show 23 Diamond Duos 37

LF Great Race of ’98 Luis Gonzalez (Detroit Tigers)

Meta Overall rating: 104.51 – #54 LF

Surprisingly, Luis Gonzalez gets a 99 overall as a Detroit Tiger. This isn’t just surprising because Gonzalez is seen as an Arizona Diamondbacks icon, but also because Gonzo only played a single season with Detroit – 1998. While this is a boon for prospective Tigers’ theme teams, the card itself feels a bit out of place. For starters, 1998 wasn’t really that great of a season for Gonzalez. With an OPS+ of 110 for the season, featuring 23 Home Runs, the season stats don’t exactly scream out “99 overall.” On top of that, Gonzalez had a single Home Run against LHP and only slugged .378 against southpaws that year which certainly leads you to believe he’d be atrocious against LHP. Nope. This card actually features 91 POW L to go with the 119 CON L, 112 CON R, 117 POW R and 115 Clutch. I normally don’t really dig into this stuff too much, as “continuity” in a fantasy card collecting mode is tough to negotiate. I just feel like this would have been better served as one of those random 97 overall cards we get in programs or even Events now. Packing this out as a Diamond Duo and featured as a 99 overall is just pretty out there.

SP Great Race of ’98 Tom Glavine (Atlanta Braves)

Meta Overall rating: 102.53 – #21 SP

Tom Glavine has been seen as arguably the best of the Big Three Braves starters in Diamond Dynasty. John Smoltz has the best stuff, but typically doesn’t get favorable attributes that help us usability. Greg Maddux is best on the highest difficulties where the elite Break and Control help skilled pitchers dot with ease. Glavine resides in the middle for the most part. Despite historically being known for throwing in the upper-80’s, Glavine’s best cards in DD often feature mid-90’s heat that can even touch 97+. I’m not going to ask too many questions, as I just mentioned how continuity is tough to negotiate.

This Glavine doesn’t rate out incredibly high according to Meta Overall, but I think this is a card that can definitely play above the attributes and ratings. With 109 H/9, 104 K/9, 111 BB/9 and 102 Clutch, this Glavine is pretty balanced if relatively unexciting. The pitch mix is where this card really shines.

A Sinker, Circle-Change, Sweeping Curve, Slider and Cutter mix gives Glavine arguably the perfect pitch-mix. Realistically, a card with this mix having Outlier is perhaps the only thing that might be better. But the Sinker has max Control and Break and sits at 94 MPH, which means it’s going to touch 97-98. That’s a pretty nasty Sink-piece. The Circle-Change also has max Control and Break and comes in at 76 MPH, which will be nearly 20 MPH slower than the Sinker. The Sweeping Curve features 95 Control with 99 Break and comes in at 72 MPH, even slower than the Change. The Slider sits at 86 MPH with 92 Control and 94 Break and the Cutter sits at 90 MPH with 88 Control and 82 Break. That Cutter might not have the best attributes, but having it in conjunction with the rest of the mix is wonderful. Being able to split the plate with huge speed differentials and elite control makes this card a paper-attribute hero. Meta Overall might be low on Glavine, but I think this card can play quite well.

What are your thoughts on this Diamond Duos set? Will either player make your squad? Let us know in the comments!