With a handful of games remaining the Major League Baseball regular season, SDS dropped some early Postseason flair on us with the Pennant Chase Program. Highlighting MVPs from previous Postseasons, the program actually contains some really good cards. The only problem – some are hidden behind a special pack that’s only available in the program. Dubbed the Pennant Chase Pack, this pack contains five different 99 overalls and these cards are actually God Squad approved. However, this pack is not available in the Show Shop for purchase and is only earned while grinding the program. These cards are sellable (all pack cards in this program can be sold) but the pack only features a 1:6 chance of pulling the 99 overalls. This factors into your ability to even finish the program and we’ll talk about that later.

This program is…something. I usually like to compliment SDS for innovating and trying new things, but this program highlights all the terrible things about Diamond Dynasty this year. Let’s dig in.

MLB The Show 23 Pennant Chase Program Breakdown

This program features multiple stages and you must complete both stages to ultimately complete the program. This isn’t entirely new as the multi-stage program design has been used before, but this might just be the worst version of it.

Stage 1

In order to complete Stage 1, you must accrue 85 program stars. The manner in which you get there isn’t entirely different than usual, but there is a bit of a caveat.

Moments

You know you’re getting Moments in a Diamond Dynasty program. For some reason, SDS decided to reduce every single Moment in this program to a single program star upon completion. That’s right, kids! Completing each Moment rewards you with 1 program star each. There’s a total of fifteen Moments which will earn you a total of 15 program stars.

Missions

There’s a total of five missions available that each pay out 5 program stars. I commended SDS recently for adding missions that allow us to use any players and not just cards from programs. There’s a bit of that sprinkled in here but still program-specific grinds:

• Tally 2,500 PXP with Awards Series players
• Tally 41 Strikeouts with Red Sox, Nationals, Dodgers, Braves and/or Astros pitchers
• Tally 21 Innings Pitched with Awards Michael Wacha
• Tally 18 Runs Batted In with Awards Jackie Bradley Jr.
• Tally 19 Hits with Awards Jose Altuve

Here’s where we’re already going sideways. Wacha, Bradley Jr. and Altuve are all 97 overall cards. Yes, we’re still doing this despite the community outcry and yes I’m still complaining because it’s laughable at this point. Regardless, these are cards that pretty much no one will be using on their main squads and yet we’re expected to use these cards religiously just to earn 15 program stars so we can complete Stage 1. You have to complete these missions unless you collect Event rewards or acquire multiple of the Pennant Chase Pack cards. Requiring us to pitch 21 innings with a 97 overall card four seasons into this content structure is borderline insulting. Not only that, but having to rack up 18 RBIs and 19 Hits will take a fair amount of time themselves.

You have to play a total of eight games in the Conquest map to finish it, so sure – you can hopefully rack up all the stats there. But even if Wacha goes two innings in each game, you’re still going to need to run him out for an additional five innings somewhere. I suppose you could go all-out and throw him the full three innings each game, stamina be damned, but then you’re possibly looking at elongated Conquest games because you’re forcing a pitcher with no energy on the mound.

It’s just not good gameplay motivation no matter how you dice it. Even if you take JBJ and Altuve into a Rookie difficulty game at a high-elevation stadium – it’s not even in the spirit of playing the game for fun.

This isn’t new as Diamond Dynasty has always had a “mindless” grind aspect. They can call it Grind 99, but that’s because it feels like it takes 99 years to complete the programs for cards we don’t use on our main teams anyway.

Conquest

I mentioned the Conquest already, but it’s again a core component to completing Stage 1. It’s worth a total of 20 program stars and features the eight strongholds you need to conquer.

Showdown

There’s also the requisite Showdown that pays out 15 program stars. Defeat Whitey Ford in the final Showdown to get your stars and move on.

Collections

Event Collection

This is now a staple of all collections so it’s probably not even worth pointing out the inclusion as a big deal anymore. The same structure from previous collections for Event cards returns here:

• Collect Awards Matt Holliday (5-win reward) – 4 program stars
• Collect Awards Chris Taylor (20-win reward) – 16 program stars
• Collect Awards Alan Trammell (12-win entry reward) – 20 program stars

There’s a BIG OLE bullet point for this one. You can only complete this collection a single time in the entirety of the program. That means if you lock in the 40 program stars in Stage 1, you won’t be able to cash in those stars in Stage 2 to complete the program. So if you’re actually planning on utilizing these collections – all the power to you. However, be mindful of where you’re allocating the program stars and work out a plan to maximize the value. Grinding the Event will obviously take some work, so I’d rather lock that in on the second half if I was doing it because there’s fewer options for program stars there.

Pennant Chase Pack Collection

There’s also a supplemental collection with the Pennant Chase Pack cards. Collecting each card awards 10 program stars for a potential total of 50 program stars when collecting them all.

• Collect Awards Madison Bumgarner (Meta Overall: 105.98 – #6 SP)
• Collect Awards Mike Schmidt (Meta Overall: 109.07 – #29 3B)
• Collect Awards Troy Glaus (Meta Overall: 110.79 – #6 3B, #18 overall card)
• Collect Awards Whitey Ford (Meta Overall: 100.42 – #32 SP)
• Collect Awards Willie Stargell (Meta Overall: 108.31 – #12 1B)

The same rule applies here as well. Any stars you lock in from collections will only apply to the stage that’s active. Theoretically you can lock in all five of these cards for 50 program stars and significantly reduce the Stage 1 grind. But you’ll then be forced into the few options for Stage 2 unless you lock in the Event cards there. You don’t get to double dip here.

These are actually pretty solid cards overall. Madison Bumgarner gets a card that truly immortalizes his Postseason heroics and it’s easily one of the best SP in the game. I’ve always been a big fan of Madbum cards in Diamond Dynasty, so getting a card this beefy is great. It’s also worth pointing out that this could be the final year we see him for a while so it’s a Hell of a way to exit Diamond Dynasty.

Troy Glaus also sneaks in with an overall Top 20 card. Glaus’ swing has caused me fits since he’s been in the game, but this card is absolutely stacked. Honestly, each of these cards are worthy enough 99 overalls and I’m glad they’re in the game. But the method that they’ve been put into the game is the tragic part.

You can only earn these Pennant Chase Packs. You can’t buy them and there’s only a 1:6 chance at pulling the featured cards. It’s just another way for SDS to get Stubs locked in versus having a rewarding gameplay experience. It’s disappointing that we’ve fallen this far, but they doubled down with this program. We didn’t even talk about Stage 2 yet.

Stage 2

You don’t have a ton of options to complete Stage 2, that’s why being economical with the collections is important. You have exactly three missions to help you close out this program.

• REPEATABLE: Tally 1,974 PXP with Pennant Chase Program cards (Wacha, Bradley Jr., Altuve, Fingers) – 5 program stars
• Tally 8 Saves with Awards Rollie Fingers – 5 program stars
• Tally 500 PXP with Pennant Chase Choice Pack cards (Pena, Soler, Bench) – 5 program stars

Even the second half of this program is just completely flat. Firstly, the fact that the repeatable PXP mission doesn’t include any of the pack cards is insane to me. There’s exactly four cards that can contribute to the PXP mission and three of them are 97 overall cards. The entire program is clearly built around the Pennant Chase packs, yet none of those cards are featured in the PXP grind. Secondly, needing to tally 8 Saves with Fingers is insanity. You’ll have already completed the Conquest map to even get to Stage 2, so you can’t really take advantage of the eight stronghold games there. That means you’ll need to do it during regular play or intentionally go for it while grinding against the CPU. Either way, this could end up taking you an incredibly long time on top of all the other missions you had to complete to get to this stage. Perhaps most offensively, the easiest mission isn’t even repeatable. Earning 500 PXP with Pena, Soler or Bench will take a bit of time but it’s not the craziest grind in the world; especially compared to everything that you’ve done to this point. But this mission is not repeatable and it’s not broken up for each card. If you could earn a total of 15 program stars by grinding 500 PXP each, it might even encourage people to spend Stubs to buy these cards. That’s obviously the entire intention behind these program structures, yet SDS isn’t even providing the option here. You get the mission a single time, the 5 program stars a single time and that’s it. Then you get to go back to grinding with 97 overalls. HAH! How foolish of you to think that you can use these 99 overall, actually really good cards to grind and have fun in Diamond Dynasty.

No. Diamond Dynasty is where the 97 overall cards reign supreme and are the true ruler of the virtual diamond.

Rewards

We touched on the cards you’ll receive already but a refresher, between the program specific cards and the cards in each of the packs. You’ll also receive thirty total packs, including a mix of the Pennant Chase packs, Ballin’ Is A Habit, Diamond Duos, Number Retirement, Great Race of ’98 and more. You’ll get some Stubs and some XP. I thought we’d be talking about how great this Rollie Fingers card is, too, yet it’s absolutely atrocious. It’s so bad I’m not even showcasing the card art here. Fingers’ Awards card came in with a Meta Overall rating of 98.87. With the limited bullpen options right now, he might sneak his way into your bullpen for now but this is such a disappointing showing for a 99 overall Rollie.

But the real reward is the friends you made along the way.

SS Awards Jeremy Pena (Houston Astros)
Meta Overall rating: 104.81 – #21 SS

The fact that Pena is in the “better” Pennant Chase pack and ranks lower than guys like Glaus and Schmidt is sort of funny to me. It’s representative of how content as felt all year. Stuff that is supposed to be big and exciting falls flat compared to something that came just before it. This card is rarer than the others and more expensive, yet not nearly as good. I guess this is the part where I say, “Hey! This will fit great on an Astros theme team!” before remembering that there’s zero value in using theme teams or any reason to do so.

RF Awards Jorge Soler (Atlanta Braves)
Meta Overall rating: 104.31 – #50 RF

My sweetest, Jorge. Soler provided me great joy as a Braves fan getting to watch my team win the World Series two years ago. His World Series MVP performance was celebrated with a 99 overall then and we get another taste of that glory this year. Soler is a power-hitting fiend that is an ideal DH, so it’s not shocking to see him way down the list of Meta Overall for outfielders. Even though he’s rather blessed in the Fielding and Speed departments on this card, you have more than enough options for the outfield and this dude is a pure offensive beast. Slot him in at DH or stash him on the bench, knowing that you could use him to pinch-hit for an outfielder later in the game if needed and get by with him on the grass.

C Awards Johnny Bench (Cincinnati Reds)
Meta Overall rating: 108.27 – #5 C

Slightly more disappointing than my ability to spell Cincinnati correctly the first time is Johnny Bench’s 99 overalls. Outside of his Milestone card a couple years ago, Bench typically gets shorted in a major category offensively and does again here with his 97 POW R. In no way does that make this card bad. Bench features 114 CON L, 100 CON R, 125 POW L and 111 Clutch in addition to that 97 POW R. He also features Dead Red and Breaking Ball Hitter, the two Quirks you absolutely want on your hitters. Defensively, Bench brings his Diamond fielding with him including 96 Arm Strength and 93 Accuracy to help you gun down prospective base stealers. With a little grinding, Awards Bench will cross that “elite” threshold with 100+ in the major offensive categories.

Papadell’s Picks

You get a load of the Pennant Chase packs and a total of two of the Choice Packs in this program. You’re not guaranteed any of the Pennant Chase pack cards but you’re guaranteed two of the Pennant Chase Choice Pack cards. Make sense? Cool.

Madison Bumgarner and Troy Glaus really stand out from that lot of five in the Pennant Chase pack. Bumgarner has a good pitch mix and insane attributes and I’ll be adding this card to my rotation no matter what. Troy Glaus is disgusting and plays pretty good defense. You have some utility there and overall that’s just a sweet card to add to your squad. Stargell cards are usually fine, though his lack of Speed makes him a relative issue on the basepaths at times. Schmidt always has insane attributes but a terrible a swing. Unless SDS magically fixed his swing and no one realized it yet, it sounds like he’s still on the outside looking in. Whitey Ford was actually one of my favorite cards to use back in MLB The Show 19 when I got to Hall of Fame in Ranked. His pitches have insane Break and his top-three pitches have 90+ Control. There’s no velocity here so the long term prospects are very much dependent on the caliber of hitter you face.

Ultimately, I’d go out of my way for Bumgarner and Glaus. They’re easily the two I’m picking first if I hit the Rare round from the packs. I’d probably take Ford third, Schmidt fourth and Stargell fifth.

As for the Choice Pack, I’m taking Soler with my first choice simply for the Braves connection. None of these cards really do much for me but Johnny Bench is one of my favorite historical players, so I’ll take him with my second choice. You know, if I even care to finish this program.

The Closer

I’ve pretty much layered my opinions every step of the way already. I just don’t understand what SDS is doing with these programs anymore. Well, it’s clear they’re implementing ways to get Stubs out of player accounts with the collections. But there’s also more of an expectation of pure grinding for these programs just to get the rewards. For some reason, SDS is absolutely Hellbent on making us stay away from our God Squads, strap up with random program cards and spend time grinding just to earn more cards we don’t want. It just seems so counterintuitive yet it’s the exact same design. It’s been this way, yet with a clear need to change things with Sets and Seasons – SDS just keeps pumping out the same old programs.

It’d be one thing if the other gameplay suites were amazing. Ranked has been stagnant all year because the rewards pale in comparison to collection and pack cards, meaning there’s practically no incentive to play Ranked. Co-Op Ranked is still broken so that’s not even a reliable avenue. Battle Royale doesn’t use your actual Diamond Dynasty squad. Events allow you to play with various cards in your collection, yet the rewards have been so watered down all year with the inexplicable decision to only have 97 overall cards as rewards. Offline has “stuff” to do, but Mini Seasons grows old very quickly. The continued lack of a true competitive online mode and no dedicated playlists for Captains has brought MLB The Show 23 content to a halt.

The true Grind 99 now is simply turning the game on.

What are your thoughts on the Pennant Chase Program? How do you feel about content this year in general? Are you still playing or have you migrated to other games? Let us know in the comments!