The big Finest content drop in MLB The Show 23 wasn’t exclusive to Team Affinity or Set Collections. The latest Ranked program also features Finest 2023 players – Dansby Swanson, Blake Snell and Josh Lowe.

Let’s dig into Meta Overall.

MLB The Show 23 Ranked 8 Program Breakdown

SS Finest 2023 Dansby Swanson (Chicago Cubs)

Meta Overall rating: 109.89 – #13 SS

After putting up a similar season to his final in Atlanta, Dansby Swanson and his immaculate hair gets a pretty solid Finest card in this program. Well balanced offensively, Swanson also features 99 Fielding with an extremely accurate arm and 99 Reaction. Swanson is also relatively fleet of foot, bringing home 87 stock Speed.

Swanson features Dead Red which will give him a bit of a boost against fastballs and is the only meaningful Quirk on this card.

Overall, this is a very solid SS that would look good on pretty much any squad. Considering it’s November, there’s a glut of other SS that are better but Cubs fans should love this card.

SP 2023 Finest Blake Snell (San Diego Padres)

Meta Overall rating: 104.38 – #19 SP

The only pitcher in the program, Blake Snell has some tasty surface level attributes from his potential Cy Young season. Maxed out H/9, K/9 and Clutch is usually reserved for high-level relievers. Snell not only gets these attributes but also has an interesting pitch-mix. It’s not the full-on, meta darling pitch-mix you’d like to see but still interesting. An elite velocity 4-Seamer with a Circle-Change and Slurve/Slider combo. Snell doesn’t have the best Control which will certainly be something you need to work around, but I still find this to be an interesting card.

I’ve historically struggled against Snell cards, personally. Something about his wind-up and release point has always given me problems so if you take this card and match up with me then you’ll probably have some success. How Snell fares against the rest of the competition is the real question.

RF Finest 2023 Josh Lowe (Tampa Bay Rays)

Meta Overall rating: 107.82 – #27 RF

The final piece of the Ranked 8 puzzle, Rays’ Josh Lowe gets his 99 overall Finest. This card feels more exciting due to Lowe not being a perennial 99 overall guy versus the card being spectacular.

The offensive attributes are fairly balanced, highlighted by the max Contact versus righties. With Diamond Fielding and elite defensive attributes buoyed by 94 Speed and max Stealing, Lowe certainly has some interesting factors on his Finest card. He also features 3B eligibility where he actually currently ranks as the #17 overall 3B.

But again – it’s November. We’ve been getting cards that look like this all year so this doesn’t jump out in any way.

Papadell’s Pick

I’m probably taking Snell in this pack. The pitch-mix is interesting and I’d be curious if Snell causes problems for others like he does me. The max H/9 and K/9 on a starter is always fun and would at least warrant a few turns in the rotation. Derek Jeter hasn’t left SS for me all year and probably won’t, so even the Braves fan in me won’t find a spot for Dansby. Josh Lowe might as well have Joe Random written on his card because he’s indiscernible from every other Outfielder we’ve seen in the last three months.

The Closer

Online rewards have suffered mightily all year in MLB The Show 23. The perfect storm of Sets and Seasons and a clear change in design philosophy from SDS has caused many Ranked and Battle Royale rewards to feel generic or unexciting. It was always doubtful that we’d see a meaningful change this late in the year, so these three cards are simply more theme team fodder for the theme teams we haven’t really been able to take full advantage of in MLB The Show 23.

There’s your Ranked 8 program breakdown. Do any of these rewards excite you and make you want to play Ranked? Who are you taking in this pack? Let us know in the comments below!