MLB The Show 23: Ranked Season 5 Program Breakdown

Rewards for online modes this year have been pretty hit or miss. With scaled back overalls in Events and some less than stellar choices in Ranked, SDS decided to bring out the big guns for Season 5. Byron Buxton, Rafael Devers and Al Leiter are hugely popular in the Diamond Dynasty community and for good reason. Buxton has immense power, great speed and defense with a sweet swing. Devers has elite contact and power to go with his own sultry swing. Leiter typically has an elite meta-focused pitch mix with amazing attributes and a bit of a herky-jerky delivery that can make it even more difficult to hit him.

I think we’re all thrilled to say that we get all of that and more with these cards. Let’s jump in.

MLB The Show 23 Ranked Season 5 Program Breakdown

CF Retro All-Star Game Byron Buxton (Minnesota Twins)

Meta Overall rating: 111.18 – #3 CF; 11th best overall card

Arguably one of the most popular players in all of Diamond Dynasty, Byron Buxton gets a 99 overall Retro All-Star Game card in this program. I mean…just look at it. I know for a lot of people the first thing that stands out might be the big knock on the card – the 97 Contact against RHP. But I feel like we’ve come to expect Buxton getting less Contact than we’d like, so I’d argue that 97 Contact with a chance to hit the 100 threshold at Parallel 3 is a fair trade-off. Not only that, but Buxton has 100 Clutch which organically gets him there with runners in scoring position.

Seriously, though – 125 Power against both sides. If this card had sub-90 Contact then I think it would be worth revolting, but I’ll take these attributes on a Buxton card all day, every day. Sticking to all things offense with this card, Buxton also gets Dead Red which is one of the very best Quirks in the game.

Wrap this all up with 99 Fielding, 99 Arm, 95 Accuracy, 90 Reaction and 99 Speed. This is pretty much the best Buxton we can expect unless he goes nuts and hits for a high average at some point. Until then, this is a beautiful Buxton and easily one of the best CF in the game. I’d say the fact that it’s also the 11th best overall card means that somewhat low Contact isn’t a deal breaker.

3B Awards Rafael Devers (Boston Red Sox)

Meta Overall rating: 108.38 – #5 3B; 22nd best overall card

The Baby-Faced Bomber from Boston, Rafael Devers gets a nasty Awards card that is borderline Ruthian. Like Buxton, Rafael Devers is quite popular in the DD realm because he has a smooth swing that often plays above the attributes. That’s a terrifying notion with attributes like these:

121 CON R, 120 CON L, 125 PWR R, 100 PWR L and 125 Clutch.

I typically hate the phrase “endgame” and it almost doesn’t apply anymore with Sets and Seasons. But this is an “endgame” card all the way around. Not only does Devers have those juicy attributes, he also gets Breaking Ball Hitter, Unfazed and Bad Ball Hitter as Quirks which should make him even deadlier with the massive PCI he’ll be swinging.

Defensively, Devers isn’t ever really looked at as being stellar but he does get 78 Fielding with 88 Arm and 83 Reaction so he’s not too shabby. Perhaps most importantly, this version of Devers gets 2B secondary eligibility which means you can run him at 1B, 2B or 3B and have a huge bat in your lineup. The defense will play at 3B or 1B easily, though the lack of Speed and sullied Reaction from the secondary penalty makes him a bit of a liability at 2B. Even then – this dude will hit his way out of any defensive shortcomings he might display.

Devers is a top-5 3B and at worst, an elite option as a DH.

SP Kaiju Al Leiter (Florida Marlins)

Meta Overall rating: 104.31 – 7th best SP

Last and certainly not least, Al Leiter stomps into the Ranked 5 Choice Pack with this Kaiju card. All things considered, this is everything you ever want from an Al Leiter card.

122 H/9, 116 K/9, 85 BB/9 and 125 Clutch will play. The BB/9 are a bit lower than I’d like to see, but still one of the higher ratings we’ve seen Leiter get in that department. Prestige Leiter from MLB The Show 20 wins in that department, but Kaiju Leiter is superior in almost every other way.

Regardless, Leiter is favored over many SP in Diamond Dynasty simply thanks to his pitch-mix. He has a primary Sinker that sits at 93 MPH with 97 Control and 96 Break, a Cutter that sits at 91 MPH with 93 Control and 95 Break, Curveball at 77 MPH with 89 Control and 99 Break, Slider at 88 MPH with 82 Control and 99 Break and a 4-Seamer that touches 95 MPH with 78 Control and 83 Break.

The Sinker/Cutter/Slider trio is disgusting. The elite Break on all three pitches is huge with each pitch breaking at different angles/depths. Those pitches alone would make a SP with the attributes this Leiter possesses amazing, but a slow Curveball with 99 Break is an interesting wrinkle as well. I typically point out how bad Curveballs tend to be – and that’s true – but this Leiter card is going to be a beast on Hall of Fame/Legend difficulties. Timing windows are much tighter and obviously it’s much more difficult on those difficulties to hit. A freakishly slow Curveball with max Break to play off the Sinker/Cutter/Slider will be a fun toy for high-level pitchers. On All-Star, I typically think Curveballs are better used as get-me-overs or just an occasional mix-in but everything else about this card is great.

Papadell’s Picks

I think it’s hard to go wrong here no matter who you choose. For my squad, I have Chipper Jones as my eternal Wild Card since he’s my favorite player of all time. Devers’ positional versatility across the infield makes him intriguing, still. Leiter would easily become one of my best SP but I feel like I’d rather supplement my rotation from the market or make use of the cards I have access to. Buxton is amazing all around, low Contact against RHP be damned. It’s so hard to turn down 125 Power against both sides with nearly maxed Fielding attributes at Parallel 5 with 99 Speed.

That’s why for me – the pick is Byron Buxton. There’s a ton of elite OF in the game but this card is just a few Contact points away from being equal to Retro Home Run Derby Ken Griffey Jr. and just below him in the Meta Overall rankings.

I’m taking Buxton.

The Closer

SDS hit all the right beats with this Ranked Program Choice Pack. Buxton, Devers and Leiter are all massively popular cards in Diamond Dynasty which makes them great choices for Ranked rewards. The fact that all these cards are insanely good and truly look and feel like World Series rewards make this program even better. Each of these cards will upgrade your squad easily at their respective positions and ultimately I think they’re possibly even worth considering as Wild Cards in the future depending on your total team build.

What are your thoughts on this Ranked Program? Do you think these are worthy rewards? Who are you taking and why? Let us know in the comments below!