Having the chance to celebrate important figures in Diamond Dynasty is one of my favorite aspects of the mode. Not only does it highlight and remember these individuals, it gives the younger audience a chance to learn about those whom Major League Baseball’s lush history as been built on. Roberto Clemente is known not only for his exceptional ability on the field, but also for his extraordinary humanitarian efforts off it. Come along as we look at the program, how to complete it and check out the 99 overall Clemente reward at the end.

MLB The Show 23 Roberto Clemente Day Program Breakdown

There’s a total of ten cards that can be earned in the program, including Clemente. This includes a couple Captain cards (Francisco Lindor and Jose Berrios) that boost Puerto Rican players and players that have won the Roberto Clemente award.

Lindor boosts Puerto Rican and Roberto Clemente Award winner hitters with +5 Power vs L at Tier, +5 Contact vs R and +10 Power vs L at Tier 2 and +5 Power vs R, +10 Contact vs R, +5 Fielding and +15 Power vs L at Tier 3.

Berrios boosts Puerto Rican and Roberto Clemente Award winner pitchers with +5 BB/9 and +5 K/9 at Tier 1, +10 BB/9, +5 Pitching Clutch and +10 K/9 at Tier 2 and +15 BB/9, +10 Pitching Clutch, +15 K/9 and +5 H/9 at Tier 3.

This is an interesting wrinkle as it creates quite a lot of possibilities with team building. The following players currently in the game that will receive the Captain boosts are:

• Willie Mays
• Brooks Robinson
• Al Kaline
• Willie Stargell
• Lou Brock
• Rod Carew
• Ron Guidry
• Gary Carter
• Cal Ripken Jr.
• Barry Larkin
• Ozzie Smith
• Eric Davis
• Sammy Sosa
• Tony Gwynn
• Al Leiter
• Jim Thome
• Edgar Martinez
• John Smoltz
• Carlos Delgado
• Craig Biggio
• Derek Jeter
• David Ortiz
• Clayton Kershaw
• Jimmy Rollins
• Paul Konerko
• Andrew McCutchen
• Curtis Granderson
• Anthony Rizzo
• Carlos Carrasco
• Adam Wainwright
• Nelson Cruz
• Justin Turner

That’s a pretty extensive list which guarantees you Tier 3 boosts with some big name players. With Set 6 making all Sets legal in Ranked, this can potentially be one of the most fun and impactful Captain teams to use. Even now, you have versions of the players from this list that are legal that are already really good cards. Putting together a Clemente Theme Team actually sounds like a blast.

I mentioned this in the Great Race of ’98 breakdown and will repeat it: I think it would be so much cooler if the “boss” card in programs were the Captains. Wouldn’t it make more sense if the Awards Clemente at the end of this program boosted all Puerto Rican players and award recipients? I think so. That doesn’t detract from anything with the program, I just think it would make more sense and fit the theme of Captains more.

Moments

As for the program grind itself, as usual we’ll need to accrue 100 program stars to complete the program and earn the 99 Roberto Clemente at the end.

Starting off with Moments, there’s a total of fifteen Moments that can potentially pay out a total of 24 program stars. There’s a caveat though and this is a noticeable design change:

There’s a singular Moment worth 10 program stars that requires you to hit a HR at Forbes Field with Roberto Clemente on Hall of Fame difficulty. All other Moments are worth 1 program star each.

This is interesting and sort of acts like a “Mini Moments Extreme” Moment as Forbes Field can be a disaster to hit HRs in. You’ll be able to complete this if you just give it a shot. The best bet is usually getting out in front of the ball and swinging “early” to hit it out to LF. Clemente has 70 Speed so an inside-the-park-HR is going to be challenging.

Regardless, completing all the moments rewards the 24 program stars.

Missions

The mission structure is as follows:

• REPEATABLE: Tally 3,000 PXP with Roberto Clemente Program players – 5 program stars
• Tally 18 innings with Pittsburgh Pirates players – 5 program stars
• Tally 66 Total Bases with any players in Diamond Dynasty – 5 program stars
• Steal 12 bases with any players in Diamond Dynasty – 5 program stars
• Tally 21 HRs with any players in Diamond Dynasty – 5 program stars
• Tally 29 Extra-Base Hits with any players in Diamond Dynasty – 7 program stars
• Get on base 20 times with Roberto Clemente Program and Event batters in Diamond Dynasty – 7 program stars
• Tally 41 Strikeouts with Roberto Clemente Program and Event pitchers in Diamond Dynasty – 7 program stars
• Tally 5,200 PXP with Roberto Clemente Award winners in Diamond Dynasty – 5 program stars

I absolutely love the fact that there’s missions in here that aren’t tied to the program. One of my biggest complaints about programs in MLB The Show is that we get forced into using players from the program. They typically aren’t very good, although the Captain boosts this year make them better. But I want to use my team in Diamond Dynasty and being forced to grind with other cards obviously doesn’t allow that. Having several missions in this program that allows you to use any cards is incredible. I’m a bit behind on the Great Race program, so I can double-dip and earn progress in two separate programs at the same time. SDS – please do this more. Like, a lot more. Make programs completable with this design but keep program specific grinds in place and make those more rewarding.

Completing all the missions will pay out 51 program stars. If you completed the Moments and then all of these missions (meaning the repeatable a single time) you’ll be at 75 program stars.

Showdown

There’s a Showdown attached as usual where you’ll face off against final Boss Carlos Carrasco. Complete the Showdown to earn 15 program stars.

Conquest

Finally, there’s also a Conquest map that pays out 20 program stars on completion. Obviously, this is a good way to get the program cards into some DD games and earn progress on the missions.

You’ll notice that completing the two offline modes mentioned above pays out 35 program stars, which allows you to easily finish the program without locking in the optional collection.

This. Is. Perfect.

Optional

Event Collection

• Collect Charisma Alex Claudio (5 wins) – 4 program stars
• Collect Charisma Mike Lowell (20 wins) – 16 program stars
• Collect Charisma Orlando Cepeda (12-win entry) – 20 program stars

You can complete this program if you’re playing the Event anyway and make significant progress. You do not have to play online if you don’t want to. Offline players can make progress using any cards they want, with a bit of grinding of the program cards and online players can knock out roughly half the program just from playing the Event. For me, this is an area that SDS needs to do better at consistently and this program is an example of doing it right.

I’d love if all programs could be completed by using any cards you want for the stat missions. Make the stat missions relevant to the theme of the program, just allow us to use any cards we want. Overall, this program design looks good, it looks fun and it commemorates one of the greatest people to ever don an MLB uniform.

Program Rewards

Along the way, you’ll earn the following rewards (in addition to random equipment):

• 27 total packs including Ballin’ Is A Habit, Great Race of ’98 Choice Pack, Diamond Duos, Diamond Duos Choice Pack, Jumbo Show pack and standard Show packs
• 4,000 Stubs
• 20,000 XP

The following cards leading to Clemente:

• Awards Series David Ortiz, DH Boston Red Sox (97 OVR)
• Awards Series Gary Carter, C New York Mets (97 OVR)
• Awards Series Carlos Carrasco, Cleveland Guardians (97 OVR)
• Awards Series Al Kaline, RF Detroit Tigers (97 OVR)
• Charisma Series Enrique Hernandez, LF Los Angeles Dodgers (97 OVR)
• Charisma Series Jose Miranda, 3B Minnesota Twins (97 OVR)
• Charisma Series Christian Vazquez, C Boston Red Sox (97 OVR)
• Captain Series Jose Berrios, SP Toronto Blue Jays (95 OVR)
• Captain Series Francisco Lindor, SS New York Mets (95 OVR)

Finally, the man himself:

RF Awards Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Meta Overall rating: 108.73 – #13 RF

The most interesting part of this Clemente card is the 2B and 3B eligibility. He’ll be a Diamond fielder no matter where you play him and has an absolute cannon. With elite Reaction, the 70 Speed should play just fine in the outfield. I would actually consider running this card at 2B with how strong the outfield is. If you aren’t overly impressed by the stock attributes that’s understandable. But the full potential of this card isn’t reached unless it’s paired with the Captain Francisco Lindor card and receiving Tier 3 boosts. With a full boost, Clemente can reach 98 POW R and 121 POW L. Get him to at least Parallel 2 while using that boost and he’ll reach 100+ in the major attribute categories and can actually reach 125 POW L.

This is a really good example of how cards can be released with Captain potential, dynamically shifting that card’s overall competitiveness against the rest of the meta.

That’s the Roberto Clemente Program Breakdown. What are your thoughts on the program structure? How do you feel about the Captain Boosts and will you use a Clemente Theme Team? Let us know in the comments below! BONUS: Share your unique Clemente theme team builds, utilizing the combination of Puerto Rican players and Clemente Award winners!