It’s Friday which means we get a slew of new content. The new Seasons Award program dropped, giving players a chance to unlock 99 overall Lightning Mookie Betts. There’s also a new Headliner, Homestretch Pack and a free 99 overall in the Shop.
Let’s get to it.
Headliners Pack 19
CF Finest Lars Nootbaar (St. Louis Cardinals) – Meta Overall: 99.18; #15 RF
Headliners used to be exciting but are mostly just filler now. Not only is this Nootbaar one of the weaker Headliner cards released all year, it’s yet another recycled card from previous game cycles. It’s one thing when these recycled cards are free in a program, but being put into paid packs is borderline insulting. The rate at which recycled cards is being released is becoming troublesome. With premium packs floating to the forefront of MLB The Show 24’s content pipeline, having them filled with cards we’ve seen before just feels gross.
Cardinals fans have a reason to be excited as they get another card for their theme teams.
The rest of us can move on.
Headliners 19 is available in the Show Shop as a regular pack and costs 7,500 Stubs with a purchase limit of 5 packs per player. There’s also a Choice Pack variant with increased Diamond odds that costs 35,000 Stubs with a purchase limit of 3 packs per player.
Homestretch Choice Pack 2
The newest round of the Homestretch Pack series is in the Shop as well. Again, we see a huge batch of recycled cards in a premium pack here. Recycled cards have more use this year with Captains and theme teams being more viable, but as I said above; it just feels gross and lazy. I think it’s pretty clear there’s some struggle with popping out original card ideas with the new seasonal and Team Affinity structure. Gotta keep some stuff for the next couple seasons, yeah?
Anyway, here’s the contents of the pack:
Base Round: 98 overall SS Luis Rengifo (Los Angeles Angels), 98 overall RF Matt Carpenter (New York Yankees), 98 overall RP Jonathan Loaisiga (New York Yankees)
Mid Round: 99 overall SP Eury Perez (Miami Marlins), 99 overall SS Colson Montgomery (Chicago White Sox)
Rare Round: 99 overall 3B Kris Bryant (Chicago Cubs), 99 overall RF Hank Thompson
Colson Montgomery is a very interesting card for me. His Spring Breakout card was a ton of fun to use earlier in the year, so getting a juicier version should be a good time as well. With the latest roster update eviscerating my beloved Braves and making the Buxton/Braves hybrid considerably worse, it might be time for me to build a new team. Montgomery is intriguing enough to get a roster spot if I feel like spending Stubs.
Kris Bryant is a Diamond Dynasty prince. Any version of his MVP season will always be enticing and for good reason. Bryant takes over the #1 spot as the best 3B in Diamond Dynasty.
Homestretch Choice Pack 2 is available in the Show Shop for 40,000 Stubs with a purchase limit of 3 packs per player.
Free Freddie Freeman (for free)
A fun little surprise amongst all the expensive packs is a free 99 overall Freddie Freeman. This Freeman is quite good for a free card, even if he ranks fairly low in Meta Overall at 99.38. The Braves fan in me will always appreciate free cards and this one happens to fit on the Clayton Kershaw Lefties team as well.
Make sure you grab this card while it’s available to help with your Season 1 collection progress.
Season Awards Drop 8 Pack and Program
If you were afraid there weren’t any more packs for you to buy, you’re in luck! A new Season Awards program means a pack is along for the ride.
The pack cards are:
97 overall LF Brandon Nimmo (New York Mets)
97 overall RF Charlie Blackmon (Colorado Rockies)
97 overall SP Seth Lugo (Kansas City Royals)
99 overall CP Robert Suarez (San Diego Padres)
99 overall 2B Ketel Marte (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Marte takes over as the best 2B in Diamond Dynasty. This will surely be a highly sought after card to add to the switch-hitting theme team. Again, a shame that it’s locked behind packs considering cards like this used to be free. Nonetheless, Marte cards like this are typically amazing and this card won’t be any different.
As for the program, you can earn the following cards for free:
96 overall SP Robert Gasser (Milwaukee Brewers)
96 overall RF Stuart Fairchild (Cincinnati Reds)
96 overall 2B Luis Arraez (San Diego Padres)
96 overall 1B Kyle Manzardo (Cleveland Guardians)
99 overall SS Gunnar Henderson (Baltimore Orioles)
Gunnar Henderson has quickly become one of the most exciting players in Major League Baseball. That excitement has translated into Diamond Dynasty where Gunnar cards are becoming extremely popular. This is a solid SS that also has eligibility across the entire infield, which is a huge bonus considering who the Lightning Guy is. Pretty big name value for the free program card, even if it doesn’t live up to the attributes of all the premium cards.
Season Awards Lightning Collection
SS Season Awards Mookie Betts (Los Angeles Dodgers) – Meta Overall: 104.47; #2 2B
The newest Lightning Guy is Mookie Betts. Betts is no stranger to the honor, having achieved Lightning Guy previously. This time around, Betts obviously gets his SS primary along with his array of secondaries. This is a very good card that also benefits from Mookie’s fantastic swing and should easily slot into most squads that aren’t fielding the most expensive cards in the game. Even big dollar God Squads should be able to find a comfortable spot for Mookie, seeing as he is a top-5 card at SS, 2B, LF, CF and RF.
To earn Betts, all you need to do is collect all previous Season Awards “bosses” that came at the end of each drop. That includes Gunnar Henderson from today’s drop. Between Betts, Henderson and Jurickson Profar – the last few program cards have been quite good. It’s a nice change of pace considering we keep talking about all the premium pack cards.
What are your thoughts on today’s content? Will Mookie land a spot on your squad? Are you shelling out Stubs for any of the packs? Let us know in the comments!
