MLB The Show 24: Potential Diamond Dynasty Rewards in Storylines?

Yesterday, San Diego Studio posted an in-depth blog with new adjustments to Seasons in Diamond Dynasty. What could this realistically mean for content releases and rewards in regard to Storylines?

Last year, players could complete individual player storylines and receive a 90 overall card of those players. Once the entirety of the Storylines chapters were completed, a captain version of Buck O’Neil became available that would boost the other cards.

If there are captains mixed into Storylines again this year, be sure to check out our Captains page to keep track of what stats are boosted. 

This year there are two different Storylines featuring The Negro Leagues, and the career of Derek Jeter. The Negro Leagues Storylines has a confirmed four legends at launch, along with additional content drops into April that will bring the total to ten.

In addition, the Derek Jeter Storyline will launch with content featuring Jeter’s career from 1995 to about 2001. The additional portions from 2001 to 2014 will also be released a few weeks after launch.

Diamond Dynasty Player Card Rewards

This image from the Jeter Storylines feature premiere might hint at an Andy Pettitte card that could be obtained.

The Jeter moments will have appearances by other players, who contributed to pivotal moments. If players have the potential to be unlocked as Diamond Dynasty cards in moments similar to the Negro Leagues storylines, that means players like Paul O’Neill would be unlockable early in Season One. This isn’t confirmed as of yet, but could be an incentive to play the mode.

These content drops seem to match the new season cycle announced today, with seasons lasting 12 weeks, and additional content drops throughout the season. It wouldn’t be surprising if Storylines and Team Affinity drop opposite each other, at least for Season One, as each of these modes will have a couple of scheduled content releases.

The ratings for the players released in these content drops may vary as well – at launch, it seems that the maximum overall rating that players will have is a 91 overall. More focus will seem to be placed on gold and low level diamond cards, so there’s a chance the likes of Josh Gibson and Hank Aaron may have some lower overall cards in Season 1, and a more endgame card in a future season.

Varying Rewards Based On Release Date

A teased image from San Diego Studio shows a potential Barrier Breakers card series, to match the Deluxe Edition Negro Leagues cover.

As the season progress, players will creep closer to a 99 overall – so there may be some players towards the end of Jeter’s career that may get higher overall cards. This means players like Bernie Williams or Mariano Rivera could get cards that are closer to the 95-99 range.

Personally, I think this is a great content addition early in the year. Since the baseball season takes a bit of steam to get going with the likes of Topps Now and Monthly Awards, having legends from Storylines at the forefront to build teams with will get the player pool moving right away. As the seasons reset and progress into events like the All-Star game and Postseason, there will be more focus on the likes of those players currently performing at a high level.

Other Players in the Mix

It may seem like there’ll be a largely Yankees-flavored focus in Season One with Jeter and his teammates, but there’s a chance other teams and players from those Storylines may get card releases as well. With last year’s Race of 98 program and series, Sosa and McGwire were the main focus, but there were other stars in the ‘98 season that received cards as well. Maybe there’ll be a 2004 David Ortiz from the Jeter Storyline, when Ortiz and the Red Sox reverse swept Jeter and the Yankees.

In any event, these programs will give the playerbase a taste of the new legends right away, and then once we learn more about players from Storylines such as Toni Stone, they’ll receive a card that’s closer to a 99 in a future Season. We saw this in Set 3 of MLB The Show 23, where players like Satchel Paige and Rube Foster received high-level ranked rewards after players had adequate time to complete their Storylines.

It’s also been confirmed that players will receive rewards along the path of Storylines, such as equipment and pack bonuses. But what do you think of the potential player cards that may be released under the staggered content releases and new Season roadmap?

More Diamond Dynasty news may be revealed in bits and pieces leading up to launch, but a majority of the new content will be talked about on the SDS stream leading up to the release of early access the evening of March 14th.

MLB The Show 24 releases on March 19th, with early access beginning at midnight on March 15th. We’ll have all the latest news and tips for the new changes to Diamond Dynasty here at ShowZone, so be sure to check back for updates.