MLB The Show 25 News: Sets and Seasons Are No More

MLB The Show 24‘s content cycle has run its course and Season 4 launches November 22, bringing the popular Finest series to cap off the year. Additionally, Season 4 marks the end of seasonal restrictions, allowing players to use any card they desire. For many, this grants the opportunity to finally rock a full theme team without worrying about Wild Cards or missing out on players.

In a bit of a surprise, SDS released a developer blog detailing some early news on MLB The Show 25. We normally have to wait for the preceding months of a new release to get any tangible information, so this is quite the early Christmas present for Show players.

Sets and Seasons Will Not Return in MLB The Show 25

The headline of the short blog post is the end of Sets and Seasons in Diamond Dynasty.

The last two years have been centered around Sets and Seasons, restricting the cards that players can use throughout each seasonal block. This was much maligned by the community overall, though a small pocket of the fanbase (myself included) enjoyed the concept of Sets and Seasons. The execution wasn’t really there at all last year but SDS made the system more palatable in ’24.

Regardless, this feels like a breathe of fresh air even for someone that wanted to see where the design space led SDS. The idea of not being able to use a card that was bought with time and money has always felt bad. In my opinion, the easiest way to reduce that negative emotion was to introduce more game modes that properly leveraged Captains and theme teams. That would have given designated areas that “out of season” cards could still be used in a rewards-based mode. Ranked Co-Op attempted to be a useful place, but the mode is still inconsistent and lacking any true player freedom.

I’ll be very interested to see what potential innovations are revealed for next year’s game. If this is simply a return to the old ways with no other real innovations across the game, this decision probably won’t amount to much.

Transferrable Packs for MLB The Show 25

Perhaps a bit hidden under the big news of the blog post, players will be able to earn “Now & Later” packs in MLB The Show 24 that will grant a pack in next year’s game.

That’s all the information that’s been provided, but the name implies you’ll be able to earn a pack in MLB The Show 24 that you can open that will entitle you to a free pack in MLB The Show 25. The verbiage sounds like the ’25 packs will be standard Show packs, but we’ll obviously have to wait and see.

Still, this is a fun wrinkle to the endgame of Diamond Dynasty for MLB The Show 24. Normally, the game dies a slow death with nothing to really do as all content has been released. The Forever Program typically lets players grind out an infinite program, earning all the rewards that have been released throughout the year. Having something different to open that also guarantees you a pack in the next game? That’s a really cool design choice by SDS that gives folks that are dedicated to the game an extra incentive that benefits them next year.

We’ll have to wait and see if there’s a limit on the packs you get next year. If you can just freely grind, earn a ton of packs and have a bunch to rip open on midnight launch — SDS might have a stew going.

Mode Teasers

We also got a couple bullet points on other modes in next year’s game. It’s important to keep in mind that this blog post wasn’t a true reveal of anything other than letting players know Sets and Seasons have been put to pasture. Temper your expectations on the reveals until the true pre-release cycle kicks into full gear. For now, here are the tiny scraps of something to look forward to:

• Road to The Show: Deepen the player’s journey before being drafted, and return control to how a player develops and grows in new and interesting ways.
• Diamond Dynasty: With Sets and Seasons retiring, our fans can look forward to all-new elements of the Diamond Dynasty experience blended with what they love most about it.
• Franchise: Improved trade evaluation metrics are coming along with a new fun and engaging offseason experience.
• Gameplay: With the expansion of quick time events, defensive AI and pathing updates; enjoy more engaging moment-to-moment gameplay.

Keep your eyes tuned to ShowZone for all relevant MLB The Show 25 news as it releases.