A ton of content dropped today, highlighted by the new Ranked Season and Multiplayer Program. There's also a new Headliner pack and a themed Event with premium pack rewards.
Let's go!
Ranked Seasons 4 Breakdown and Card Reviews
The latest round of Ranked rewards is quite the fun duo that should translate nicely to the "meta" side of the community. A premium shutdown reliever with a funky release and a switch-hitting middle infielder with elite power gives World Series players genuine top-tier cards to choose from.
A quick refresher for others, Ranked Seasons is the ladderboard competitive mode within Diamond Dynasty. Co-Op exists in 2v2 and 3v3 formats as well as the singleplayer 1v1 that I loosely refer to specifically when I talk about Ranked. Wins and losses award a pretty vanilla leaderboard journey with gaining and losing points with wins and losses, respectively. Breaching the 800 rating is entry to the World Series division, where you earn the choice pack we'll detail below. These cards can also be bought and sold on the marketplace, except for the fancy Gold art versions. Those are exclusive to the best of the best, as you must reach rating 1000 in Ranked to earn a second choice pack with the alternate art versions.
Finest Darren O'Day is an absolute enigma for many hitters. The sidewinding righty has an extreme submarine release, making it very difficult to consistently pickup the release of the ball. As if that's not difficult enough, O'Day is a certified Nasty Boy with a whiffle ball slider as his primary pitch that visually rises out of the hand. There's a slurve with a little less break and velocity to change the shape, with a circle change coming in at the same speed. Notably, O'Day is a soft-tossing righty so there's no elite velocity to overpower your opponent. You don't need it.
O'Day is always bonkers and you could put this 96 OVR card into your bullpen, and he could survive the rest of the year.
96 OVR Finest Darren O'Day is the new #1 Meta Overall relief pitcher in Diamond Dynasty.
Topps Now Jorge Polanco is the power-hitting shortstop rounding out the pack, though Meta Overall likes him more at second base where he profiles as the new #3 2B in Diamond Dynasty. I think Polanco will do just fine at shortstop, however, despite what 65 Fielding might imply. The new directional ratings are incredibly important to defensive attributes this year, and Polanco can go forward and backward with quick agility, making use of the 74 Speed to make tough plays. He'll be terrible going to his right, but if you have a slick fielding third baseman it doesn't matter. You can also use a second baseman that's fast and quick to his right to close that gap of Polanco's.
How freaking cool is it that we can even have these discussions now? You can genuinely employ roster building strategy, where you value a huge offensive shortstop like Polanco to the point that you build around him. Or you could just DH him and not even think about it. Or you can just play him wherever and not even think about it.
The point is: this card absolutely rules. Polanco has a great swing, is a switch-hitter with balance against both sides, has great Quirks and just simply great.
Topps Now Jorge Polanco would be my pick if I made World Series. I didn't have time to finish my push this season and finished at 736, so I'll be starting again at 550. I havcen't been able to play enough to truly make a World Series run, but I would happily take Polanco if this season is my first World Series run of the year.
Multiplayer Program 4 Breakdown and Card Reviews
The Multiplayer Program has also been refreshed today, bringing a ton of new earnable rewards to online players in Diamond Dynasty. You get a ton of packs just for playing online in Diamond Dynasty, even if you aren't racking up wins. This program features the first World Series Rewind pack towards the end, making this a very valuable program. The final reward is still the 50-pack Show bundle, which includes the then-current Chase pack as well.
Oh yeah, you get five free player items too.
- Billy Williams, Awards 94 OVR
- Jonathan Broxton, Standout 94 OVR
- Wally Joyner, Standout 95 OVR
- Jazz Chisholm Jr., Milestone 95 OVR
- Nolan Ryan, Standout 96 OVR
Premium bullpen arms are always in need, and Broxton is just that. He's a closing pitcher (CP) which is relevant for stat accrual, so there's merit behind the #4 Meta Overall rating. There was a lower-tier diamond of Broxton earlier in the year that I used quite a bit. He's got huge power-stuff, and that's represented here on the 94 OVR version. There's no Outlier, but he'll still pump 100+ with slider, sinker, and cutter to cover every angle of the plate with velocity and movement. Broxton also features a curveball that's very slow compared to the rest of the mix, with fairly pedestrian break.
Attribute wise, Broxton has pretty extreme reverse splits. This means he dominates lefties while being merely above-average against righties. Control clocking in at 86 is fairly decent for a big arm like this, just keep in mind that the usage % affects PAR size this year and don't spam his "lesser" offerings. Of course, a closer with 120 clutch needs no further explanation at this point.
The main eventer in this program is Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in Standout form. Highlighting his 1991 season, the card represents the final season Ryan pitched more than 170 innings. He struck out 203 hitters, led the league in WHIP and SO/9 while striking out almost 11 hitters a game.
He was also 44 years old.
He also played two more seasons after this.
Little surprise then to learn that a card representing that season is now the #5 Meta Overall SP. There's everything you expect with the elite attributes, Outlier 4-Seamer, and devastating 12-6 curveball.
There's also a slider. Ryan primarily only gets the first four pitches, so getting a pitch with horizontal break is outstanding. It's not going to be the most reliable pitch from a control standpoint, but having the option to change the batter's eye level is never a bad thing. This card will give most hitters on All-Star difficulty fits, but make sure you don't run him past his expiration each game. Once your opponent shows they can time the curveball while still catching up to a fastball, you'll need have a short leash if you aren't able to rack up outs.
Legends & Flashbacks Event Program
If you're not a fan of the more competitive Ranked environment, look no further than the Legends & Flashbacks Event that also launched today.
Build your best squad using Legends, Flashbacks, and Live Series Bronze and lower cards and work your way towards several premium choice packs. There's another major Legends and Flashbacks collection reward coming Friday. This program will give you a chance to scoop some cards you're missing, and the influx of packs should drop the market a fair amount for anyone still catching up.
The Choice Packs you earn include the Vintage pack that just came out, so there's plenty of value here. I've struggled to finish Event programs, as earning 25,000 PXP takes more time than skill and I can usually earn all of the other rewards before I even get halfway to the final reward. If you are pursuing the No Money Spent method, grinding these out to completion can end up paying off handsomely.
Headliners 12 Featuring 95 OVR Awards Ivan Rodriguez
Tuesday's are typically a new Headliner day, and we get a new catcher into the fray with Ivan Rodriguez.
This is a fantastic catcher.
This Pudge is elite at everything except hitting home runs. Full stop. No notes. He hits every pitcher equally, as his Contact-based attributes are remarkably balanced and consistent. He's a diamond Fielder with 96 Pop Time, meaning there's few catchers that would be more successful at gunning down would-be basestealers. If you want a detraction, I would look past the lack of Power and more to his swing.
I've never found an Ivan Rodriguez card that seemed to perform well for me. It absolutely could just be me, but I've always been enticed by Pudge cards only to be disappointed. Yet, he was such a great player that his cards are typically really good and this card certainly is. I still think I might end up giving him a shot if he ends up in my inventory, because the attributes are that good.
With mods this year? You can boost this dude up to be a legit power-hitting threat on top of everything else. It just might be time to give Pudge another crack at the main squad.
Closing Thoughts
There's no official word on who the next Legends & Flashbacks collection reward is yet, but SDS dropped a hint by saying, ".409 OBP."
If we look at the current crop of major collection rewards (Troy Tulowitzki, Albert Pujols, Felix Hernandez, Miguel Cabrera) we can see a clear pattern here - 2010s legends returning to MLB The Show. SDS devs have stated that the Legends & Flashbacks collections are meant to be an "extension" of the Live Series collection.
I leave you with this:
