Major League Baseball's trade deadline has come and gone, shaking up the MLB landscape. Major names were moved at the deadline, and MLB The Show 26 celebrates in kind with the Trade Deadline content drop.
A ton of new cards hit Diamond Dynasty via a new Trade Deadline premium pack in the Show Shop.
Trade Deadline Pack Breakdown
The cards featured in these packs are:
- Zyhir Hope, LF DET (99 OVR New Threads)
- Luis Garcia Jr., 1B NYY (99 OVR New Threads)
- Dustin May, SP MIL (99 OVR New Threads)
- Casey Mize, SP SD (99 OVR New Threads)
- Nathaniel Lowe, 1B CLE (98 OVR New Threads)
- Brooks Raley, RP PHI (98 OVR New Threads)
- Curtis Mead, 3B BOS (98 OVR New Threads)
- Clay Holmes, SP CHC (98 OVR New Threads)
- Connelly Early, SP WSH (98 OVR New Threads)
- Freddy Peralta, SP TB (97 OVR New Threads)
- Kevin Gausman, SP CHC (97 OVR New Threads)
- Robbie Ray, SP SD (97 OVR New Threads)
- Huascar Brazoban, RP CWS (97 OVR New Threads)
- Erik Miller, RP BOS (97 OVR New Threads)
- Lane Thomas, CF ATL (97 OVR New Threads)
Pro Tip: You can save the Deluxe/Premeire/Ultra Choice Packs you get for new content drops like this, and the new premium sets will appear as an option in the Choice Pack.
I had 7 Deluxe, 1 Premier, and 1 Ultra Choice Pack to turn into Trade Deadline packs and did very well with my pulls. I landed three of the 99 OVR cards and ended up with enough cards to speedrun the program. I simultaneously finished the Event Program as well, and today ended up being quite the haul thanks to today's content.
These packs follow the same trend as packs have all year. There will be plenty of opportunities to buy back these cards in the future, so making the best use of your time will help you make the best Stubs-related decisions at this point if you've been playing all year.
Trade Deadline Program Breakdown
In the most predictable move of the deadline, the Detroit Tigers sent ace Tarik Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers. This gave Skubal the rare honor of being a two-time collection reward in the same content season.*
*I did literally no research on this statement.
Skubal was also the end reward for the Summer series collection, where his card was a 98 OVR.
98 OVR Tarik Skubal vs 99 OVR Tarik Skubal
All of the cards unlockable in this program:
- Tarik Skubal, SP LAD (99 OVR New Threads)
- Jo Adell, RF CLE (99 OVR New Threads)
- Taylor Ward, LF SEA (98 OVR New Threads)
- Arjun Nimmala, SS LAA (98 OVR New Threads)
- Luke Weaver, RP PIT (97 OVR New Threads)
- Luis Castillo, SP CWS (97 OVR New Threads)
- Liam Hicks, C TB (97 OVR New Threads)
- Ryan Zeferjahn, RP CHC (97 OVR New Threads)
- Daulton Varsho, CF HOU (97 OVR New Threads)
- A.J. Minter, RP MIN (97 OVR New Threads)
Trade Deadline Mini Seasons Breakdown
A new Trade Deadline-themed Mini Seasons also arrives in Diamond Dynasty with today's drop.
I highly recommend completing each new Mini Season if you're interested in keeping up with collections. You get so many packs, XP, and program progress that there's no downside. I have a long-form Mini Seasons run for my main squad when I only want offline play. This is where I play my relaxing 9-inning CPU games on Legend difficulty. When I want to blaze through new content for the free cards and packs, that's when I choose 3-innings and 7-games for my seasonal settings.
Trade Deadline Conquest
More must-play offline content in my opinion. There's a Vault pack in this haul for your troubles, on top of the other sweet pack rewards - including the new Trade Deadline packs.
Trade Deadline Collection Breakdown
A new themed pack drop means a new collection:
Collect 10 = Luis Arraez, 2B, PHI (99 OVR)
Collect 18 = Jose Soriano, SP, TOR (99 OVR)
Collect 25 = Adley Rutschman, C, BOS (99 OVR)
The new #1 Meta Overall catcher in the game is new Boston Red Sox backstop Adley Rutschman.
As I've gotten older, I haven't been as "plugged in" on MLB news and rumors and all that fun stuff. I'm not sure how much it was discussed that Adley was available, but I was very shocked to see him traded and to a division rival of all teams. The result in Diamond Dynasty is an amazing new catcher that will do nothing to dispel the switch-hitting meta, but it's an exciting card that I'm stoked to add to the team.
Chase Pack 21 Featuring 99 OVR Adrian Beltre
Finally, a new Chase Pack sneaks into the Show Shop as well. No meme this week, as we get a purely right-handed hitting megastar in Adrian Beltre.
Adrian Beltre is one of my favorite players of all-time, and one of the few 3B that could convince me to dethrone my Diamond Mod P5 Retro Lightning Chipper Jones that hasn't left my lineup all year. Beltre being a Chase card will probably prevent him from cracking my squad, but I'd be tempted to keep him. This card is sick, he has an amazing swing, and one of the best no-doubt animations around.
What excites you the most about this content drop? Let us know in the comments.
