The Show Scout - Version 1.0 (Feature Complete?)
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(This is probably what I would consider the 1.0 version of the App. I can't see me adding any more major functions this year. My hope is that now that it is done that I will be able to quickly spin it up again for next year's version)
The Show Scout is a free, web-based tool for Diamond Dynasty that provides a more detailed way to analyze the game's player database. It's designed to help you move beyond base Overall ratings by offering advanced filtering, side-by-side card comparisons, and a library of pre-built reports to help you find specific cards, build smarter teams, analyze the market, and explore baseball history.
It can be accessed here: The Show Scout
The goal is to provide a clean, fast, and powerful resource with no sign-ups and no fluff. Here’s a quick look at its capabilities:
- Instantly Fetch, Filter, and Sort the entire player database, including the latest Supercharged cards and Captains.
- Go Beyond the Card with detailed breakdowns, including player quirks, pitch arsenals, real-world stats, and live market data.
- Make Tough Roster Decisions with a side-by-side comparison tool that highlights superior attributes.
- Unlock Powerful Insights with a huge library of pre-built reports to answer questions like:
** What's the "Best Overall Squad" I can build?
** How many Legends & Flashbacks does my favorite team have?
** What is my favorite team's "Power Ranking" compared to others?
** Who is in the Hall of Fame, and what are their best cards?
...and dozens more.
Here’s a quick visual tour:
Mouseover text for more details
Two way player support and real world stats for current players
Dynamic Interactive Elements like Captain Indicators to open related reports
Full Player Comparisons - Who is your Right Fielder
Full Attribute Update History for Live Series players
Even real life Stat Comparisons - Who Really deserved the MVP?
Finally a full library of over 50 Pre-built Reports
It can be accessed here: The Show Scout
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This project started in July I believe when I discovered AI Coding tools and wondered if I could automate the Legends and Flashbacks by Team chart that I had been producing. When that was successful I just kept adding things to it until we have reached its current form.
I think it is safe to say I spent more time on the app than I did playing the game this year.
Here are a few tidbits
By the Numbers: A Surprising Scale
While the app has a clean, single-page interface, the codebase that powers it is quite substantial.
- Lines of Code: The entire application, including styling, logic, and component definitions, is currently sitting at over 11,000 lines of code.
- Report Library: The "Pre-Built Reports" feature is the heart of the app. There are 57 unique, hand-crafted reports currently available, each with its own specific logic, data fetching requirements, and formatting.
- API Endpoints: To gather all its data, the app communicates with at least 7 different official API endpoints from MLB The Show (for items, captains, market listings, roster updates, etc.), plus the official MLB Stats API for real-world data and an external counter API for the page load tracker.
The Engine Room: Most Complex Features
Some of the app's most powerful features require some surprisingly complex logic to work.
- The "God Squad" Algorithm: The "Best Overall Squad" report (and its variants) doesn't just pick the highest-rated player at each position. It uses an "opportunity cost" algorithm. It analyzes the entire pool of eligible players and iteratively picks the player who represents the biggest "drop-off" in skill to the next-best option at their position. This ensures that a superstar isn't "wasted" at a deep position when they could be filling a much weaker spot, resulting in a squad with the highest possible total Meta Score.
- The Time Machine (Player History): The "History" modal for Live Series players is one of the most data-intensive features. It first fetches a list of all roster updates for the season, then makes an individual API call for each one to get the details. The most complex part is calculating the "Starting Attributes" at the bottom of the table. It has to find the player's oldest update, take their old_rank as the starting point, and then mathematically reverse-apply every single attribute change from that oldest update to reconstruct their true opening day stats.
- The Captain Eligibility Parser: The "Captain Deep Dive" report needs to figure out which players are eligible for a captain's boost. Since the rules are written in plain English (e.g., "Get 9 players from the Baltimore Orioles with 90+ Clutch"), the app uses a multi-stage parser. It first filters by theme (like a team or series), then by player type (hitter/pitcher), and finally uses regular expressions (regex) to find and apply any attribute-based rules like 90+ Clutch. It's also smart enough to recognize when a requirement is based on real-world stats it can't parse (like "World Series MVP"), and will gracefully show a message instead of an empty list. (NOTE: This Definitely needs more testing. SDS has not added captain data into the API for the last 4 captains yet)
Subtle Touches & "Easter Eggs"
- Pixel-Perfect Downloads: When you click "Download Table" or "Download Chart," the app doesn't just take a screenshot. It builds a brand new, high-resolution image from scratch on an invisible <canvas> element. It redraws every line, piece of text, and color, adding a proper title and subtitle. This is how the downloads look so clean and high-quality. The "Download Summary" for a Captain Deep Dive is the most extreme example—it fetches card images and draws the entire infographic from code.
- Smart Caching: To avoid overwhelming the game's servers, the app uses a 15-minute cache for market data. If you run the "Budget Beasts" report, then run it again 5 minutes later, it will use the stored data instantly. If you run it 16 minutes later, it will automatically fetch fresh prices.
