Community Forum

In recent years, SDS has brought so many legends to The Show for us to use in Diamond Dynasty. It wasn't long ago that our pool of legends was limited to only a few per team. Now? Almost every team has a good number of legends.

The Show 17 brought us Ken Griffey Jr., Roberto Alomar, Wade Boggs, Jorge Posada, and Jason Giambi among others.

The Show 18 gave us Babe Ruth, Frank Thomas, Mike Piazza, Bob Gibson, Vladimir Guerrero, and Roy Oswalt among a lot more. In fact, I think The Show 18 might have been our biggest jump from year-to-year.

... and of course The Show 19 continued the trend and brought out the big guns with Willie Mays, Rickey Henderson, Ivan Rodriguez, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Cy Young, and Walter Johnson.

With all those legends added, the game has evolved into a baseball fan's dream, especially in Diamond Dynasty where they've found a good balance of time spent and rewarding the player without the feeling that you need to spend money like so many other Ultimate Team card collecting modes. It made a ton of sense for them to target the bats before the arms but I think the next few years should be spent focusing on getting the big name pitching legends that we've been asking for.

It's true that they've added more than a few of baseball history's best hurlers but I still think that the selection of pitching legends is far too small. Obviously they took a huge step the last two years in acquiring rights to some great legends and I'm glad they got the rights to Mark Buehrle, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Robin Roberts, and Al Leiter this year; while last year we got Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Cy Young, and A.J. Burnett. There's no denying that the selection we have already is impressive but imagine a game with all the legends we have now, plus big names like:

• Pedro Martinez
• Randy Johnson
• Dwight Gooden
• Tim Lincecum
• Roy Halladay
• Barry Zito
• Mike Mussina
• Sandy Koufax
• Roger Clemens
• Curt Schilling
• Steve Carlton

Yeah, a few of those guys are unlikely (Clemens and Schilling specifically) but to match the legendary bats of Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken Jr., and Lou Gehrig, we need the best pitchers the world has ever seen to match. Just adding a few of these legends like Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and Roger Clemens would go so far and further the notion that MLB The Show offers the best Ultimate Team experience of any sports game.

It's exciting to think about the ridiculous matchups we could have and likely will have in the coming years. I could go on for hours talking about players I'd love to see return to or make their debut in The Show. I'm certain the team at Sony San Diego Studios shares this belief and are working on getting a large number of these guys into the game. Even beyond the household names they could build on those by adding other popular pitching legends like:

• Carlos Zambrano
• Tim Hudson
• Johan Santana
• David Cone
• Andy Pettitte
• Hoyt Wilhelm
• Brandon Webb
• Gaylord Perry (re-acquire his rights)
• Chuck Finley
• Josh Beckett
• David Wells
• Chris Carpenter
• Tim Wakefield
• Frank Viola
• Kevin Brown
• Javier Vazquez
• Dennis Martinez
• Bobby Thigpen
• Armando Benitez
• Jose Mesa
• Freddy Garcia
• Jon Matlack
• Brad Radke
• Dontrelle Willis
• Jim Bunning
• Hideo Nomo
• Jamie Moyer
• Don Drysdale
• Kyle Farnsworth

... and guys that recently retired like:

• C.C. Sabathia
• R.A. Dickey
• John Lackey
• Matt Harvey
• Bronson Arroyo
• C.J. Wilson
• Jonathan Papelbon
• Francisco Rodriguez
• Joe Nathan
• Ryan Dempster
• Dan Haren
• Matt Cain
• Jered Weaver
• Jonathan Papelbon
• Koji Uehara
• Junichi Tazawa
• Francisco Rodriguez
• Jonathan Broxton
• Brian Wilson
• Neftali Feliz
• LaTroy Hawkins
• Octavio Dotel
• John Axford
• Ryan Madson
• Jim Johnson
• Santiago Casilla
• Carter Capps

These are based off of relatively small sample sizes and quite a bit of Showdown. Obviously my list won't be exactly the same as yours but I always enjoys topics like these to spark discussion on which cards you think are the best in a given set.

Without further ado:

#1 - Jacob deGrom, SP - NYM
As someone who wasn't a big fan of deGrom's Live Series card, I wasn't expecting much from this card. I knew it would be popular amongst NMS squads and Ranked Seasons players not in Hall of Fame-territory but sweet lord, this card is so gross. Not only can he throw heat but his slider may be the best in the entire game -- full stop. Couple that with his wipeout changeup, curveball and surprisingly effective two-seamer and you have a card that will likely haunt every player's dreams for the rest of the year. It's a good thing we got some righty-killers in TA3 or this deGrom would be nearly untouchable.

#2 - Trea Turner, SS - WSH
I've had a lot of success with POTM Marcus Semien and Milestones Alfonso Soriano at second base but I think Turner will overtake them as my full-time starting second baseman. For whatever reason, I've always done well with Turner's cards -- something about his swing just feels so easy to me -- but I never imagined getting a Turner with 90+ power from both sides (once you Parallel him up to Tier-V) and while admittedly, I could see his defense being an issue every once in awhile, the havoc he causes at the plate and on the base-paths makes it totally worth it to me.

#3 - Alex Reyes, CP - STL
I knew this card was going to be amongst the best in TA3 but what I wasn't expecting to get a card I could legitimately go three plus innings with in each outing. The fact that Reyes has 45 Stamina makes him one of the most useful and unique cards you can get from TA3. Of course Stamina alone isn't the reason why I have this card ranked so high (although its importance cannot be understated) as Reyes also has some excellent delta between his pitch repertoire with his four-seam fastball reaching triple-digits with his changeup coming in around 12-15 mph slower, his 12-6 curveball set at 79 mph, a filthy slider that has good horizontal break at 86 mph and a sinker that seems incredibly difficult to square up with the Outlier II perk. You likely have a card you legitimately may not take out of your lineup for the rest of The Show 21's life-cycle.

#4 - Matt Olson, 1B - OAK
I have always loved Matt Olson's swing in The Show and this year is no different. Olson's Live Series card was my starting first baseman for quite awhile until I inevitably upgraded to Paul Konerko then David Ortiz and Jim Thome. Now I'm at a crossroads, as I still love Jim Thome but this Matt Olson card is testing how far that affinity (pun intended) goes as it's no secret that one of Thome's glaring weaknesses on his 96 overall card is the terrible Fielding and Reaction ratings. Olson not only has diamond-caliber defense but also comes equipped with Active Quirks, better Vision and the same penchant for blasting no doubters -- and do not underestimate how effective Active Quirks can be.

#5 - Gregory Soto, RP - DET
I'll admit there might be some "new toy" bias at work here but with Live Series Aroldis Chapman getting a heavy downgrade recently, it's hard not to see this Gregory Soto card as the hero that came and saved the day and while I'm sure others will complain that his repertoire and difference in pitch speeds might not be the greatest, I'd argue he has everything that I need to get outs against some of the best lefty-killers in the game. Don't sleep on this card, as long as his low control doesn't bother you too much, this card will have legs in your lineup.

#6 - Jose Ramirez, 3B - CLE
I've always placed a very high value on switch-hitters and shorter players like Jimmy Rollins, Omar Vizquel, Jose Altuve and of course, Jose Ramirez. So it should come as no surprise that I was extremely excited to see that Cleveland's TA3 card was Jose Ramirez and not Shane Bieber -- who I was expecting. And while I am struggling to find a place for Ramirez to actually start in my lineup, you better believe he's one of the hitters I'm most confident and comfortable with coming off the bench as a pinch-hitter or late-game rally starting utilityman. He's someone I'm prioritizing getting to Tier-V sooner rather than later.

#7 - Aaron Judge, RF - NYY
I've never been a big fan of Judge cards as his swing has and still does feel too slow for me but so far, I've been super impressed with how well this card has performed. As I said in the Jose Ramirez blurb, I have historically preferred shorter players in no small part due to their shrunken strike zone and more compact swings -- so this Judge card goes against everything I've come to know about myself over the course of playing MLB The Show. And although I like what I've seen from this card at the plate, it's in the field that this card really shines and you better believe your opponent is going to hate you when they try finding a gap between this Aaron Judge in right field and say -- Byron Buxton and Alfonso Soriano in center and left field, respectively.

#8 - Nicholas Castellanos, RF - CIN
I've seen a lot of people claim this card is the very best in Team Affinity Season 3 -- and while I'm not there yet -- don't be fooled into thinking that being ranked 8th is some kind of slight against this card -- as that couldn't be further from the truth. It's pretty easy to see that this card will likely be a mainstay on your team, even if he may find a more permanent role off your bench as one of your top pinch-hitters after you've had time to settle him in. Small sample size so far but this card absolutely rakes.

#9 - J.T. Realmuto, C - PHI
I think this might be one of my more "against the grain" picks amongst the consensus rankings as it seems most people prefer Salvador Perez -- at least, from what I'm seen so far. That said, I may ultimately end up with Realmuto much, much higher once I get past my stubborn unwillingness to bench Matt Wieters over the long-haul. Back when my team was filled with budget cards, Live Series J.T. Realmuto had a batting average above .450, so I'm sure this is a card that will grow on me a ton.

#10 - Eduardo Escobar, 3B - ARZ
This card has been stupidly good for me in Showdown so far and while that may have me a bit jaded at the moment, I could actually see this card being one of the more underrated and overlooked that a lot of folks may end up clinging to in the end. I guess we'll just have to see how he performs above Veteran Boss battle Showdowns until then though.

#11 - Ozzie Albies, 2B - ATL
#12 - Josh Hader, CP - MIL
#13 - Salvador Perez, C - KC
#14 - Chris Taylor, CF - LAD
#15 - Adolis Garcia, CF - TEX
#16 - Rafael Devers, 3B - BOS
#17 - Teoscar Hernandez, RF - TOR
#18 - Jake Croenworth, 2B - SD
#19 - Cedric Mullins, CF - BAL
#20 - Kevin Gausman, SP - SF
#21 - Nelson Cruz Jr., RF - MIN
#22 - Michael Brantley, LF - HOU
#23 - Jared Walsh, 1B - LAA
#24 - Mike Zunino, C - TBR
#25 - Adam Frazier, 2B - PIT
#26 - German Marquez, SP - COL
#27 - Craig Kimbrel, CP - CHC
#28 - Carlos Rodon, SP - CWS
#29 - Yusei Kikuchi, SP - SEA
#30 - Trevor Rogers, SP - MIA

I finally finished the Live Series collection! This is only the second time I have been able to accomplish this -- the only other being in The Show 17 and I didn't finish that one until late-August/September.

I got super lucky and pulled Mike Trout this year in the middle of April after beating the 2nd Inning Showdown (what a thrill that was for me!) and since then, I've been dead set on getting it done. I thought it would take me until mid-June at first but I put my flipping skills into overdrive the past few weeks, with the last week being especially crazy.

I want to say it was sometime last week (I want to say Wednesday or Thursday) that I bought Gerrit Cole (162K), then I flipped my way to 200K and bought Christian Yelich (39K) and Cody Bellinger (163K), last night I had enough to get Jacob deGrom (108K) so I pulled the trigger.

Today, I spent the entire day getting to 140K Stubs and finally had enough to get Nolan Arenado. I am so proud but I will say I may need to buy a new PS4 controller in the near future as my 'X' button has to be obliterated. My thumb hurts and I think I see the menus when I close my eyes (lmao!)

Anyway, this is going to get pushed down quickly so I'm not sure why I typed so much but I just have to share my experience with my MLB The Show-brethren.

Honestly, now that I'm done... I'll share my method but be warned, it's tedious, boring and you have to be patient sometimes.

Bronze cards are your moneymakers. Sure, you can buy Commons for the 5 or 6 quick-sell price and take advantage when they're selling for around 40-50 Stubs. I did that with a few cards and I mostly stuck to ones that I knew usually sold for more. The biggest thing though is, take advantage of having unlimited buy orders, that alone made flipping so much better for me.

The best advice I ever heard when it came to flipping sounds so simple but it helped me change my mindset, "all profit is good profit." Now, that doesn't mean buy a card for 45 Stubs and sell him at 50 Stubs, but making 40-50 Stubs on each card you flip adds up so quickly. The last two days, I focused on low-bronzes that I could put buy orders in around 25-30 Stubs and then I could sell them for 80-110 Stubs a piece. The more you flip, the more you realize there are certain teams that move much quicker, sell for more, and just have excellent profit margins, but on the flipside, there's teams you want to avoid like the plague! For example, the Angels are a waste of time and personally, I more often than not have been disappointed by Cubs and Cardinals players for whatever reason. Oh, and the Yankees! There isn't much Stubs to be made off the Yankees.

Aside from that, it's all about finding your rhythm. If you place a buy order and the profit margins are nice but by the time you actually get the card, the margins have dropped -- hold onto them! Chances are the price will be back to a healthy profit within the next 6-12 hours.

I hope this helps someone. Good luck guys!

Obviously, these are probably a pretty long way off from releasing (I'm thinking mid-July), I've been thinking about this the past few days and I think Team Affinity 3 should finally be the meaty content drop we've all been waiting for. I think there's a very good chance that Stage 4 will be each team's "Finest" card. This makes sense for a few reasons...

• It'll be releasing in the Fall, so in all likelihood late-September/early October, and that is usually the time of year SDS releases The Show's "Finest" series of cards.

• Last year, we got a "Finest" series card for each team. Instead of doing packs, I think it makes sense to tie these into Team Affinity.

So, with that said, what could we be getting in stage 3 of Team Affinity? I've got my fingers crossed that we'll get a high-90s (95-98?) Signature Series, Prime, or All-Star cards. If that's what it ends up being, we could see some really sweet cards that I think we've all been patiently waiting for.

I've made a mock-up list of who I think could be included if this is the direction they go in. I could be way off on a lot of these, and hopefully you'll chime in and let me know who we could see for your favorite team. I'm also hoping that the developers will maybe come across this thread and possibly give them some ideas of who we all want to see.

Without further ado, here's my guesses for each team:

• Baltimore Orioles
  Manny Machado - 96 OVR (2015 Prime All-Star)

• Boston Red Sox
  David Ortiz - 96 OVR (2006 Prime Silver Slugger Hardware)

• New York Yankees
  Mariano Rivera - 97 OVR (2005 Prime All-Star)

• Tampa Bay Rays
  David Price - 97 OVR (2012 Prime Cy Young Hardware)

• Toronto Blue Jays
  Josh Donaldson - 98 OVR (2015 Prime AL MVP Hardware)

• Chicago White Sox
  Mark Buehrle - 95 OVR (2005 Prime All-Star)

• Cleveland Indians
  Omar Vizquel - 96 OVR (1999 Prime Gold Glove Hardware)

• Detroit Tigers
  Jack Morris - 95 OVR (1986 Prime Impact Veteran)

• Kansas City Royals
  Zack Greinke - 97 OVR (2009 Prime Cy Young Hardware)

• Minnesota Twins
  Rod Carew - 97 OVR (1977 Prime MVP Hardware)

• Los Angeles Angels
  Vladimir Guerrero - 98 OVR (2004 Prime MVP Hardware)

• Oakland Athletics
  Jason Giambi - 97 OVR (2000 Prime MVP Hardware)

• Seattle Mariners
  Felix Hernandez - 96 OVR (2010 Prime Cy Young Hardware)

• Texas Rangers
  Michael Young - 96 OVR (2004 Prime All-Star)

• Houston Astros
  Mike Scott - 95 OVR (1986 Prime Cy Young Hardware)

• Atlanta Braves
  Andruw Jones - 97 OVR (2005 Prime All-Star)

• Miami Marlins
  Giancarlo Stanton - 97 OVR (2017 Prime MVP Hardware)

• Washington Nationals
  Bryce Harper - 96 OVR (2015 Prime MVP Hardware)

• New York Mets
  Al Leiter - 95 OVR (2000 Prime All-Star)

• Philadelphia Phillies
  Jimmy Rollins - 97 OVR (2007 Prime MVP Hardware)

• Chicago Cubs
  Bruce Sutter - 95 OVR (1979 Prime Cy Young Hardware)

• Cincinnati Reds
  George Foster - 97 OVR (1977 Prime MVP Hardware)

• Milwaukee Brewers
  Ryan Braun - 95 OVR (2011 Prime MVP Hardware)

• Pittsburgh Pirates
  Jason Kendall - 96 OVR (1998 Prime All-Star)

• St. Louis Cardinals
  Adam Wainwright - 96 OVR (2010 Prime All-Star)

• Arizona Diamondbacks
  Steve Finley - 96 OVR (1999 Prime Gold Glove Hardware)

• Colorado Rockies
  Dante Bichette - 95 OVR (1995 Prime All-Star)

• Los Angeles Dodgers
  Orel Hershiser - 97 OVR (1988 Prime Cy Young Hardware)

• San Diego Padres
  Ryan Klesko - 95 OVR (2001 Prime All-Star)

• San Francisco Giants
  Matt Williams - 96 OVR (1994 Prime Gold Glove Hardware)

I'm probably the worst hitter out of all of you and I beat it on my first try.

Although, I will say that I got crazy luck when it came to drafting players in this one. I ended up with a lineup of:

C : Christian Vasquez & Carson Kelly
1B: Matt Olson & Frank Thomas (84)
2B: Gleybar Torres (LS)
SS: Jonathan Villar
3B: Bobby Dalbec (FS)
LF: Cliff Floyd**
CF: Mickey Mantle (99) & Bryan Reynolds (He came up BIG like 3-4 times)
RF: Larry Walker & J.D. Martinez

Pitchers I Used:
Colin Poche (Silver, LHP from TB Rays)
Alec Hanson (Common, former White Sox prospect with good 5-pitch mix)
Austen Davis (Common, LHP from Phillies)
...and I can't even remember if I used my actual SP the entire time (I don't think so)

Tips:

• Take pitches against Mariano Rivera. Remember, he's a relief pitcher. His stamina is going to start to get brutally low once he hits about 40 pitches. Just survive with enough outs until then and I promise you'll beat him.

• Remember to look at each challenge AND THEN set your Perks. For example, if it says you're starting in the 8th inning, you know to use a perk like Spark-Plug where you make better contact in and after the 7th inning. This will save your life.

• Personally, I always switch to Directional for Showdowns. It makes it 100x easier for me, for some reason.

• Don't draft more than one reliever and starter. I didn't even use my starting pitcher but maybe you will. I'm not certain that they have more challenges.

• In my experiences, I've had the most success with the Defibrillator perks; silver gives you a contact boost in even counts (0-0, 1-1, 2-2); gold gives you a contact boost when you are behind in the count (love this one); and the diamond gives you a huge contact boost when you have two strikes. The diamond one is great for a number of reasons, not only can you basically put the controller down until you have 2 strikes but once you do, you can pretty much foul ANYTHING off which is going to raise the pitch count even higher!

• I'm also a big fan of the perks that affect exit velocity. In combination with ones that give you a contact boost, you can straight wreck these final bosses.

No, I'm hitting like .200 in Ranked Seasons. I'm not kidding. I get by on my pitching.

If there was one thing definitely worth it for pre-ordering, it was this. It's so nice getting not only two stamps per day towards the free pack but also getting two cards. Yeah, I've never actually gotten anything this year but I'm sure I will get a few pretty decent cards because of this.

With the calendar turned to October and the MLB Postseason in full-swing, we are now well into the back-half of The Show 20's life-cycle and with that, we will soon see the final stage of the Team Affinity programs roll out.

It has been heavily speculated that Team Affinity 4 will likely be Finest Series cards, as the Team Affinity setup lends itself very well to how they've done the Finest Series in the past.

One thing I'd really like to see is similar to how Stage 1 had gold Prospects Series at about halfway to the diamond Face of the Franchise cards, I'm hoping they do the same except instead of golds, give us high-80s/low-90s diamonds. They could be All-Star, Veteran, traditional Postseason, and Breakout series cards -- maybe even a few Primes/SS, too. For simplicity's sake, I'm going to refer to these cards as "henchmen."

So, with all that in mind, I'm going to do my predictions for each team's Finest card, as well as the midway point card. Without further ado, I hope ya'll enjoy and we can spark a discussion on who deserves a card and which players you'd just like to see get one.

• Baltimore Orioles
  Finest: Anthony Santander, RF / 98 OVR
  Henchman: Nick Markakis, RF / 93 OVR / Breakout Series

• Boston Red Sox
  Finest: Alex Verdugo, RF / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Andrew Benintendi, LF / 95 OVR / Classic Future Stars Series

• New York Yankees
  Finest:Gerrit Cole, SP / 99 OVR
  Henchman: David Robertson, CP / 95 OVR / 2011 Prime Series

• Tampa Bay Rays
  Finest: Brandon Lowe, 2B / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Kevin Kiermaier, CF / 93 OVR / Awards (2015 Gold Glove) Series

• Toronto Blue Jays
  Finest: Hyun-Jin Ryu, SP / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B / 95 OVR Classic Future Stars Series

• Chicago White Sox
  Finest: Eloy Jimenez, LF / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Yoan Moncada, 2B / 96 OVR / Classic Future Stars

• Cleveland Indians
  Finest: Francisco Lindor, SS / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Omar Vizquel, SS / 96 OVR / Signature Series

• Detroit Tigers
  Finest: Jeimer Candelairio, 3B / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Jack Morris, SP / 94 OVR / Prime Series

• Kansas City Royals
  Finest: Brad Keller, SP / 98 OVR
  Henchman: Eric Hosmer, 1B / 94 OVR / Prime Series

• Minnesota Twins
  Finest: Kenta Maeda / SP / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Jose Berrios / SP / 93 OVR / Classic Future Stars

• Los Angeles Angels
  Finest: Dylan Bundy, SP / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Howie Kendrick, 2B / 93 OVR / Signature Series

• Oakland Athletics
  Finest: Ramon Laureano, CF / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Marcus Semien, SS / 95 OVR / 2019 Breakout Series

• Seattle Mariners
  Finest: Kyle Lewis, CF / 98 OVR
  Henchman: Edgar Martinez, 3B / 96 OVR / 1995 Silver Slugger Awards Series

• Texas Rangers
  Finest: Lance Lynn, SP / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Fergie Jenkins, SP / 95 OVR / 1974 Veteran Series

• Houston Astros
  Finest: George Springer, CF / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Alex Bregman, 3B / 96 OVR / 2019 Silver Slugger Awards Series

• Atlanta Braves
  Finest: Freddie Freeman, 1B / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Warren Spahn, SP / 96 OVR / 1957 Cy Young Awards Series

• Miami Marlins
  Finest: Miguel Rojas, SS / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Cliff Floyd, LF / 96 OVR / Signature Series

• New York Mets
  Finest: Dominic Smith, 1B / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Matt Harvey, SP / 95 OVR / 2013 Prime Series

• Philadelphia Phillies
  Finest: Zack Wheeler, SP / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Richie Ashburn, CF / 96 OVR / Signature Series

• Washington Nationals
  Finest: Trea Turner, SS / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Ryan Zimmermann, 3B / 94 OVR / *Signature Series

• Chicago Cubs
  Finest: Yu Darvish, SP / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Jake Arrieta, SP / 96 OVR / 2015 Cy Young Awards Series

• Cincinnati Reds
  Finest: Luis Castillo, SP / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Adam Dunn, LF / 93 OVR / Prime Series

• Milwaukee Brewers
  Finest: Brandon Woodruff, SP / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Ryan Braun, LF / 96 OVR / 2011 Prime Series

• Pittsburgh Pirates
  Finest: Colin Moran, 3B / 98 OVR
  Henchman: Willie Stargell, LF / 96 OVR / 1972 Prime Series

• St. Louis Cardinals
  Finest: Kwang Hyun Kim, SP / 98 OVR
  Henchman: Enos Slaughter, RF / 95 OVR / Signature Series

• Arizona Diamondbacks
  Finest: Zac Gallen, SP / 99 OVR
  Henchman: A.J. Pollock, CF / 95 OVR / 2015 Gold Glove Awards Series

• Colorado Rockies
  Finest: Nolan Arenado, 3B / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Carlos Gonzalez, RF / 96 OVR / 2013 Prime Series

• Los Angeles Dodgers:
  Finest: Corey Seager. SS / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Max Muncy, 1B / 94 OVR / 2018 Breakout Series

• San Diego Padres
  Finest: Dinelson Lamet, SP / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Kirby Yates, CP / 95 OVR / 2018 Prime Series

• San Francisco Giants
  Finest: Mike Yastrzemski, RF / 99 OVR
  Henchman: Brandon Crawford, SS / 94 OVR / 2016 Gold Glove Awards Series

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I thought this was America... thought this was America."

Future Stars Yoan Moncada from MLB The Show 17

It has been a rough week for me, personally. This small and probably insignificant card to the majority of you means the world to me as this card is probably my favorite card from any year of Diamond Dynasty ever. The fact that they've given me this on top of already getting that Flashback Future Stars Michael Kopech is just awesome.

I'm sure that this likely won't reach the folks at SDS' eyes, but if by the off chance it does, I just wanted to say thank you. You guys are the best in the business and have made the last three years so enjoyable.

Tips:

Take pitches against Mariano Rivera. Remember, he's a relief pitcher. His stamina is going to start to get brutally low once he hits about 40 pitches. Just survive with enough outs until then and I promise you'll beat him.

Remember to look at each challenge AND THEN set your Perks. For example, if it says you're starting in the 8th inning, you know to use a perk like Spark-Plug where you make better contact in and after the 7th inning. This will save your life.

Personally, I always switch to Directional for Showdowns. It makes it 100x easier for me, for some reason.

Don't draft more than one reliever and starter. I didn't even use my starting pitcher but maybe you will. I'm not certain that they have more challenges.

In my experiences, I've had the most success with the Defibrillator perks; silver gives you a contact boost in even counts (0-0, 1-1, 2-2); gold gives you a contact boost when you are behind in the count (love this one); and the diamond gives you a huge contact boost when you have two strikes. The diamond one is great for a number of reasons, not only can you basically put the controller down until you have 2 strikes but once you do, you can pretty much foul ANYTHING off which is going to raise the pitch count even higher!

I'm also a big fan of the perks that affect exit velocity. In combination with ones that give you a contact boost, you can straight wreck these final bosses.

I've been a DD player since the beginning, meaning I was there for the two most cringiest things SDS decided to put in the game:

Pepe Alazar and basically, the entirety of The Show 18.

Prior to release of '23, I was bummed to see the card designs were taking another step back with the Charisma series but I could live with those, I guess -- these "Incognito series cards are just downright stupid, in my opinion, and I fear this series that I love is headed in the wrong direction if the Charisma, Kaiju, and Incognito series are any indication of where they're going to take things.

I was totally fine when the card's nickname didn't replace the actual player's name in-game and in the menu but now that they've changed it... It's just so lame. I understand that it might be fun for casual baseball fans but I hope we don't get anything like this ever again.

If they wanted to do something like this, they should've waited for the "Player's Weekend" (I think that's what it's called) and release cards of the players with the nicknames that the players themselves chose and not these out of nowhere corny stuff that someone at SDS came up with.

I'm hoping I'm not in the minority here...

I'm the type of player that almost always has a U.S. Conquest map going, so being able to be rewarded with much better cards and in much less time has me back on this game like it was the beginning of April.

Great job, SDS! You continue to nail it when other sports games give us low-effort installments. I absolutely love The Show 20 and it's almost impossible to imagine how it can improve in Diamond Dynasty but I'm sure they'll do it (just please don't go back to anything you had in The Show 18)

Edit: I should add that with DD being such a great experience, I hope they allocate a lot of time to improve Franchise mode. I used to be a huge Franchise mode player but the mode is very stale and lacks the excitement that it should. I hope that is their priority for The Show 21.

I almost never get to be this guy, so I'm taking the opportunity...

Everyone in this thread must be awful. This Dave Parker card mashes.

PS: I'm sorry guys...

@AGENTSxOFxCHAOS said in Topps now moments:

Did you see some of the pitching Moments? One screw up and you fail. With the way the CPU is hitting/defense in these modes; 10K isn't worth it in my opinion.

I'm on the last one right now and I'm a well below average player and I have found them to be incredibly simple to do.

I'd say the one with the most potential to be annoying is the Kyle Hendricks one but even that one isn't all that bad. I beat all of them on my first go except the Kike one.

I got Baltimore and Boston done. It's a bummer your stats/innings don't count.

Orioles - Frank Robinson, OF
Red Sox - Carlton Fisk, C
Yankees - Roger Maris, OF
Rays - Carl Crawford, OF
Blue Jays - Roy Halladay, SP

White Sox - A.J. Pierzynski, C
Indians - Manny Ramirez, OF
Tigers - Magglio Ordonez, OF
Royals - David Cone, SP
Twins - Joe Mauer, C

Astros - Ken Caminiti, 3B
Angels - Jim Abbott, SP
Athletics - Barry Zito, SP
Mariners - Ichiro Suzuki, OF
Rangers - Adrian Beltre, 3B

Braves - David Justice, OF
Marlins - Dontrelle Willis, SP
Mets - Dwight Gooden, SP
Phillies - Steve Carlton, SP
Nationals - Tim Raines, OF

Cubs - Carlos Zambrano, SP
Reds - Jose Rijo, SP
Brewers - J.J. Hardy, SS
Pirates - Brian Giles, OF
Cardinals - Scott Rolen, 3B

Diamondbacks - Randy Johnson, SP
Rockies - Troy Tulowitzki, SS
Dodgers - Hideo Nomo, SP
Padres - Kevin Brown, SP
Giants - Tim Lincecum, SP

Honorable Mentions:
Nomar Garciaparra, SS
Ben Zobrist, 2B/OF
Andres Galarraga, 1B
Geoff Jenkins, OF
Richie Sexson, 1B
Jacque Jones, OF
Von Hayes, OF/1B
Ron Santo, 3B
Chris Carpenter, SP
Bobby Jenks, CP
Tom Gordon, SP/RP
Chris Sabo, 3B
Ben Sheets, SP
Vinny Castilla, 3B
Carlos Gomez, OF
Ray Durham, 2B
Alexei Ramirez, SS

I'd Love It, But No Chance:
Jose Fernandez, SP
Albert Belle, OF
Barry Bonds, OF
Pete Rose, 1B/2B/OF

Oh my... I used him last night and while I love the card (from a performance standpoint), I just can't do it without the beard. His face is so round and all accomplishments feel hollow without it.

SDS, this is a very big deal. This needs to be fixed, as soon as possible.

@tylerslikewhoa said in Of course, they finally give Ben Zobrist a high diamond and...:

So basically he is a free card. Sweet

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