Diamond Dynasty Content Roundup: Roster Update, The Show Classics Program, Season Awards, New Captains

The final Friday of April 2024 is here — and in Diamond Dynasty in MLB The Show 24, that means a massive release of content, led by the first Roster Update of the year and a new The Show Classics Program, supplemented by the release of a new Mini Seasons campaign, new Event, and new Ranked Missions, and topped off by one of the sweetest phrases in all of DD: Double XP.

First Major Roster Update Boosts Betts, Tatis; Six New Live Series Diamonds

First and foremost on this Friday is the first significant Diamond Dynasty Roster Update for MLB The Show 24, following the usual minor post-Spring Training update that accounts for roster moves. This update, instead, adjusts over 800 Live Series players in DD, tweaking and tuning their attributes to be in line with on-field performance thus far in the 2024 MLB season.

For DD players, that’s largely a chance to cash in on investments in players who were Common, Bronze, Silver, or Gold and moved up a tier or two, increasing the quicksell values tied to their Overall (OVR) ratings. But the headline is always which cards made the leap to Diamond, and this update includes six of those:

• Orioles pitcher Corbin Burnes (84 to 85)

• Brewers catcher William Contreras (82 to 85)

• Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow (84 to 85)

• Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte (84 to 85)

• Guardians catcher Josh Naylor (83 to 86)

• Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (82 to 85)

In addition, Mookie Betts and Fernando Tatis Jr. got sizable +3 OVR boosts, with Betts moving from a 91 to a 94 and seeing almost all of his hitting stats other than Power Against Lefties get double-digit bumps after his torrid start for the Dodgers and Tatis rejoining the 90+ OVR “blue Diamond” tier in recognition of his powerful start to 2024.

Roster Updates and Live Series cards don’t just take the last several weeks into account, as ratings are based more on a rolling multi-season evaluation of a player’s performance; Tatis, for example, is still building back to the ratings he had prior to missing the 2022 MLB season due to a suspension for the use of a performance-enhancing substance and injury, even though he has recaptured much of that form on the field, so his ratings are catching up to real life.

But these updates can be quite reactive, especially as it relates to downgrades, and reigning National League MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. being docked two points of OVR — from 93 to 91 — and a fair bit of power for a slow start that has seen him hit just one home run so far after his historic 40-70 season in 2023 is a fine example of that just like the boost to perennial standout Betts is.

Outside of the Diamonds, there are meaningful upgrades up and down the scale. Cubs first baseman Michael Busch, who appears likely to have a breakout season for the North Side squad, is up nine OVR, leaping from a 66 OVR Bronze to being a 75 OVR Silver within range of making a jump to Gold if he keeps up his production. New Red Sox outfielder Tyler O’Neill and Blue Jays reliever Yimi García made twin six-point vaults from 75 to 81 OVR, and Elly De La Cruz’s sizzling start got him from 76 to 81 OVR, with enormous 17- and 18-point boosts to his Contact and Power Against Righties. Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams and Braves slugger Marcell Ozuna likewise went from 76 to 81.

And if you’re looking for the trendy pick to trend further upward to Diamond in the next Roster Update, it has to be Brewers starter Freddy Peralta, up in this Update to an 84 OVR and yet still under 80 in all but two pitching attributes, which implies plenty of room for growth.

Other notable downgrades are Aaron Judge losing three points of OVR for stat drops related to his .186 batting average in 2024 the largest OVR drop for any Diamond card; Matt Olson falling from 88 OVR to 85 thanks to a sweeping downward adjustment to his hitting numbers after his home run explosion in 2023; and Josh Hader and Bo Bichette falling out of the Diamond tier entirely. In Hader’s case, that’s after losing 12 points in Hits Per 9 … which might actually be a soft touch, given his atrocious start to 2024.

The Show Classics Program Recharges Lightning Bellinger

While the Roster Update provides for some reflection on the 2024 season and the opportunity to make Stubs by cashing in investments, the most exciting part of this content drop is likely to be the new The Show Classics Program, which contains five free — earnable without purchasing anything — 93+ OVR cards, topped by the return of the legendary Lightning Cody Bellinger Monthly Awards card from his insane 13-homer June 2017.

That Bellinger sits at the end of a reward path that is 100 Stars long, and players can obtain those Stars from Moments (15 total), Missions involving the players obtained en route to Bellinger (25), standard online (60) and offline (60) missions tied to The Show Classics players and their positions, an Extreme Moment in which players can get a whopping 10 Stars for tallying 10 total bases with Bellinger on Hall of Fame, and a new The Shoe Classics Showdown (20) that will pit players against the vaunted Edward Cabrera.

The cards themselves are maybe more useful than fearsome outside of Bellinger, whose swing, 101/103 Power stats, and ability to play anywhere in the outfield OR first base should make him a mainstay of many lineups, and the 94 OVR Gleyber Torres returning from the Faces of the Franchise program with no hitting stat under 95 in the Contact, Power, and Clutch categories. 

Nick Lodolo returns from a Future Stars series at 94 OVR with great stats (all of Stamina, H/9, K/9, and Pitching Clutch at or above 95) and his lanky Randy Johnsonesque 6’6” lefty frame, but his four-pitch mix doesn’t have elite break or velocity. Keibert Ruiz’s 94 OVR card from a different Future Stars series blends good hitting with good defense, but isn’t quite elite at either. And a 93 OVR Kenta Maeda from a Postseason series gone has gaudy attributes (109/102 H/K per 9) and five pitches, a luxury for a reliever, but none of those pitches tops 93 MPH.

One of the more interesting aspects of this program is what isn’t part of it, however, as there’s no collection for The Show Classics players rewarding program Stars despite the presence of The Show Classics store packs — including Pack 2, which was released earlier this week and is led by 97 OVR Dustin May and Niko Goodrum cards. This differs from the Season Awards programs that have been released to date, and likely means that this is either a parallel structure that is meant to force some grinding of the game that is less necessary when players can buy and collect cards for program progress or that Sony San Diego is shifting toward this structure going forward.

Season 1 Awards Drop 5 Led by Raleigh, Garrett, Houck

And while that structural change would have been nice to immediately apply to Season Awards, Drop 5 for Season 1 is plagued by the same old problem from the first four: The best cards are in the packs, not the path.

This week, those cards are Cal Raleigh, Seattle’s beloved Big Dumper, and an absolutely filthy Reed Garrett that does his demonic strikeout artistry justice, both at 96 OVR. Raleigh checks in with the clear best power profile for a lefty catcher in DD, with 102/120 Contact/Power against righties, but he’s also a switch-hitter and has Diamond defense, and so is probably just the best catcher available, too.

Garrett might just be the best reliever available, with 116 H/9 and maxed-out 125 K/9, 116 Clutch, and a five-pitch arsenal that goes slider-slurve-splitter-fastball-sinker. No Outlier means he’ll only be in the mid-90s with the hardest of those, but the array of options available there is going to make the Mets’ most effective reliever in real life a challenge to hit off in DD.

The other three Drop 5 pack cards aren’t quite so exciting, with the pitchers — Ranger Suarez and Mitchell Parker — far outclassing Jonatan Clase. And Suarez is probably headed for a better and higher-OVR card at some point soon, too.

But those cards FAR outpace most of the reward path cards, 92 OVR versions of Rangers starter Jack Leiter, Red Sox reliever Cam Booser, Dodgers right fielder Andy Pages, and Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm and a 94 OVR Tanner Houck at path end. Bohm may actually be more interesting than Houck, another starter with impressive attribute stats and a fine pitch mix — including slider, sinker, cutter, and a splitter, though no real off-speed pitch — lacking elite velocity; his 114/120 Contact/Power should really play against southpaws, and 116 Clutch helps a bunch, as does having first base as a secondary position to stash him as a defender.

At this point, it seems clear that expecting true big names to show up as the best free cards in this Season Awards program is going to have to wait for Season 2 — if it happens — and also that the reward path is going to remain both inferior to the pack with each drop’s most coveted cards and bereft of a chance to earn that pack. Changing this to be more player-friendly — simply adding a pack to the end of the reward pack would seem easy — would get a fair bit of applause.

New Legends & Live Series Mini Season Comes With Feller; International Event Has Bichette, Hairston Jr.

And it’s also curious that Friday’s new cards aren’t eligible for use in Friday’s new content in the form of the Legends & Live Series Mini Season. 

That Mini Season is a nice addition to the game for a variety of reasons: It has slightly more lenient (no difficulty-based goals!) and significantly more generous (60,000 Season XP!) goals than the Classic Mode Mini Season, includes three Booster Choice Packs that could be really rewarding if their potential pool cuts down to the smallish number of Live Series Diamonds and thus multiplies the chances of pulling a Shohei Ohtani or Mike Trout, and has a 95 OVR Bob Feller as the championship reward. 

But only Legends and Live Series cards — uh, surprise? — are eligible for this Mini Season, meaning that a player who completes the Season Awards Drop 5 reward path this Friday cannot then take those cards into this new Mini Season. It’s a small thing, and probably not one most players will notice or care about, but it’s also a missed opportunity to synchronize a release more neatly.

DD players can, however, obtain a card with maybe the best art in the game through the new International Event, which challenges players to build teams consisting of players from the MLB teams participating in this year’s International Series: The Astros, Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, Padres, Rays, Red Sox, and Rockies. 

The very ‘90s flavor of those teams is also well-reflected in the Event’s 20-win prize, a Dante Bichette card tied to his 1995 season that is a modified version of a 1995 Topps card and features him wearing possibly the coolest sunglasses in history. The card itself is a lefty-clubber: 110/120 Contact/Power certainly plays, as does 120 Clutch, and eight quirks cover him in many situations.

The 10-win reward is a Hyper Series Jerry Hairston Jr. that also has a decent bag against lefties (107/80) and Diamond defense but is otherwise a pretty good point of evidence for an argument that San Diego Studios is continuing to give Hairston cards that are not exactly commensurate with a well-traveled journeyman who only hit over .300 once and never had more than 10 homers in a 16-season MLB career.

Chase Pack 4 Holds Alvarez, Headliners Pack 13 Brings Chapman, Six New Captains Arrive

Last but not least this Friday are new store packs that aren’t tied to any program.

The new Chase Pack 4 has a new best version of Yordan Alvarez, the holy terror that has been destroying right-handed pitching all year in DD, importing his July 2022 Lightning Player as a The Show Classics version with 115/125 Contact/Power versus righties and 112 Clutch. Nine quirks should help this card dominate even further, but it’s likely to be vanishingly rare.

Headliners Pack 13, containing a 97 OVR Awards Series Matt Chapman paying tribute to his Platinum Glove that is likely to be the best defensive third baseman in Diamond Dynasty until the late, great Brooks Robinson comes to the game. Chapman is good but not great with the bat, too, and the pack can also contain the Athletics’ 1925 white elephant uniforms.

But the most important of the new packs is likely to be the Season 1 Captain Series pack, which costs a pricey 40,000 Stubs and contains a choice of six 95 OVR Captains for series ranging from Asian-born players — Seiya Suzuki gets the honor here — to MLB pitchers who have recorded 45 saves in a season, an arbitrary endpoint for the ages that does apply to Trevor Hoffman. The cards themselves are obviously excellent, but the boosts tied to them could be game-changing — which is why they deserve a more detailed breakdown.