Tarik Skubal, Adley Rutschman Headline New Threads Trade Deadline Program

New Threads Trade Deadline Program Swaps Faces to New Places

An MLB trade deadline that primarily brought the move so many baseball fans dreaded — two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal being shipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers — is predictably headlined by that move in the New Threads Trade Deadline Program in MLB The Show 26's Diamond Dynasty mode. But just as in real life, Adley Rutschman's surprise inclusion in a deadline swap — from the Baltimore Orioles to the white-hot Boston Red Sox — steals more than a little of the spotlight for itself.

That's because Rutschman is the ultimate reward of the New Threads Trade Deadline Collection, available to unlock with 25 lock-ins of New Threads Series players added in conjuction with this Trade Deadline Program — none of the New Threads players included in the preseason New Threads Program are eligible here — and a far sight better than Skubal as a DD player.

While both come in as 99 OVR titans, Skubal's kind of just what his best cards are, a lefty ace with a very good — but not highest-tier — fastball and an assortment of fine breaking pitches. His 105/95 H/9 numbers are not what you'd want from your No. 1 starter in Diamond Dynasty to begin August, and while his sinker — inarguably his best pitch — does get blessed by the Outlier II quirk, that does not quite make up for those lower numbers in the attributes that govern PCI size.

Rutschman, on the other hand, lacks for very little: He's a switch-hitting catcher with triple-digit numbers in every Contact stat and 91/92 Power against righties and lefties respectively, has 99 Fielding Ability and 85 Pop Time to go with a 96/99 Arm in Strength/Accuracy, and even has 56 Speed, which is well above average for catchers in DD. There's a good chance he's the new best catcher in the mode, even, and while that's hard to square with a season in which he's hitting .251 with just eight homers, this is a card commensurate to the hype he carried as a potential franchise savior for the Orioles around his debut — even if that is now conferred on his first card for the division rival Red Sox after a shocking trade.

Skubal, the card at the end of the Trade Deadline Program's XP reward path, is a lot more attainable than Rutschman; the Program's wealth of Parallel XP missions for New Threads players new and old ensures that ample progress can be made in the background, and the new Conquest map tied to the Program awarding 50 Stars — half of the 100 needed for Skubal — for full completion of a map with just seven Strongholds probably means any player that cruises through it will have Skubal or be very close by the end of Friday evening.

But there are 10 Trade Deadline players and two Trade Deadline Deluxe Packs on the XP reward path, two more Trade Deadline Deluxe Packs in the Conquest goals, and two Trade Deadline Deluxe Packs — one repeatable — in the new Trade Deadline Mini Seasons, so it's not hard to imagine Adley in his Sox livery being on many rosters shortly.

Other Trade Deadline Program Players of Note

• Luis Arraez just got a stellar card in the All-Star Program, but as he headed to the Phillies in a swap from the Giants, he gets what should essentially be the best Arraez card in Diamond Dynasty this season, with 120 Vision as his worst Contact stat and unusually great defense. He's still not going to hit more than the occasional double and doesn't have great speed, but an Arraez is a fine card to have as a bench bat, and having eligibility at both first and third base in addition to his primary position of second makes him appreciably versatile. And he's basically free with a lock-in of the 10 XP reward path players.
• Jo Adell, finally exiting Anaheim after many years as a prospective star to pair with Shohei Ohtani and/or Mike Trout, comes to the Guardians as an exceptional right-handed bat: He has 111 Contact and 125 Power against lefties, and 120 Batting Clutch to boot. He's relatively mediocre in most other regards, but should nuke lefties.
• Adell's fellow new Guardian, Nathaniel Lowe, qualifies as a mirror image of him: He'll bang balls against righties, with 120/115 Contact/Power and 125 Batting Clutch.
• Several relievers with new roles dot the bottom of the Trade Deadline pool in terms of OVR, but will still be quite useful: A.J. Minter's 125 Control and Pitching Clutch make him a reliable fireman; Huascar Brazoban has 125 H/9 against both righties and lefties and 120 Clutch, but lacks Control (70); Ryan Zeferjahn pairs great attributes with a less-than-ideal pitch mix, in the classic "some good, some bad" reliever design.

Other News and Notes

• There's no first August Spotlight Drop this week, as the last Drop of the July Spotlight Program is just a day old. Instead, August Spotlight Drop 1 is set for Tuesday, August 11.
• Another new Program is set for Thursday, August 13 — perhaps tied to the Event Program and Conquest map also dropping that day?
• Still another new Program will arrive on Friday, August 14, along with a Roster Update with attributes being upgraded and downgraded.
• Chase Pack 21's big prize is a Red Sox version of Adrian Beltré who finishes up a great week for Red Sox fans in Diamond Dynasty; his only major stat below an 83 is his 62 Speed, and he actually has an argument for being slightly jobbed on his Power numbers (90/85), as he slugged 49 doubles and 28 homers for the Sox that season.