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March 17 wasn't just global launch day for MLB The Show 26 — it marked the arrival of two new programs in Diamond Dynasty, each exemplifying things worth expecting all year.
WBC Recap Program Brings Venezuelan Heat, MVP Maikel Garcia
The more worthwhile of the two programs was actually the second to drop, with the World Baseball Classic Recap program following a stirring World Baseball Classic championship final that saw Venezuela hold off the United States, 3-2, for its first WBC title.
The primary reason for it being a better use of your time in Diamond Dynasty is also one of the primary reasons Venezuela prevailed in the WBC: A lefty flamethrower in the bullpen. The program's 70-Star reward on its 100-Star reward path is lefty reliever Angel Zerpa, who has a 95 MPH sinker and a 97 MPH fastball and also a 99 Break slider that sits in the upper 80s. In a game mode with precious few lefty relievers of any note, Zerpa — who is free in exchange for effort — is immediately a must-have card.
The other seven players in the program are on the underwhelming side: Alek Thomas has great card art, with him in a Mexican flag-colored cowboy hat, Lucas "Manny's Son Who Must Be Brazilian On His Mom's Side" Ramirez has some solid hitting attributes, and Eduardo Rodriguez is a decent starter if you like arsenal over amplitude, but Zerpa is really the gem of the program.
To get him and the rest of the program done, players can mix and match completion of Moments (50 Stars available), Missions involving non-specific WBC Series players (50 Stars), and five Collections (50 Stars) consisting of the players at the end of the four WBC Pool programs and the Alex Bregman earned for completing the WBC Mini Season. Unless you're really not intending on completing the other Pool programs, it's probably best to forget about the Moments and just grind the Missions, which should neatly double- or triple-dip with other programs.
Another WBC uniforms pack, a Premier-tier WBC pack, and 8,000 Innings XP are the other rewards from the program reward path.
The Recap program's release also brings refreshed packs and new players from the WBC Series, including an 89 OVR Eugenio Suarez with massive triple-digit Power stats, a Roman Anthony capable of starring like he did for Team USA, and a Wilyer Abreu who will be a menace against righties with 76/102 Contact/Power as a left-handed bat.
And, finally, the final reward tier of the massive WBC Series collection is now available in the form of a 94 OVR Maikel Garcia, unlocked by slotting 142 (!!!) WBC items into the Collection. It's an exceptional card, with great Contact stats and positional versatility — Garcia is primarily a third baseman but has secondary eligibility at second, short, and center field — and superb art depicting him on his knees and looking up to the sky.
But plugging 142 cards into one Collection that isn't the Live Series one for a player who will be largely a singles-and-doubles guy — Garcia's Power is 71 against both righties and lefties, meaning even Parallel Mods aren't making him a slugger — feels like a lot to ask, even for the grindiest grinders that play Diamond Dynasty. Selling off WBC cards while the content remains hot and picking them up as they get cheaper over the course of the year might be the move.
St. Patrick's Day Program Rainbow Ends With ... Alfonso Soriano?
And in the pleasant surprise category, Tuesday's St. Patrick's Day program brought a handful of decent Diamonds, if somewhat tenuously tied to the holiday.
Tops (of the morning?) on that list are the 89 OVR Alfonso Soriano at the end of the XP reward path and the 90 OVR Mike Trout — literally awarded an "I Didn't Know He Was Irish" Award, somehow a real thing, in 2024 — that serves as a "special insert" player in the St. Patrick's Day Choice pack. The latter of those packs has players in Base (87 OVR) and Rare (89 OVR) tiers, with a 1-in-40 chance of pulling the Trout, and up to 10 can be bought in the Store for 20,000 Stubs each, with one guaranteed and up to three more possible via a new (and intriguing) chance reward on the XP reward path that will grant either one of those Choice packs or a Show pack.
And the structure of the Missions for program progress is neat, too: Players can make it by filling a Pot of Gold series of Missions (50 Stars) with in-game stats from Gold-tier players, a clever way of making good use of the Golds that players will still be using just after launch, and can also accrue Parallel XP with teams that wear orange and green — one Mission has the Orioles, Tigers, Athletics, and Astros; the other includes the Mets and Giants — and Riley Greene and/or Hunter Greene, with each of those Missions awarding five Stars each.
All of that progress leads to a good-but-not-game-changing Soriano, who brings his sweet swing and five-tool abilities to either second or short and comes as a Yankee. For a free player, DDers could do a lot worse.
Of course, the Trout is the real prize to reel in, and while he's still well removed from some of his best Live Series cards of years, not to mention the best ones that we see in Diamond Dynasty, this is an excellent card in every regard but Vision, where his increasingly strikeout-prone approach is lagging.
The best card of the rest is probably either Adam Dunn, with his 110 Power against righties as a lefty slugger, or Wade Boggs, who brings his usually excellent Contact skills. Both Dunn and Boggs are in the Rare tier of the Choice pack and appear to be rather afforable for 89 OVR cards, each hovering around 8,000 Stubs on the market.
Other News and Notes
- With global launch now underway, the limited-time WBC Moonshot Event is over, with nothing taking its place as of yet.
- However, the in-game "Coming Soon" calendar indicates the first in-season edition of The Show LIVE, Sony San Diego's content reveal live stream, is set for Thursday, March 19, and likely to cover the Spring Breakout program, USA Conquest maps — divided into divisions, again — and Budding Youth Event all set to drop on that day, along with Drop 2 Missions for the Multiplayer 1 program.
- One of the chief annoyances for players in MLB The Show 26, and especially in Diamond Dynasty, has been significant lag found in the game's redesigned menus. While that persists as an issue, it's one that SDS is — understandably — aware of and working on.
