6th Inning, Acuña, Bautista, and Hall of Famers Arrive in Diamond Dynasty

6th Inning Program Overview

Hot on the heels of the brief, All-Star- and Atlanta-oriented 5th Inning program, the 6th Inning program in Diamond Dynasty goes red for most of its cards. Cleveland hurler Corey Kluber has the Guardians' big red C logo in his card art, and Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons and Phillies stalwart Chase Utley make up the other two inning bosses.

Of the three, Kluber has the most seminal spot in Diamond Dynasty history -- many will remember a 99 OVR Klubot from years gone by shredding lineups with his cutter-slurve combo -- but this one is just solid at everything and will be nigh impossible for right-handed hitters to manage. Simmons is another great switch-hitting catcher in a year with a surfeit of them (thanks to Cal Raleigh and Ivan Rodriguez), if one lacking truly elite power. And Utley, granted a Silver Slugger card to represent one of his best years at the dish, is an elite defender who is also a tremendous lefty bat for a second baseman, and should probably be most folks' first pick from a boss pack -- this time, available at 205,000 and 330,000 XP, the latter a much easier task than the 400K required in the 5th Inning despite a week more to make hay.

Also in the XP reward path is a Gold Glove version of Kyle Seager, who rates as one of the better third basemen in the game, and certainly a free option that is a lot more affordable than players like Scott Rolen or others recently released.

And the three new Cornerstone Evolution players tied to the 6th Inning XP reward path are all cool picks: There's Marlins stylist Dontrelle Willis, Raul Ibanez as a Royal, and Twins outfielder Tony Oliva, an oft-overlooked legend. Debuting at 85 OVR and topping out at 97 OVR, all three are more floor than ceiling for the current metagame, but it's cool to get high-OVR versions of players who were more like Hall of Very Good players at their best without needing them to pop up in a program with a collection. The three Cornerstone players are, as has been the case, available at 7,500, 27,500, and 70,000 XP.

Hall of Fame Program Brings Six 99 OVRs

Sunday's Hall of Fame induction ceremony brought with it a new 2025 Hall of Fame program in Diamond Dynasty. And while it doesn't have the biggest, most legendary figure who graced Cooperstown -- that would be some guy named Ichiro Suzuki, a white whale for DD -- the program does bring six new 99 OVR versions of Hall of Famers new and old.

The two most straightforward to get are Dave Parker and CC Sabathia, the stars of the Star-based Hall of Fame program XP reward path that tasks players with completing moments or stat-based missions for those two players and the two more -- Dick Allen and Billy Wagner -- who are obtainable via collections. The two easiest to get might be Rod Carew and Cy Young, higher-tier rewards for a new Hall of Fame-themed Diamond Quest.

But it's Allen and Wagner that are the crown jewels here, and it's unfortunate that they're as hard to have as they are. Each requires the same sort of vouchers and collection rewards locked into the collections that have yielded Scott Rolen, Ted Williams, and -- as of Sunday -- Joey Bautista, meaning that there are now five collections requiring full completion of at least 14 other collections to unlock some of the best players in Diamond Dynasty.

It's not that the costs here are prohibitive, even relative to the pre-existing collections, as Wagner (14 vouchers, less than the 18 needed for Rolen) and Allen (21 vouchers, less than the 24 needed for Williams) are essentially throw-ins for those first two collections. It's not that the cards are bad: Wagner's probably going to be the No. 1 or No. 1B left-handed closer until the end of the Diamond Dynasty cycle, Allen's a match for Rolen as a fellow 99 OVR Phillies third baseman, but can play first and left, and all of Carew (great contact hitter at second), Parker (superb contact hitter with a cannon in right, almost like a stealthy match for what Ichiro could have been), Sabathia (tall lefty with much break), and Young (workhorse starter) are useful if not world-beating.

It's just that this much time spent doing what feels largely like filling a binder with cards of little value outside their sets -- consider that to finish the Spring Breakout collection, you have to go play a Spring Breakout Showdown that is rife with low Diamond and high Gold cards, which will feel like putting training wheels on or swinging a celery stick after a summer spent assembling a roster of demigods -- to ultimately obtain cards that are not for sale or trade and might not be exactly who players want.

It's a lot. And it's a structure that should probably be revamped, as soon as possible.

New 99 OVR José Bautista Collection Available

All that about the onerousness of the collections said, it's cool that there is finally a player in one of them that is unquestionably an endgame card: The new 99 OVR Finest series José Bautista, whose stats are absolutely unreal.

Checking in with 125s in all of Contact against lefties, Power against righties and lefties, and Discipline, with an additional 120 in Batting Clutch and mere 110 Contact against righties, this is an utterly fearsome slugger who also has a 99 Arm Strength and can be played in both right field and at third base. If there are knocks on this Joey Bats, they are that he's only a good defender outside of that arm (90 Arm Accuracy, too!) and probably belongs at third or designated hitter rather than in right with mere 70 Speed.

Those are moles on the Mona Lisa, though, and this is clearly the best hitter in all of Diamond Dynasty until something absolutely monstrous comes along. It may require 28 vouchers to get him, but when that quest is complete, the reward is likely to be completely worth it -- whether it's accomplished in July or October. And that is what collection rewards of this caliber need to be.

Now for the bad news: Those 28 vouchers will require obtaining all but one of the players that are collection rewards and the various vouchers for other collections. That means 20 Color Storm players, Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge from the Home Run Derby and All-Star collections, Ethan Holliday from the MLB Draft collection, and Lance Berkman from the Prime collection are all requirements here on top of what was necessary for Ted Williams.

It's a lot. It will be worth it, but it's a lot.

Acuña Dashes Into MLB Speedway Classic Program

Last time I wrote in this space, I mentioned Ronald Acuña Jr. having an "inevitable" All-Star series card coming his way. That card never appeared.

Does a 99 OVR Acuña tied to the MLB Speedway Classic that will feature the Braves and Reds this weekend make up for it? Maybe.

That Ronnie is a fantastic card, with 100+ stats in all the Contact and Power categories, 105 Clutch, a 99 Arm Strength that fairly represents the 300-foot assist Acuña scored immediately after the All-Star break, and the 99 Speed that has been mostly kept in the garage for the Braves this season as the 2023 MVP paces himself in a return from a second major knee injury. It's a little silly to give a player who has just four stolen bases this year the 99 trifecta in the Speed stats that the version of Acuña who swiped 73 in MLB's first 40/70 campaign fully deserved, but, well, this is also a Speedway Classic series card, and who's to say he won't become the first MLB player to snag a stolen base at Bristol Motor Speedway?

Also in the program are a 97 OVR Matt McLain, and 98 OVR Spencer Strider and Chase Burns cards, giving the Reds' second baseman and two power pitchers plenty of love -- Strider, in particular, has been done by well here, with a 118 Pitching Clutch -- and there are a host of cosmetics, like the NASCAR-flavored jerseys both teams will wear, on the same XP reward path where Acuña is the 75-Star final reward.

But maybe most importantly, the first reward on that path is Bristol itself, kitted and fitted for what may be a record-breaking crowd for a baseball game, and it's a cool new field to trot onto in Diamond Dynasty.

Other News and Notes

• A 99 OVR version of Gunnar Henderson was released Friday and finishes the trio of Takeover programs in Diamond Dynasty. Compared to Elly de la Cruz and Paul Skenes, Gunnar is obviously a distant third in terms of name recognition, and his card isn't anything special for a 99 OVR shortstop, but it's probably a good thing to have a player having a "quiet" 3.3 WAR season so far get a free 99 OVR card, even if a Finest version or a Cal Ripken Jr. will surpass it eventually.
• Tuesday's brand new Multiplayer 6 program holds a 98 OVR Robb Nen and a 99 OVR Robin Yount among its early rewards, and the Nen is a top-flight closer. (Yount's a little more like a second-tier shortstop, but he's solid at just about everything.)
• New World Series and Flawless rewards are also available, and while the former -- a 99 OVR Clay Buchholz who is firmly a finesse pitcher and a 99 OVR Larry Walker who is missing the power that makes the best Walker cards phenomenal -- are a little underwhelming, the latter is a Chase choice pack that would appear to give players any previously released Chase pack player. That might not do that much to puncture the inflated values of some of those players, the best of whom still go for a quarter-million Stubs, but it importantly provides a truly top-tier reward for a 10-0 run, still one of the tougher achievements in sports video games.
• Fittingly, the newest Chase pack player is also a coveted one: A 99 OVR Finest Jimmy Rollins, who sacrifices the secondary position in the outfield that made Rollins a crucial piece of many rosters a year ago for an attribute profile that maybe looks a little low for Power against righties -- and that's it.
• Headliners Pack 25's featured player is Torii Hunter, who has 125/97 Contact/Power against lefties but a little less defense than anyone who remembers his highlight-reel catches with the Twins would probably prefer. But what would a Headliners pack player be if not slightly disappointing?
• Last week's July Spotlight 2 featured player was, as you might expect, Nick Kurtz, who ... wait, his four-homer game came after that? What, is he going to be the Spotlight player for two weeks and a month? It'll be fun to see.