Signature Series, Milestone Programs Mark New Diamond Dynasty Releases

Signature Series Program Overview

The long-running Signature series in Diamond Dynasty -- represented by players whose card arts bear their actual signatures -- was largely neglected in MLB The Show 25 until this Friday. But the new Signature program brings more than a dozen such cards into the game, with a few franchise stalwarts and player base-pleasers.

The biggest name for the former group is probably Mets third baseman David Wright, who gets a 99 OVR card that is available at the end of the Signature program's XP reward path. It's a great card, with triple-digit batting attributes everywhere and a superb set of defensive and speed stats to go with it; the biggest knock on this Wright is a relatively small sextet of quirks. The biggest name for the latter is unquestionably Jorge Posada, who is generally considered the best switch-hitting catcher in DD whenever he shows up. This version of him is no exception to that rule, with what will be 120ish or better hitting stats in every category but Vision and bunting after Parallel and Captain boosts and better-than-usual defensive stats that should make him at least serviceable as a receiver.

Of course, being the collection reward, Posada's hard to obtain: It'll take 15 Signature series cards locked into his collection, with four coming from the new Signature-themed Inked Mini Season, four more from the XP reward path, and one, a 99 OVR Darren O'Day, available as the midpoint collection reward. Four of the six remaining ones will need to be obtained from new Signature series choice packs or the market, while Corey Kluber is a 6th Inning Boss.

And it's the identity of that sixth remaining collection piece that helps make the Signature series cards overall feel a touch heavy on New Yorkers: Wright as the XP reward path capstone, Andy Pettitte on the path, Bernie Williams in the pack's rare round, and Posada as the collection reward would feel like a slight Mets/Yanks bias even without Carlos Beltran's Signature series item -- the Live Series collection reward that had no Signature series compatriots for months -- contributing to the Posada collection. For a single series, even a singular one like Signature, it's probably forgivable to have that much of a bias to the Big Apple; requiring Beltran for completion of the program is more likely to rankle.

Pete Alonso, Justin Verlander Get Milestone Programs

Two MLB stars making it to meaningful milestones in the past week has allowed for easily-understood content in the form of new player programs for new Mets all-time home run leader Pete Alonso and Justin Verlander, who recently became the newest -- and perhaps last -- member of the 3,500-strikeout club.

Alonso's card is exactly what you'd expect: Perfect power, good-for-him contact, and iffy defense and speed. He's also the harder of the two to obtain, with his stat missions including 20 homers with Mets players, 40 homers overall, and a smattering of one-off homer moments, though the inclusion of a 10-Star collection for the icon awarded for 250 homers in Diamond Dynasty is a clever way of making a shortcut available to dedicated players. Even with that, though, players will still need to mix the moments and missions to make up the other 40 necessary to nab the Alonso.

Verlander's program is more forgiving, if also longer: 20 Stars unlocks a 95 OVR Rookie of the Year version of JV, and the stat missions tied specifically to that card generate 45 of the remaining 80 Stars to finish the program, with others tied to stats and Parallel XP for teams Verlander has played for providing the other 35. Essentially, getting the 99 Verlander on your squad is a matter of getting the first 20 Stars -- piecemeal from moments and other stat missions, or all at once from the Showdown tied to the program -- and then doing work with the 95, if you want it to be.

And you should want the 99 Verlander on your squad. He's well past the century mark in most pitching stats, with 90 HR/9 and 91 Control being his two double-digit attributes, and he's got that famous Outlier fastball to go with an assortment of the off-speed stuff that has helped him get those thousands of whiffs. It's understandably a bit weird that this card is from what seems like it'll be a last and lost season with the Giants -- Verlander is 1-9, with a 4.53 ERA and 1.500 WHIP, in 2025,and the Giants are five games back of the last NL Wild Card spot -- but this does allow some design space for a separate 99 OVR Verlander representing his Detroit days or his Cy Young campaigns with the Astros.

Other News and Notes

• Chase Pack 22's featured player is a Milestone series Babe Ruth that is at once titanic -- its only non-bunting batting stat under 116 is 100 Vision -- and a bit unnecessary. Yeah, it's from a season in which he clouted 54 homers and was part of the 50-home run club, as the card's art reminds, but that was the Babe's fourth appearance in the club which he inaugurated and is as such only tied for his third-best season of power in his prodigious career. A Ruth that hits and hammers everything is not new or particularly special in Diamond Dynasty even if he is one of the very few players who could be baseball's all-time best; wouldn't one from his 1923 MVP year, in which he hit "only" 41 homers but also had 13 triples and 17 stolen bases (against, uh, 21 times caught stealing) be a more interesting version of Ruth?
• August's Spotlight program's Drop 2 is even more of a lesson about how star power will inevitably be lacking in that particular program when a bunch of other ones have featured the game's biggest names. Luke Keaschall -- who has played 16 MLB games as of Friday afternoon -- is the XP reward path player, while Abner Uribe and Daulton Varsho are the two Spotlight pack players. Nothing's wrong with those names or their cards, necessarily -- Uribe specifically looks like a superb reliever -- but it's hard to imagine too many folks dying to play with great versions of those specific fairly obscure MLBers. Also, there's an Extreme-level moment in the program ... but it's for Shea Langeliers's three-homer game, and Langeliers himself -- featured in the July Spotlight program -- is not a part of this or the previous August Spotlight drop. Huh.
• A substantial new roster update has done much to fielding and speed attributes for Live series players, if far less to batting numbers, and it hilariously boosts Aaron Judge == now a 94 OVR -- even more thanks to bumps to his Fielding and Reactions. Several other higher-OVR Diamonds also got +2s to OVR based largely on fielding and speed adjustments, while the seemingly ageless Aroldis Chapman is up three points of OVR and has gotten significant Pitching Clutch and Velocity bumps. Nine players -- led, improbably, by Langeliers, who is up an astonishing seven OVR thanks to massive boosts basically everywhere -- have also vaulted from Gold to Diamond, meaning there might be many Stubs to be made just from basic binder cleanup this weekend.
• Next week's content includes the 7th Inning XP path and the return of Weekend Classic, with a stream from the live content stream on Friday to address them, and a fortnight's time will bring both new Team Affinity programs and what seems like the return of the always intriguing Shark Conquest map, if in-game teases are to be believed.