Team Affinity Season 1 Chapter 3 Leads Loaded Diamond Dynasty Content Drop

Friday’s drop of new content in MLB The Show 24’s Diamond Dynasty mode ushers in the endgame of Season 1, with Team Affinity Season 1 Chapter 3 adding 30 new 99 OVR Diamonds to the game. But new Legend Jake Arrieta arriving amongst a slew of new rewards for multiplayer modes and several new packs debuting means that the total of new top-tier max OVR cards is closer to 50 — and that players are going to get familiar with cards they may well use all year.

Team Affinity Season 1 Chapter 3 is Star-Studded

While there was a chance that the advertised new Legend player was going to be a component of Team Affinity’s final release for Season 1, Arrieta is actually part of new Ranked rewards — and that makes sense, as he is not quite on the franchise icon level of most the 30 new 99 OVR Hyper Series players that comprise the TAS1C3 release.

Just like the previous two Team Affinity Chapters, these cards are all part of substantial reward paths that players can grind through, and they’re not time-limited, meaning that players can make progress on them for the rest of the game cycle. Good thing, too, as legendary performers like Red Sox doubles machine Wade Boggs, Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew, Braves lefty Tom Glavine, Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt, and Cubs fireballer Kerry Wood are among the biggest names in the release.

With players able to make TA progress via vouchers, moments — of the regular and Extreme variety — new Conquest and Showdown – also of the regular and Extreme flavors – content, and a slew of Missions, these reward paths should also be somewhat easier to grind than the past two Chapters’ trails. Expect to see 99 OVRs dotting plenty of opposing teams in short order.

New Multiplayer Rewards Include Arrieta, Posada, Wagner

Those Team Affinity 99s might not be the most exciting players released this Friday, however, because the new set of rewards for Diamond Dynasty’s multiplayer modes is stocked with studs.

Arrieta, who returns to DD as a Legend for the first time since his 2021 retirement from Major League Baseball, is the new name among them, and is available alongside a 99 OVR Jorge Posada as the new World Series reward for the Ranked 3 window. With every pitching stat at 94 or better and all but K/9 and Control over 100, the Hyper Series Arrieta is a bona fide ace that pairs beautifully with Wood on a Cubs theme team. But it would still be difficult to pick him over the switch-hitting Posada, whose maxed-out 125 Contact from both sides of the plate and exceptionally good power (93/96 R/L) for a Posada card should make him a dominant force anywhere in any lineup.

And on the way to World Series either in the ratings or on the reward path, players can also pick up a 99 OVR Prince Fielder with 112/125 Contact/Power against righties that should be one of DD’s best lefty bats, if one limited to first base and designated hitter duties.

If those cards are more appealing than the new Battle Royale 3 rewards, it’s only barely. The new Flawless rewards — available for a 10-win, zero-loss Flawless run or through the Battle Royale reward path — are a 99 OVR Milestone Series Honus Wagner that pays homage to the Flying Dutchman with maxed-out speed stats and a 99 OVR Hyper Series Johnny Cueto that has a near-perfect pitch mix and his customary funky delivery but lacks any Quirks. Wagner is probably the pick and is likely to be the best second baseman in Diamond Dynasty for some time — even as a primary second baseman — but it’s good to see Cueto’s fantastic prime well-represented.

The BR program also now has three bunches of lower-OVR rewards at 87, 90, and 95 OVR on its reward path. The 95 OVR tier includes excellent versions of Tommy Edman, Bryan Reynolds, and Troy Glaus, while the 90 OVR Rod Carew is a contact specialist and the 87 OVR pack contains Topps Now and The Show Classics players that could help churn XP for programs.

And if players would rather have a better glove at first base but pop that approaches Fielder’s, that’s what the Matt Olson that comes as a reward for 20 wins in the new Lefty’s Launch Pad event is for. It’s a fitting reward for an event based around feeding right-handed pitchers to lefty or switch hitters, as it has 104/120 Contact/Power, but the draw of an Awards Series card tributing Olson’s Gold Gloves is pairing that bat with superb Diamond defense at first, with 96 Fielding and 85 Reactions that should make nearly everything automatic for him.

The Events reward for 10 Wins isn’t bad, either: A 98 OVR Hyper Series Tyler Rogers with maxed-out 125 BB/9 and 121 Pitching Clutch. That card should at the very least be a fine fireman against CPU pitching and a potentially baffling option against online opponents, though that relies largely on his unusual delivery and movement compensating for a three-pitch mix that tops out in the mid-80s.

Season Awards 7 Brings 99 OVR Skubal, Helsley, Profar

Relegated to an afterthought this week, the latest Season Awards drop — No. 7 for Season 1 — is headlined by a 99 OVR Jurickson Profar on the reward path and 99 OVR versions of Tarik Skubal and Ryan Helsley in the store pack. None is exactly a must-have, with Profar’s versatility maybe making him the first reward path Season Awards card to slightly outdo its store pack counterparts, but Drop 7 brings us to within a week of the second Lightning player of the year.

The lower-OVR players from path and pack are particularly obscure this week, outside of perhaps Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker, but don’t miss Tyler Black’s card, which sports some of the best art in all of Diamond Dynasty thanks to a Gatorade shower.

99 OVR Skenes Pops Into Chase Pack 5

For any fans of Livvy Dunne’s boyfriend, Chase Pack 5 arriving in Diamond Dynasty on Friday will be a welcome sight: It grants a chance to pull a 99 OVR Pipeline Series Paul Skenes — with a neat Top 5 designation on the card itself — that instantly becomes one of the game’s best pitchers.

Previous versions of Skenes have already been terrors in DD thanks to his ferocious Outlier-aided velocity and vicious slider, and this one that celebrates his call-up by the Pirates should be little different. And though his fearsome MLB Draft card from MLB The Show 23 was a bit better, this one arriving in early May means Skenes will be on teams for several months to come.

Additionally, the 90 OVR Spring Breakout Series Skenes is now available in a free store pack until Friday, May 17.

99 OVR Sabathia, Homestretch Pack Join Collection Rewards

But Skenes may actually not be the best pitcher in Friday’s release thanks to the 99 OVR Hyper Series CC Sabathia that comes hot on the heels of Sabathia joining the game as a Legend in the Derek Jeter Storylines just last week.

This version is a Yankee, too, and doesn’t come from Sabathia’s arguably better stretch with Cleveland — which both clears room for a Cy Young CC later in the year and makes this card a potential prelude to an even filthier one. A five-pitch mix with every pitch at a slightly different speed, 95 or better stats in all of his pitching attributes, and the 6’7” frame would all be tremendous even if this Sabathia didn’t have the benefit of being left-handed — but, of course, he does. That should put him in the conversation for best lefty starter in Diamond Dynasty, if not the best pitcher outright, and make getting 250 cards for the Season 1 Collection something players should strive for.

The new Homestretch pack added to the Collection Rewards path at 360 cards and available in the store for 40,000 Stubs is also an enticing incentive for making cards unsellable, though its Rare round options — 99s of Mets hurler Senga and a throwback to Rockies-era Trevor Story — are substantially better than the Mid and Base tiers even though the Mid tier has its own 99s in the form of Pipeline Series cards for Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo and Tigers prospect Max Clark … and its listed odds of a 1:4 chance of pulling a 99 OVR player suggest that the Rare round might be substantially rarer than the Mid one.

Other News and Notes

— This weekend brings the return of Double XP, which seems likely to recur throughout the rest of May.

— Another free Captains Choice pack is available in the store until May 17. Choose between the Hitter Captains Choice Pack or the Pitcher Captains Choice Pack.

— Rich “Goose” Gossage is the featured card in the newly-released Headliners Pack 17, and in the form of a 99 OVR Hall of Fame Series card with a mighty 125 K/9.

— The new TAS1C3 Conquest map — which rewards a Season 1 Vault pack for full completion — is just one of three new Conquest maps this Friday, and is joined by the City Connect Detroit Tigers and Mother’s Day maps, the latter of which rewards a hefty 10,000 Stubs for full completion.