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The Dodgers' ace started and finished beautifully in the 2025 World Series. That MVP performance gets a deserved tribute in Diamond Dynasty.
2025 World Series Program Overview
The 2025 World Series program in Diamond Dynasty -- which arrived at about 6 p.m. Eastern on Monday, getting in under the wire for a 48-hour turnaround after the end of Saturday's scintillating Game 7 -- is almost purely players (there are 1,000 Stubs and 10,000 Inning XP in it, apart from the unsellable cards) and no reinvention of the wheel for San Diego Studio, with players tasked with accruing 65 program Stars to get to the 99 OVR Will Smith that tops the XP reward path.
Those Stars will come almost effortlessly through normal gameplay if any Blue Jays or Dodgers are in your lineup and rotation, as there are 65 Stars in the Missions, but jump-starting your progress with a few of the Moments dedicated to repeating the feats of the actual World Series -- perhaps, specifically, the Extreme one of scoring nine runs on the Dodgers in a single inning on Veteran to match the Blue Jays' barrage in Game 1 -- to grab some of the 13 99 OVR players on that XP reward path would also be prudent.
Collecting all of those players and the rest of the free-with-sweat equity in the Postseason collection unlocks the second 99 OVR Yamamoto starting pitcher in two weeks, a fine improvement on the already amazing one that SDS produced for his NLCS performance. While that one was already working with Stamina and H/9 in the 110s and Pitching Clutch near the 125 maximum, this one has every pitching stat that can exceed 100 at 97 or better, maxed-out Stamina and Pitching Clutch. and a slightly better fastball and perfect -- meaning 99 Control and Break -- 92 MPH splitter as his primary pitch. If there's a better starter in Diamond Dynasty by year's end, it will be one based on height or other physical characteristics, as no one is liable to out-stat this Yamamoto.
However: It's possible that players will end up not deploying that one on their pitching staffs, as SDS cleverly doubled up with a relief pitcher version of Yamamato in honor of his Game 7 heroics that might just be the best reliever in DD. That version checks in with better stats in a couple of categories than his starter counterpart, and has a whopping 50 Stamina, a stat usually reserved for long relievers. It doesn't fit the fireballer archetype from which so many of the best closers in reality and virtual reality are built, but there simply isn't a reliever available for purchase statted anywhere near as well as this Yamamoto except for perhaps the Awards series Rollie Fingers that doesn't throw as hard, and the only one I'd prefer is the Postseason Roki Sasaki, who has a far better fastball but a lesser splitter.
The beauty of the program's design is that players get both rather than being forced to choose, which is a nice cherry on top of a Postseason that delivered content that tried to make up for its tardiness with tremendous cards.
Apart from the Yamamotos, the best cards in this batch are clearly the Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Will Smith that sit on the final two rungs of the XP reward path. Vladi has an insane offensive profile, with his 120 Vision being his only non-125 batting stat apart from the bunting ones, and his defense is eminently playable at first with a Gold with ratings in the 80s, making him more than a glorified DH. Smith, meanwhile, comes out as a top-tier catcher, if one limited by being a right-handed bat and merely relatively good in a deep catcher pool.
Other notables are another 99 OVR Trey Yesavage, generously statted but limited in game by his soft-tosser arsenal; Ernie Clement, who gets 125s in both Contact categories and Batting Clutch to reward his record 30-hit Postseason; and Addison Barger, who has great batting stats, a perfect arm for right field ... and secondary eligibility at left field and third base.
Multiplayer Program 10 Adds to Negro Leagues Theme Team, Finest Players
We have rarely written up the Multiplayer programs in detail here over the course of Diamond Dynasty in MLB The Show 25, but the 10th Multiplayer program -- arriving this Tuesday and having an expiration in the first week of December -- builds off both the burgeoning greatness of the Negro Leagues theme team and adds in some Finest players that might be worth obtaining for collection purposes.
The former additions are of 99 OVR versions of Hank Thompson, Larry Doby, and Martín Dihigo, all of whom are competitive with the best players at their positions -- which, in the ultra-versatile Dihigo's case, is all of them -- and add to a Negro Leagues contingent that just vaulted to among DD's most competitive theme teams. (Doby's card is a Hall of Fame series version that isn't eligible for Negro Leagues captain boosts, unfortunately, but his significant time in NLB makes him thematically consistent, if nothing else.)
The latter are Finest cards for Red Sox pitcher Garrett Whitlock, Orioles shortstop and MLB The Show cover athlete Gunnar Henderson, and rising Rays superstar Junior Caminero. Caminero, with maxed-out Power and every batting stat but Discipline and the bunting stats at 115 or better, is by far the best of the three -- and, consequently, the last one obtainable of all six on the XP reward path -- but does have mediocre defensive stats for a third baseman, and his Silver defense overall makes shifting him to his secondary positions of second base or shortstop a risky proposition.
All six of these players, as is true of all Multiplayer rewards this season, are sellable, and so will eventually be available for purchase on the marketplace -- but throwing Finest cards into that mix while also teasing a Finest collection is not a great portent for the expenses that may be part of that process.
