MLB The Show 22 Dog Days of Summer Program: Everything You Need to Know

As we’re in what is known in baseball as the “dog days of summer,” MLB The Show 22 has responded with their newest and aptly-named featured program. Dog Days of Summer lasts through the end of August and comes with the traditional three bosses.

Below, you will find everything you need to know about the Dog Days of Summer program in MLB The Show 22. This will include a look at the three bosses and how to gain quick program experience.

Dog Days of Summer program

The Dog Days of Summer program has a level cap of 51 and experience limit of 500,000. If you’ve been playing since release or early on, then many of the packs you’ll already have unlocked multiple times, but if you recently began, this program has many great packs to upgrade your team. These include Headliners, Ballin’ is a Habit and Ballin’ out of Control, Always Intense, Face of the Franchise, and eventually, Five-Tool Player packs, among others.

Don’t forget to do the Daily Moments for easy experience, in this case 1,500 experience, which is unfortunately 500 less than the same ones during the Field of Dreams program. From there, head to the Featured Program Moments and do the slightly more difficult moments featuring the bosses and the Flashbacks & Legends players for this program. Each of these will net you 2,00 experience, 12 total, for 24,000 experience. The most difficult ones will probably be the two moments to have two extra base hits in a game with Johnny Bench and Cal Ripken, Jr.

You also have missions to go along with those Flashbacks & Legends players (more below). There are five players, but you’ll only be able to choose three from packs in the program. Each player-specific mission nets you 2,500 experience. Pitchers need 500 parallel experience and hitters 300 parallel experience to complete these missions. Note that there are also three team-specific missions for parallel experience: 3,000 each with Baltimore, Washington, and Cincinnati for 5,000 program experience per team, a total of 15,000. These are the three teams represented by the three boss cards.

You’ll unlock the three Flashbacks & Legends at levels 9 (25,000 experience), 15 (50,000), and 18 (80,000). In those three packs, you’ll find two Milestone, two Finest, and one Awards players. They are Milestone Harold Baines (95 OVR, BAL) and Robin Roberts (96 OVR, PHI), Finest Andrelton Simmons (96 OVR, ATL) and Troy Percival (96 OVR, LAA), and Awards Keith Hernandez (95 OVR, STL).

It will be easier to gain the parallel experience missions with Roberts and Percival, but at this point, add cards that help with your collections.

There is also a new Conquest map, Dynasty Conquest. It is shaped like the Diamond Dynasty logo. Note that the first goal of the map is to steal three million fans on or before the third turn. You can do this the conservative way and win three straight games on rookie difficulty for one million fans each, but you must win each game. You can go for it all on one go at All-Star difficulty, or go for two with veteran and then one with rookie. That is the only turn-sensitive goal so after that, play the map at your leisure.

Don’t forget about the Topps Now moments for August, Week Two. These will be fairly easy moments from the past week in baseball and while adding program stars for the August Monthly Awards program, you’ll also gain experience with each moment you play. You’ll also unlock five more Topps Now players for those of you who need to complete that collection.

Dog Days of Summer boss cards

You’ll unlock your only boss pack at level 30 (200,000 experience). Unlike previous programs thus far in The Show 22, not only do you have the least number of bosses to choose from, but you only earn one and not multiple. This means you’ll need to overview your team thoroughly and mesh that with your collections needs.

Your three boss cards are not only Hall of Famers, but among the very best to ever play the game. Your options are Finest Cal Ripken, Jr. (SS, BAL, 1984), Milestone Johnny Bench (C, CIN, 1977), and Awards Pedro Martinez (SP, WAS, 1997).

Ripken is his age 23 self from 1984. He can absolutely mash with Contact Right and Left of 113 and 115, and Power Right and Left of 90 and 92. He’ll rarely strike out as his Plate Vision is 114 and Plate Discipline 97. He’ll also come through late with a 114 Batting Clutch. Even with great offensive skills, Ripken’s calling card was always his defense. He has 99 in Fielding, Arm Strength, and Arm Accuracy, with a “drop off” to 95 for Reaction. He has above-average Speed at 69, but is hindered by the fact he doesn’t play any other positions.

Bench is the choice of many as the best catcher to ever play in Major League Baseball. An integral part of “The Big Red Machine” Cincinnati teams of the 1970s, Bench trades a bit of defense for more offense when compared to Ripken. Bench’s Contact Right and Left are 100 and 96, with Power Right and Left at 105 each. His Plate Vision is 101, Plate Discipline 105, and Batting Clutch 100. One of the best defensive catchers of all time maybe only to Yadier Molina, Bench has 95 Fielding, 95 Arm Strength, 91 Arm Accuracy, 80 Reaction, and 92 Blocking, an attribute specific to catchers. He also has the Catcher Pop Time quirk, making baserunning a gamble against him. He also plays every position except second, short, and pitcher.

1997 is basically when Pedro Martinez just began going by one name: “Pedro.” He’d follow that two years later in Boston with one of the best pitching season in modern baseball. Still, his 1997 version with the then-Montreal Expos was no slouch, winning the Cy Young award. Martinez has a five-pitch repertoire with his nasty circle change. He has 119 Stamina, 109 Hits per 9 Innings, 109 Strikeouts per 9 Inning, 100 Pitching Clutch, and 99 Velocity and Break, maxing out the latter two attributes. He “struggles” with 89 in Home Runs per 9 Innings and Pitching Control, and 80 in Walks per 9 Innings. However, three, arguably four of his pitches carry quirks, and he also carries the Outlier I quirk so that his four-seam fastball exceeds 100 miles an hour.

While not a boss, you’ll also unlock a program-specific legend at level 25 (150,000 experience). At that level, sandwiched between two Always Intense packs, is 2nd Half Mickey Mantle from 1961. This Mantle card is 98 OVR, a primary center fielder who can play all three outfield positions. The switch hitter is a power hitter with this card with Power Right and Left of 125 and 94. His Contact Right and Left as 77 and 116. His Plate Vision is a little low at 70, but he makes up for it with maxed 125 in Plate Discipline and Batting Clutch. He has enough Speed (78) to man center field and great defensive ratings with 81 Fielding, 89 Arm Strength, 84 Arm Accuracy, and 78 Reaction. He also has his own mission to gain 300 parallel experience for 2,500 experience.

At program launch, there were no Showdowns or collections. However, there has been at least one Showdown for each featured program and multiple collections missions for each as well. It is unlikely the April Monthly Awards players will be a part a collection for Dog Days of Summer, but the Topps Now players from August may be, so unlock them before the program ends at the end of the month!

With that, you have everything you need to know (so far) for Dog Days of Summer. Which boss will you nab: Ripken, Jr., Bench, or Martinez?