The newest featured program in MLB The Show 23 is just in time for the playoffs with the Fall Stars program. As the name suggests, the program focuses on Legend and Flashback cards of players with postseason heroics. The MLB the show 23 program lasts through the month of October, giving you ample time to nab the five boss cards (even though in-game it says four!). Plus the slew of pseudo-boss cards.
Read below for everything you need to know about the Fall Stars program, including bosses and how to gain program experience beyond simple gameplay.
Fall Stars program
As one of the longest programs in The Show 22, Fall Stars has an experience limit of 1,000,000 points (level 77), much like the previous Legends of the Franchise program. With four weeks to play through the program, you don’t have to feel in a rush to nab the bosses, let alone finish the program.
Always remember to hit the Daily Moments. Each Daily Moment will reward you with an easy 3,000 experience. You can also game the system if you didn’t complete the previous two in addition to the today’s Daily Moment. As such gaining just over 9,000 experience before you even begin the program proper. That’s enough to reward you with the first three level awards.
Next, head to the Featured Program Moments. Like the Daily Moments, each of these are worth 3,000 experience points. Unlike the previous moments, these ones tend to be just a tad more difficult. There are 18 moments, two for each boss of Fall Stars, for a total of 54,000 experience. This is also a good time to play with each card (in a limited capacity) to start making your list of five bosses you want to nab.
On a side note, the 54,000 experience alone is enough to nab you the first two pseudo-bosses (at 25,000 and 50,000 experience, respectively, and more below). These pseudo-bosses have missions associated with them as well.
Those missions are pretty standard: 250 parallel experience for position hitters and 500 for pitchers. There are six of these pseudo-bosses and missions: four hitters, two pitchers. Completing these missions will reward you with 5,000 program experience each.
Also, there are four parallel experience missions based on the type of card. You’ll need to gain 3,000 parallel experience each with Signature, Finest, Okazaki, and Postseason players. Of the six pseudo-bosses, four are Finest and one is Postseason. Finishing these four missions will nab you 3,000 program experience each. That’s a total of 42,000 program experience for completing these missions.
Those six pseudo-bosses are at least 97 OVR with the four Finest players 99 OVR. You’ll unlock your first at 25,000 experience and then in intervals of 25,000 except at 100,000, 150,000, and 200,000 experience. This means you’ll unlock players at 25,000, 50,000, 75,000, 125,000, 175,000, and 225,000 experience.
At 25,000 experience, you’ll unlock starter Milestone Whitey Ford (98 OVR) from his 1961 20-win season. The lefty packs a five-pitch repertoire, three of which have quirks: Sinkerballer, Knee Buckler, and Illusionist. He also has Workhorse with a 117 Stamina. He’s a clutch pitcher with 116 Pitching Clutch and 107 Strikeouts per 9 Innings. He isn’t the hardest thrower with 70 Velocity. However, makes up for it with ridiculous 99 Pitch Break, making his four of his pitches wicked.
At 50,000 experience, you’ll unlock starter Postseason Madison Bumgarner (97 OVR). This is from his record-breaking 2014 postseason when he literally carried the San Francisco Giants to their third championship in five years. Bumgarner also has five pitches and the same three pitch-related quirks as Ford. Bumgarner packs 105 Stamina with 125 (maxed) Pitching Clutch and 112 Hits per 9 Innings. He doesn’t strikeout as many as Ford (72 Strikeouts per 9 Innings). Regardless, he has the same Pitch Break, a bit more Velocity (81), and nearly the same Pitch Control (89). Don’t forget that Bumgarner was one of the best hitting pitchers, too, meaning he won’t be a complete zero from the nine spot.
Left fielder Finest Willie Stargell (99 OVR) from his 1973 season unlocks at 75,000. The 1973 season saw Stargell lead the National League in home runs. This card carries that with 125 Power Right and 120 Power Left. The Legend also has 119 Contact Right and 100 Contact Left, so he’s not just about power. More of his outstanding stats include 90 Plate Vision, 117 Plate Discipline and Batting Clutch, and 95 Durability. He has below-average Speed (48), but a rocket arm (90 Arm Power).
You’ll then unlock right fielder Finest Joe Carter (99 OVR) at 125,000 from the 1991 season where he won the first of two Silver Slugger awards. Carter has 86 Contact Right, 125 Contact Left, 102 Power Right, 104 Power Left, 105 Plate Vision, and 93 Clutch. He also has 99 Durability to go along with 70 Speed and defensive ratings all better than 80, with Fielding at 93.
At 175,000, you’ll unlock left fielder Finest Kirk Gibson (99 OVR) from the 1988 season. Not only did Gibson win the Most Valuable Player award in 1988, but he won the World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, most remembered for his pinch hit home run off of Dennis Eckersley that caused the late Vin Scully to say, “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!” Gibson packs 105 Contact Right and 108 Contact Left with 93 Power Right and 105 Power Left. He has 94 Plate Vision, 90 Clutch, and a high 108 Plate Discipline. His defensive attributes range between 83 and 89 and he has 89 Speed, making him a good bet in any outfield.
Lastly, at 225,000 experience, you’ll unlock left fielder Luis Gonzalez (99 OVR) from the 2001 World Series winning season in Arizona. Gonzalez not only hit a career high in home runs that year (57), but is remembered for the walk-off single off of Mariano Rivera in Game 7 of the World Series. Gonzalez is the best hitter of the group with 125 Contact Right, Power Right, Power Left, and Batting Clutch, 121 Plate Discipline, 117 Contact Left, and 114 Plate Vision. His defense is the lowest of the hitters, but is still diamond-rated with attributes tightly packed between 78 and 83. He has decent Speed at 60.
Conquest, Showdown, and Collections
There is a new Conquest map, the Widow map, for the program. A great place to gain the experience needed for the above cards is in this map. Note that there is one turn-sensitive mission. You’ll need to conquer any stronghold on the first turn. Make a straight line for the closest to ensure as easy a game as possible. Completing this map will earn you 45,000 program experience.
There are a few MLB Collections you can lock in for program experience. If you didn’t lock in Lightning Bo Bichette in the previous program, then you can here for 15,000 experience points. Milestone Aaron Judge for his 62 home runs was also added to the Collections after the image was taken, also for 15,000 experience. If you have any players from the Extreme program that you haven’t unlocked or locked into a featured program yet, then you can lock those in for 30,000 experience. However, note that if you locked them in before, you will not be able to add them to Fall Stars.
There was no Showdown at the start of the program, but one will likely be added, if not more.
Fall Stars boss cards
Fall Stars has a total of nine boss cards, of which you can earn five. Don’t mind what the image at the top of the article says as you’ll unlock boss packs at 100,000, 150,000, 200,000, 250,000, and 300,000 experience. Luckily, all are 99 OVR and are Signature, Finest, and Okazaki cards.
There is only one Signature card among the Fall Stars bosses: right fielder Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees. There are three Okazaki cards, all with incredible art: closer Dennis Eckersley of Oakland, first baseman Jimmie Fox of Boston, and center fielder Ken Griffey, Jr. of Seattle. The remaining bosses are Finest cards: starters Bob Gibson (1969, St. Louis) and Chris Sale (2018, Boston), shortstop Francisco Lindor (2017, Cleveland), catcher Joe Mauer (2009, Minnesota), and right fielder Vladimir Guerrero (2004, Los Angeles Angels).
Any of the bosses is a solid choice. You may want to target the bosses that will help you finish off portions of the Legends & Flashbacks collection, particularly Finest cards.
Now you have everything you need to know about MLB The Show Fall Stars program. Which bosses will you add to your Diamond Dynasty team?
For more MLB content, check out this piece on the MLB The Show 22 Finest Program.