MLB The Show 23 Diamond Dynasty New Features Revealed

From the arrival of the designated hitter to all new team-building mechanics, the recently revealed MLB The Show 23 Diamond Dynasty new features have tons of changes on deck. The addition of Sets and Seasons paired with the new Captains feature would already be huge, but Sony San Diego is pushing back against a trend other games seem to love.

Among the MLB The Show 23 Diamond Dynasty’s new features is the elimination of power creep as a content release style, a shift that will separate MLB The Show 23 massively from competitors like Madden, FIFA, and NBA 2K. With 99 OVR players promised on day one, it’s looking like players could have a very different Diamond Dynasty experience this year.

In this article you will learn:

• All confirmed MLB The Show 23 Diamond Dynasty new features
• How the new Sets and Seasons mechanic will work
• What the Wild Card slot in Diamond Dynasty is for
• Why Team Captains will majorly change theme teams

MLB The Show 23 Diamond Dynasty new features add universal designated hitter

As the road to a worldwide launch continues, Sony San Diego has delivered several Feature Premiere streams outlining new features and changes that players can expect in MLB The Show 23. This kicked off back on February 9 as the Feature Premiere for Storylines took a look at the arrival of the Negro Leagues in MLB The Show 23.

With a weekly schedule in place, they followed that up with a look at the latest gameplay adjustments, and the latest revealed several significant changes coming to Diamond Dynasty. The first that will excite players is the addition of a universal designated hitter position which is accompanied by full two-way player functionality.

Players like Shohei Ohtani will have secondary positions to allow for this change in MLB The Show 23, and we’ll also see some cards for players like David Ortiz with DH as their primary listed position. Theme teams will be majorly affected this year, but most of all, it’s the new Sets and Seasons mechanic that is going to turn the entire game mode on its head.

Sets and Seasons to allow 99 OVR on day one

Nothing changes Diamond Dynasty more this year than the new Sets and Seasons mechanic, which at a glance may confuse players thinking about how seasons operate in other games or even the usage of that wording by the Storylines game mode. However, Seasons in Diamond Dynasty will correlate to specific Sets of cards that won’t always be eligible for use.

Certain modes within Diamond Dynasty will now require the use of In-Season cards, and the eligible Sets each Season will rotate and swap out throughout the year. Core cards will be extra valuable, as they will be usable in all your squads throughout the year regardless of Season guidelines. This means 99 OVR tier cards can drop in Set 1 but be rotated out at different points in the year to keep the balance of Diamond Dynasty in motion.

Sets and Seasons are active for Ranked and time-limited Conquest maps as well as some Mini Seasons and Events, but not all of them. Sony San Diego clarified that some themed Events and Mini Seasons challenges may not be available with the In-Season squad requirement, but this will vary and will be confirmed when that new content arrives.

How will the new Wild Card slot work in Diamond Dynasty?

While some cards will indeed rotate out of eligibility when a new Season kicks off, there is one workaround for players who have a specific card they just can’t do without. Whether that happens to be a Legend or Flashback, you’ve used so much that it’s got major Parallel bonuses or a valuable Team Captain, there is a Wild Card slot for this purpose.

Players will have a single Wild Card slot when creating their team in Diamond Dynasty, and this allows a single player from any ineligible set to be plugged into your lineup. So long as your only ineligible card is in the new Wild Card slot, players should be able to continue with it as an In-Season squad in Diamond Dynasty.

Team Captains shake the foundation of theme team building

If you’re a diehard fan but have been frustrated in past years that the selection of players from that team just didn’t create the full squad you’d hoped for in Diamond Dynasty, Team Captains may solve that problem. The new Captain Series of cards come with a new Captain Boost ability that makes your team progressively better based on how themed your squad is.

As seen in the Miguel Cabrera card above, your Captain Boost can increase dramatically with a fully themed squad and a Parallel Level on that Captain Series card. Your Diamond Dynasty squad can have both a Hitting Captain and Pitching Captain, the latter of which does not need to enter the game and will provide your team boost even if they stay in the bullpen.

Sony San Diego explained that they’ll be watching the implementation of Captain Series cards closely and making changes down the line if the addition creates a power imbalance, but the idea behind these boosts is that previously weak squads will now become viable.

While a Detroit Tigers themed squad might not naturally have a high overall, getting the full theme going paired with the Captain Boost should be enough to keep them competitive against strong non-themed squads without a Captain Boost.

Mini Seasons 2.0, Ranked Co-Op, and unlimited program rewards

The Feature Premiere offered a brief look at the revamped Mini Seasons 2.0 mode within Diamond Dynasty with new stat tracking and awards. Customized away stadiums like Cairo and other international locations have been created, themed seasons are on deck, and the entire UI for Mini Seasons has been revamped.

Ranked Co-Op also joins the fray this year, an exciting move for competitive players, and it’ll be accompanied by a full Ranked Co-Op reward track that is earned independent of the Ranked Solo reward track or Ranked Program.

One big change to Co-Op is the addition of a cooldown penalty for abandoning games that will begin to stack with repeat offenders at risk of week-long bans from Ranked Co-Op gameplay.

Sony San Diego stopped short of giving too much away about the actual early content and rewards on deck for Diamond Dynasty, as this is set to be their final reveal before the game goes live. However, they did confirm a new unlimited program rewards feature built into the end of program reward tracks that triggers the random pack selection screen seen above.

This will allow players who plow through a current Diamond Dynasty program to continue earning rewards for their gameplay XP rather than having to wait for the next program to arrive.

As exciting as many of these MLB The Show 23 Diamond Dynasty new features are, only time will tell how their arrival could change the balance of this game mode.