In the last content update before the All-Star Game deluge, we are getting the seal broken on a 99 overall outside of a collection reward. Chase Set 3 delivers Milestone Nolan Ryan to DD. SDS also made ratings changes, delivered Week 2 of Topps Now July, and gave us Headliners Set 31 Awards John Smoltz. Let’s get to it.
Ratings Update For July 15
At the top end of things, it was a lot of downgrades for many top players in DD. This includes Judge, Trout, Goldschmidt, Betts, Buxton, Acuna Jr.,Yordan Alvarez, Hader, and Jose Ramirez. Ohtani, Burnes, and Scherzer were the only 90+ overalls to get buffs.
Going 90+
- Shane McClanahan
- Manny Machado (leaves 90+ club)
New Diamonds
- Ryan Helsey
- Max Fried
- Will Smith
- Sandy Alcantara
- Nico Hoerner
Leaving Diamond
- Tommy Edman
- Taylor Rogers
- C.J. Cron
- Raisel Iglesias
Chase Set 3 Milestone Nolan Ryan
The Chase Set finally got an update with Chase Set 3 and Milestone Nolan Ryan. The price right now is pushing 375K, so it’s having the intended effect I would say of exciting people out of the gates. Ryan does have a sinker to go with the usual circle change, 12-6 curve, and outlier fastball. He also has 119 H/9, so the seal is just about broken there too in terms of delivering our first deGrom equivalent from last year. The All-Star Game content last year is when SDS went wild with 99 overalls and insane ratings for players, so while they had slow-rolled things up to this point, it seems that’s coming to a close soon. With the gameplay being where it’s at, this may exacerbate certain hitting and pitching issues, which is a little concerning.
That said, obviously this card should carve people up even with the four-pitch mix. The one thing to watch is the card only has 64 control on the change and 79 control on the sinker. Also, it’s worth remembering that you are only guaranteed a Chase pack in the 75K bundles, and that Chase pack does not guarantee you Nolan Ryan (or even an amazing diamond for that matter). You are rolling the dice to an extreme degree whenever you hunt for this card in packs. You can find Chase packs in regular The Show packs as well.
Headliners Set 31 Awards John Smoltz
Poor Awards John Smoltz will be overshadowed to a large degree today. He has 91 H/9 and while the pitch mix is better than Ryan, he just can’t compete with the total package. He has 90+ control on the fastball, slider, and splitter, and his cost is over 30K as of now, so it seems some people are always ready to try a new starting pitcher out. I can’t see this card being incredible, but that’s just because Smoltz cards generally don’t impress me in this game.
The odds on Headliners packs to pull a diamond are 1:10 (as always), albeit that diamond might not be Awards John Smoltz. In addition, this year you can buy one pack of the Headliners choice pack, which gives you 1:3 odds of pulling a 90+ overall diamond (and of course costs more stubs).
