As we move towards October, Diamond Dynasty is giving us two Finest players who are icons of the mode. We get Finest Chase Utley and Finest Mariano Rivera at the World Series level, and they’re joined by a 2nd Half Heroes Blake Treinen and Topps Now Travis Shaw at the Pennant Race level. Let’s analyze the cards and see what rewards we can chase this season.
Diamond Dynasty – Ranked Seasons 7
The four new cards are Finest Chase Utley and Finest Mariano Rivera at the World Series level, and then 2nd Half Heroes Blake Treinen and Topps Now Travis Shaw at the Pennant Race level.
Rewards (Road To WS)
Spring Training – Play 1 game
- Bronze live series player
- 100 stubs
Regular Season – 200 points
- Silver live series player
- 300 stubs
All-Star – 400 points
- Silver live series player
- Silver nameplate and icon
- 600 stubs
Pennant Race – 500 points
- Choice of diamond Travis Shaw, Blake Treinen, Paul Konerko, or Lou Brock
- Gold nameplate and icon
- 1,000 stubs
With Topps Now Travis Shaw, he gets his coveted 2B secondary position, and actually has decent enough defense. He’s not going to cut it against either RHP or LHP at this point, but he’s a Topps Now player if you need an extra one for the Christian Yelich collection.
With 2nd Half Heroes Blake Treinen, DD folks probably know how evil Treinen can be in the game. He’s coming with 122 H/9, a 95-mph sinker, a high-90s fastball, and then a cutter. He’ll also mix in a slider, and all the pitches have solid control. As with most Treinen cards, it’s going to be worth scoping him out just to see if he works for you, and he seems like the obvious choice here.
Wild Card – 600 points
- Gold Live Series player
- Gold nameplate and icon
- 1,500 stubs
Division Series – 700 points
- Diamond bat skin
- Gold nameplate and icon
- 2,000 stubs
Championship Series – 800 points
- Gold Live Series player
- The Show pack (x5)
- Diamond nameplate and icon
- 3,000 stubs
World Series – 900 points
- Choice of diamond Chase Utley, Mariano Rivera, Willie Mays, or Cole Hamels
- Diamond nameplate and icon
- 4,000 stubs
Chase Utley was one of the most popular cards for much of this year’s campaign due to his NL East collection reward version. At this point, this Finest Chase Utley card does not impress and feels a little hollow considering all the new cards we just got. That said, I’m sure he’ll still play over his ratings, and he still has that buttery smooth swing.
With Finest Mariano Rivera, this feels like the obvious choice at a glance. You’re getting the cutter, sinker, slider, changeup combination we’ve seen before with his cards, and he has insanely good control on all his pitches but the changeup. I don’t think it’s unfair to say this could be a card that sticks in many bullpens the rest of the way, and he has a proven track record to instill confidence in DD players as well.
Bonus – 1,000 points
- 5,000 stubs
- 10 The Show packs
Bonus – 1,100 points
- 10,000 stubs
- 20 The Show packs
Bonus – 1,200 points
- 20,000 stubs
- 50 The Show packs
Rewards Structure For Total Innings
It’s hard to find fault with the rewards structure for total innings at this point. The rewards are quite lucrative, and they’re only thrown off by rewards in events and such also being lucrative now while being even less of a time commitment.
- Play 25 innings – 2,500 XP, Ballin’ Out Of Control pack
- Play 50 innings – 5,000 XP, Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x5)
- Play 75 innings – 2,000 stubs, Headliners Set 43 pack
- Play 100 innings – The Show pack (x5), 5,000 XP
- Play 115 Innings – Rewind Pennant Race pack, 7,500 XP
- Play 125 innings – Pennant Race choice pack, 7,500 XP
- Play 150 innings – Juicy 1 pack, 5,000 XP
- Play 175 innings – Headliners Set 44 pack, 2,000 stubs
- Play 225 innings – Rewind World Series pack, 7,500 XP
- Play 250 innings – World Series pack, 15,000 XP
- Play 275 innings – Ballin’ Out Of Control pack, 7,500 XP
- Play 300 innings – Headliners Set 45 pack, 7,500 XP
- Play 325 innings – The Show pack (x10), 5,000 XP
- Play 350 innings – Ballin’ Out Of Control pack, 5,000 XP
- Play 400 innings – Legends Takashi Okazaki pack (Soriano), 5,000 XP
- Play 450 innings – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x5), 5,000 stubs
- Play 475 innings – Five-Tool Player Tool Box pack, 7,500 XP
- Play 500 innings – Home Run Derby 2022 pack, 7,500 XP
- Play 550 innings – All-Star Game 2022 pack, 7,500 XP
- Play 600 innings – The Show pack (x50), 10,000 XP
Bottom Line
Like most Ranked Seasons, it feels like there are obvious choices here among the new rewards. I do believe Rivera and Treinen are the “correct” picks, so it’s never a bad deal to get two fresh bullpen arms on your squad. Neither player is “new” or “unfamiliar” at this point, but that’s not really what folks are probably seeking now that we’re this deep in the DD season.
