The 1st Inning Program is ready to go here at launch for MLB The Show 21. Programs are mostly unchanged this year from a structural standpoint, but it does appear the influx of stuff to do will vary slightly now with no Showdown at launch. In addition, you’re not chasing 300 stars anymore but rather XP totals. To get to the 1st Inning bosses, you need 350,000 XP. On top of that, the rewards are more robust here since there are no more long-term XP programs to chase. Lastly, programs now have finite end dates on them. This 1st Inning Program ends 21 days from now, which would place the end date right on May 7.
There are no more “mini-bosses” in the same way, but there are multiple tiers of players you will hit before reaching the bosses. I will go over those players when we get to the rewards section. The three bosses are Milestone Kenny Lofton, 2nd Half Heroes Mike Piazza, and Rookie Fernando Valenzuela. I don’t think there’s an easy choice here, which I always like to see out of a boss pack.
As always, I will update these program guides as more content is added by SDS. The only thing I do not include are the Daily Missions, as those are tied to each person and update each day for a small amount of XP.
Now, let’s get to it.
MLB The Show 21 1st Inning Program
Showdown
The 1st Inning Showdown is worth 35,000 XP.
The entry fee is 500 stubs, and the draft starts with you picking a 1st Inning Boss for your squad. As is usually the case, you want to take a hitter here. There is one mini-boss that will net you a The Show pack, and then you get 1,000 stubs for beating the Final Showdown.
Conquest
In our first Conquest map for this program, there are six strongholds to capture. Everything here is straight forward so you don’t need to do anything weird of the gates like take X stronghold in two or fewer turns.
Finishing up this map will net you 15,000 XP.
In our second Conquest map for this program, there are six strongholds to capture. The only thing to notice is you do have to steal 4 million fans, on top of the usual conquering all of the map.
Finishing up this map will net you 15,000 XP, as well as at least three The Show packs and a Ballin’ Is A Habit pack.
Missions
There are three online missions to complete as of now. This is relatively standard going back to the structure last year for missions. More will be added as more player programs are added (most likely).
- Competitive Dubs – Win 10 games in competitive online modes (5,000 XP)
- 42 With 42 – Tally 42 hits with 42 Series players in online modes (7,500 XP)
- Flex Your Muscles – Hit 10 HRs with any players in online modes (5,000 XP)
- Where Are The Gems? – Tally 24 IP with 42 series pitchers in online modes (5,000 XP)
- 42 Clean Up – Tally 42 RBI with 42 series players in online modes (7,500 XP)
- Going Once, Twice, Thrice – Hit 3 home runs in a single game in online modes (5,000 XP)
- Pinpoint Pitchers – Tally 27 strikeouts with any pitchers in online modes (7,500 XP)
- Promising Starts – Tally 10 hits with Prospect Series players in online modes (5,000 XP)
- Save The Day – Tally 6 saves with relief or closing pitchers in online modes (5,000 XP)
Collections And Moments
The first set of Moments are tied to the 42 Moments, which you can find under the “Welcome To Moments” banner. There are 10 of these, and you can snag a nice chunk of XP knocking them all out. Each moment involves one of the players from the 42 Series pre-order choice pack.
- 42 (1,000 XP)
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Get on base 1 time
- Don’t strike out 1 time
- Hammerin Hank (2,000 XP)
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 2 hits
- Tally 1 XBH
- El Grande (2,000 XP)
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Pitch 1 inning
- Strike out 1 batter
- Do not give up 1 hit
- The Say Hey Kid (3,000 XP)
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 2 hits
- Hit 1 home run
- The Kid (1,000 XP)
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 1 XBH
- Call Your Shot (3,000 XP)
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 HR
- Enter Sandman (1,000 XP)
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Save 1 game
- Do not give up 1 run
- The Streak (1,000 XP)
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Get on base 1 time
- Don’t strike out 1 time
- Gibby The Great (4,000 XP)
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Win 1 game
- Do not give up 1 run
- Frank The Tank (2,000 XP)
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 4 total bases
The second set of Moments are tied to Veteran Eric Davis:
- Eric The Oriole
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 hits
- Tally 1 XBH
- I Just Hit
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 XBH
- Eric Digs The Long Ball
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 HR
- Orioles Vs. Athletics — 3 games
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 6 hits
- Orioles Vs. Tigers — 3 games
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 12 total bases
- Make It 30
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 4 total bases
The third set of Moments are tied to All-Star Huston Street:
- Huston’s First Save
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Save 1 game
- Huston Avenue – 3 games
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Strike out 3 batters
- Do not give up 2 runs
- Huston The All Star
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Save 1 game
- Do not give up 1 run
- Huston Is The Problem – 2 games
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Pitch 2 innings
- Do not give up 1 hit
- Huston The Wizard
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Win 1 game
- Do not give up 1 hit
- Do not walk 1 batter
- Do not hit 1 batter
- Don’t make 1 error
- Huston’s Last Game
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Save 1 game
- Strike out 1 batter
- Do not give up 1 run
As for collections:
- 1st Inning Collection – Collect 8 of the 10 Special Edition Diamond 42 Series Choice Players (50,000 XP)
- Veteran Eric Davis – Collect Veteran Eric Davis (35,000 XP)
- All-Star Huston Street – Collect All-Star Huston Street (35,000 XP)
- April Topps Now – Collect 3 April Monthly Awards players (50,000 XP)
- April Monthly Awards – Collect 3 April Topps Now players (50,000 XP)
Bosses And Rewards
Above are the three bosses at 350,000 XP.
Here are the first set of players you choose from on the XP path multiple times. They are bronze and silver players. You select one bronze and one silver each time:
- Silver Pedro Martinez
- Silver Tony Gwynn
- Silver Barry Larkin
- Bronze Andruw Jones
- Bronze Harmon Killebrew
- Bronze Orlando Hernandez
The second choice pack you run into is a 1st Inning Program gold choice pack.
- Gold Wade Boggs
- Gold Joe Morgan
- Gold Dan Plesac
The third choice pack you run into is a 1st Inning Program Classics choice pack.
- Diamond Nathan Eovaldi
- Diamond Nomar Mazara
- Diamond Mark Canha
You only get one bite as this apple, so you’ll need to make your choice count, otherwise you’ll need to buy the other two on the market as of now.
The MLB The Show 21 1st inning program in total goes up to 650,000 XP, and we’ll be tracking to see if these XP totals eventually balloon further in future programs like they have in the past. At launch, you can acquire roughly 100K in XP knocking out everything available, but that number will balloon from here.
Here are the main rewards:
- 5,000 XP – Universal profile icon and 3,000 stubs
- 10,000 XP – 1st Inning bronze/silver choice pack
- 17,500 XP – Ballplayer choice pack
- 25,000 XP – Record Scratch stadium sound, 3,000 stubs
- 32,500 XP – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack
- 40,000 XP – Diamond unlockable choice pack, 3,000 stubs
- 55,000 XP – Ballplayer choice pack
- 70,000 XP – The Show packs (x3)
- 85,000 XP – 1st Inning bronze/silver choice pack
- 100,000 XP – 1st Inning gold player choice pack
- 115,000 XP – The Show packs (x5)
- 130,000 XP – 1999 Chicago White Sox home alternate uniform, 5,000 XP
- 145,000 XP – Ballplayer choice pack
- 160,000 XP – Headliners Set 1 pack
- 175,000 XP – 1st Inning Program Classics choice pack
- 190,000 XP – Bling universal profile nameplate
- 205,000 XP – Diamond Stance socks, 5,000 stubs
- 220,000 XP – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack
- 235,000 XP – Gold Ballplayer choice pack
- 250,000 XP – Diamond Victus bat
- 270,000 XP – The Show packs (x5)
- 290,000 XP – Oh, Doctor home run call
- 310,000 XP – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack
- 330,000 XP – New York Mets Alternate home uniform
- 350,000 XP – 1st Inning Program boss choice pack
- 380,000 XP – Gold Ballplayer choice pack, 5,000 stubs
- 410,000 XP – Headliners Set 1 pack
- 440,000 XP – The Show packs (x10)
- 470,000 XP – Goat Scream audio, 5,000 stubs
- 500,000 XP – Classic Stadium choice pack
- 530,000 XP – The Show packs (x10)
- 560,000 XP – Diamond Ballplayer choice pack
- 590,000 XP – Space 1 choice pack
- 620,000 XP – The Show packs (x10
- 650,000 XP – Diamond Live Series choice pack
Prestige
No more specific Prestige goals as now every player gets “prestige” in tiers that go up to five.
