Program Extreme has returned for MLB The Show 20, and this year we get “extreme” tasks for Showdown, Conquest and Moments. The three player rewards you can earn during this gauntlet of pain are Signature Series Lou Gehrig, Awards Christian Yelich and Future Stars Nate Pearson. All three players are 99 overall, and all three players can then go through a Prestige rank-up as well. There is no getting around any of this if you want to finish the program as you need to finish all three portions of the program to get the 100 points for Lou Gehrig.
Program Extreme
Program Extreme Rewards
Let’s start with all the rewards most of us will never reach.
- 10 points – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x5)
- 20 points – Elite Ducks on the Pond Choice pack
- 30 points – Awards Christian Yelich, 3,000 stubs, 10,000 XP
With Yelich, everything starts with his swing. It is a fan-favorite swing, and it’s what keeps him in lineups for so many folks the last couple seasons. Obviously, the attributes here are great on the hitting side as he has 100+ in all contact and power areas. The vision at 77 and the so-so fielding stats are what hold him back. But you’ll stick him in left field and just enjoy the sweet swing.
- 40 points – The Show packs (x20)
- 50 points – Beach Ball pack
- 65 points – Future Stars Nate Pearson, 5,000 stubs, 15,000 XP
Many people already have experience with Nate Pearson due to his Prospects card. The appeal with Pearson is he has an outlier quirk for his fastball so he can throw 102. However, I tend to think Pearson gets knocked around a bit because his pitch mix is not ideal in The Show. He can’t quite find enough differentiation between his pitches, so that may hold him back. Still, 111 H/9, 107 K/9 and decent control should still make him a power pitcher who can dominate folks who can’t handle the fastball.
- 70 points – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x5)
- 80 points – Elite Ducks on the Pond pack
- 90 points – Beach Ball pack
- 100 points – Signature Series Lou Gehrig, 10,000 stubs, 30,000 XP
Signature Series Lou Gehrig really is what this program is all about. It’s just an absolute unit of a card on offense. Maxed out contact vs. RHP and everything else with hitting is 105 or above. Obviously, the fielding is a weakness (just like it was for Babe) but you’re going to live with that when you’re arguably getting the best bat in the game here. I don’t really feel like I need to champion this card much more than that, but of course it’s going to be pain if you want to acquire it.
Prestige Programs
All three players also have Prestige routes if you’re good enough to get them. As always, these Prestige programs are online-focused ventures.
Prestige Christian Yelich
- Tally 300 ABs
- Tally 187 hits
- Tally 77 XBH
- Tally 110 RBIs
- Tally 118 runs
Prestige Nate Pearson
- 100 IP
- 200 IP
- 100 strikeouts
- 200 strikeouts
Prestige Lou Gehrig
- Tally 300 ABs
- Tally 117 XBH
- Tally 218 hits
- Tally 173 RBIs
- Tally 149 runs
Conquest Extreme
So with Conquest Extreme, there’s more packs here than in any other map ever, according to SDS. All the hidden packs on the map are not on the strongholds, rather you’ll find them as you go. In addition, there’s plenty of missions to complete, which means you’ll probably need to restart this map to conquer certain territories by the required turn. This also means you’ll usually be playing on HOF or Legend difficulty to capture a stronghold.
Here are the known packs you get along the way for completing stronghold missions:
- Headliners Set 49 pack
- The Show pack (x44)
- Headliners Set 47 pack
- Headliners Set 29 pack
- Headliners Set 35 pack
- Headliners Set 50 pack
- Headliners Set 46 pack
- Headliners Set 40 pack
- Headliners Set 48 pack
- Headliners Set 36 pack
- Headliners (for sets 1-31) Bundle
- Ballin Is A Habit pack (x6)
And here are all the secret rewards you can get, courtesy of JProGaming27 as usual:
Have fun with this!
Retweets HIGHLY Ecouraged! pic.twitter.com/0Ww4rnflBQ
— JPro Designz (@JProDesignz) September 18, 2020
It seems like Conquest Extreme will be the “easiest” and most rewarding because at least you’re getting in and out in three innings and you’ll have plenty of rewards along the way. Plus, you’ll still be earning innings for Team Affinity even if you lose over and over again.
Moments Extreme
- Yelich 3-Homer Game
- Difficulty: HOF
- Hit 3 home runs
- Lou Gehrig Homer History
- Difficulty: HOF
- Tally 4 XBH
- Fearsome Pearson
- Difficulty: HOF
- Tally 8 hits
- Tally 3 XBH
- Score 5 runs
- Dominate Home Run Heroes
- Difficulty: HOF
- Strike out 10 batters
- Win 1 game
- Do not give up 1 HR
- Comeback Against Mo
- Difficulty: Legend
- Win 1 game
- MLB The Show’s God Squad
- Difficulty: Legend
- Win 1 game
All of these look like they suck, but again, that’s just expected here. Hitting three homers in one game and dealing with not giving up a HR in a 9-inning game on HOF are the ones that will wake me up in a cold sweat.
Showdown Extreme
A lot of folks already despise Showdown, so Showdown Extreme might be the portion folks avoid the most. This version of Showdown is different as it’s just five mini-showdowns before the Final Showdown against Future Stars Nate Pearson. So you can skip to the Final Showdown and be down 30-0 if you want, or you can get to the Final Showdown and be down 9 runs if you complete the other five mini-showdowns along the way.
The difficulty will ramp up in each mini-showdown before you’re playing on max difficulty for the Final Showdown. You can earn stubs and XP as you complete each step in this process, but there are no packs here. You can also draft Prestige players or earn them during your quest, which is also unique to this Showdown.
Bottom Line
Look, the Babe Ruth program was more the “middle ground” option for folks. You got a lot of cards and it was mostly doable if you were solid at the game. With Program Extreme, this really is a badge of honor more than anything if you want to grind it out. Yes, it’s a bummer that Signature Series Lou Gehrig is gated, but I would say the other two cards are more “nice to have” than “must own” for your team. If you want to go down this path, just be ready to take breaks. You can quickly drive yourself up the wall if you try to knock all this out — trust me, I know from experience — so it’s more something to just take some whacks at here and there.
