We’re heading into the dog days of summer now and that brings us to the MLB All-Star Break. We’re being treated to a bevy of content in Diamond Dynasty so let’s take a look back at the last program with our Sizzling Summer Postmortem.
Sizzling Summer Postmortem
Calling back to the Spring Cleanup Program, Sizzling Summer featured a smaller pool of cards to choose from. Notably, the entire boss selection was part of the Takashi Okazaki series and provided players an opportunity to scoop two of these prized cards. This particular set of cards is currently headlined by Babe Ruth as the collection prize and has been a fairly expensive collection to finish. With two free cards, the set became significantly cheaper and made The Babe much more obtainable. Considering the fact that collecting Babe Ruth provides a voucher toward the George Brett collection, this group of bosses was arguably the most valuable so far. But were they the best? I’ll get to that shortly.
There was one key wrinkle in this program that made it unique from the others. Included in the usual program path at 300,000 XP sat a free Prime Fernando Valenzuela.
“The Stars Were Bright, Fernando…”
A community favorite from MLB The Show 21, Valenzuela returns in The Show 22 in Prime form. Celebrating his career that began in 1980, this Prime card brought a very interesting SP into the mix. Valenzuela was a pretty hard pitcher to figure out last year in the right hands. The primary screwball wreaked havoc when tunneled with the 4-seam up and the mind-numbingly slow changeup to boot. However, with ’22’s gameplay addition of Dynamic PAR, Valenzuela’s sneakiness diminished quite a bit. It’s significantly more difficult to throw that screwball up in the zone and really abuse that quadrant. It’s not impossible, but it’s certainly more risky than last year. I’ve teed off on him every time I’ve seen him on All-Star so far. You really have to mix pitches and change locations/eye level to get the most out of Fernando this year and that lack of consistency keeps him out of my rotation.
Ultimately, the viability of this card in the competitive sphere isn’t that important. It’s a free Prime card that helps fill the George Brett collection, as well as providing binder filler for future collections. It’s also a fun card to use as he’s genuinely a puzzle to solve for both the pitcher using him and the hitter facing him.
Rank And File
As mentioned earlier, the Sizzling bosses provided a ton of value just from being Takashi cards. But let’s look at how they stacked up on the field with my personal rankings.
4. Rollie Fingers
I’m usually a big fan of Rollie Fingers’ cards and that’s no different here. Armed with his trademark ‘stache and funky release, Fingers is in usual form. While his sinker doesn’t have the elite velo that overpowers, his forkball has a significant enough speed differential to keep hitters honest even on All-Star.
With stock 111 H/9, Fingers falls comfortably into the upper-mid tier of relief pitchers currently available. I think he’s a solid hand in the bullpen but doesn’t quite have long-term staying power. It’s always hard to resist elite velo in the bullpen, and he’s a bit lacking in that department.
3. Honus Wagner
Let’s start with the art. All the Takashi cards are amazing, and it’s truly a joy to see each new card revealed. But the artistic choice to go with the yellow background as an homage to the iconic T206 baseball card is a real treat. In terms of the actual card attributes, I actually find this card to be a bit disappointing. Granted this Wagner is “only” a 96 overall, but the power numbers leave a lot to be desired. Considering this card is a primary CF, that lack of power hurts Wagner in comparison to the rest of the field.
However, this is arguably the most versatile card in Diamond Dynasty and that alone provides a ton of value. This Wagner gets to 97 speed at Parallel 5, which brings him to nearly maxed out running stats. A prototypical pinch-runner would be 99 across the board, but this Wagner brings very good defense and some solid overall hitting attributes. That makes the lack of true max speed more than a fair trade off.
I talked about my idea of a true Competitive Mode in Diamond Dynasty and detailed needing versatile bench pieces. This Honus Wagner is a prime example of what I was talking about.
2. Stan Musial
Stan the Man is my number two in this boss crop. Musial cards always mash and that continues to be true with this version. The sub-100 power will always be scary in comparison to other cards, but Musial possesses one of those magical swings that plays above the attributes. Featuring fairly balanced offensive attributes with a slight reverse split, Musial is a solid option for every DD squad.
Typically I wouldn’t be a huge fan of an OF with sub-60 speed, but Musial brings 1B secondary, which is exactly where I would play him. I think his swing and attributes justify a starting role in many squads, but I still think it’s a bit risky to run him in the OF.
1. Mike Piazza
I never thought I’d see the day that Mike Piazza tops any ranking. Usually maligned for his swing, Piazza has been aces for me so far this year. That’s obviously anecdotal, but I’ve been notably more successful with Pizza than usual. Attributes-wise, Piazza is very balanced and easily one of the best catcher options available. Anytime a card has 100+ in each of the main four categories, that card is going to get a lot attention and rightfully so.
I’ve been using the 96 Cover Athlete Joe Mauer since finishing that collection the first two weeks after launch. This Piazza card has me seriously reconsidering that roster decision and even has me considering a platoon. If you don’t really care about fielding attributes on your catcher, Piazza is a no-brainer at the position. Even then, he’ll gain gold fielding once you hit P4 and should be able to hold his own behind the dish.
If people are willing to start Jimmie Foxx with his defense, Takashi Piazza certainly deserves a look.
Bottom Line
The Sizzling Summer program didn’t revolutionize anything and keeps the content train moving. Adding four Takashi cards alone was a huge deal, but these bosses settle firmly into the mix at each of their respective positions. Really, this continuation of continuity with the power level of cards continues to be very enjoyable. In years past, every Inning Program pretty easily usurped the previous bosses in usability. We just saw a huge group of 30 Future Stars that were very good 95 overall options (albeit most of them felt similar to each other). These bosses don’t blow those cards away, and in some areas might even be a bit worse. But it adds that much more fun to the roster building process when you have multiple viable options and sometimes have to make painful decisions.
And now we get even more painful decisions with the newly released All-Stars of the Franchise program.
How did you feel about the Sizzling Summer Program? Which bosses did you take and who did you enjoy using the most? Did the two free Takashi cards help you complete the Babe Ruth collection?
