So you’ve just gotten MLB The Show 25 and have immediately hopped onto Diamond Dynasty to test your mettle against other players in the series’ flagship card-collecting mode. But upon first glance, you’re underwhelmed by your low-rated team and overwhelmed by what you should do first. If this describes you, then you’ve come to the right place.
Starting in Diamond Dynasty is never easy and always a bit of a grind. But by putting the work in, you can have a really strong team before you ever try your hand at Ranked games or Events. Here are the first things every player should do when opening up Diamond Dynasty for the first time in MLB The Show 25.
What To Do First In MLB The Show 25 Diamond Dynasty
Do The Spring Breakout And Pipeline Programs
When you first open Diamond Dynasty, you’ll probably want some better cards before venturing into more competitive modes such as Ranked or even Events. Lucky for you, MLB The Show 25 already has two programs that will give you some really decent cards — Spring Breakout and Pipeline. Both programs revolve around young players who have yet to break out in the Bigs such as Colorado Rockies right-hander Chase Dollander or Top 5 prospect Walker Jenkins of the Minnesota Twins.
To access these programs, do the following steps:
- Open up Diamond Dynasty in MLB The Show 25
- Tab over to Play
- Select Programs
- Select Assorted Programs
Once you’ve done this, the first screen that will pop up is Themed Programs. This is where you’ll find Spring Breakout and Pipeline. When selecting these programs, the first thing you should do is the Moments. There are six different Moments for Spring Breakout, and eight for Pipeline, all worth four Stars each.
If you complete all the Moments in Pipeline, you will have 32 Stars which will be enough to unlock Jaison Chourio, Brandon Sproat, and Christian Moore. All three of these players are good and will fill some much-needed positions for your team — center field, starting pitching, and second base, respectively.
Spring Breakout won’t reward nearly as much after completing the Moments. Therefore, it’s important to also knock out the Spring Breakout Showdown which will give you 20 more Stars in addition to the 25 you’ll get from Moments. This will give you 45 stars, which also unlocks shortstop Konnor Griffin.
Completing the Spring Breakout Showdown will also give you a Spring Breakout Choice pack, which is the only way to unlock Braden Montgomery, Arjun Nimmala, Cooper Pratt, and Cade Horton, all of whom are necessary to complete the Spring Breakout Collection. By completing that Collection, you earn Leodalis De Vries — a switch-hitting Diamond shortstop. You can do the Showdown four times as well, allowing you to get each card.
Complete The Regional Conquest Maps
So you’ve done everything there is to do in the Spring Breakout and Pipeline programs that you can do without needing to go online. But you still need more cards to get you started. This is where the Regional Conquests come into play.
Doing the Regional Conquests serve two purposes. For one, it allows you to earn extra Pipeline cards that you can’t get through the program or buy on the market. These players are Emmanuel Rodriguez, Brayden Taylor, Cole Young, Quinn Matthews, Josue De Paula, and Thomas White. Secondly, it allows you a safe and easy place to use the existing Spring Breakout and Pipeline cards you’ve unlocked and complete their missions whilst unlocking others. This will allow you to quickly finish each program.
To access the Regional Conquests, do the following:
- Open Diamond Dynasty
- Tab over to Play
- Go to Single Player
- Select Conquest
Once you’ve selected Conquest, complete the USA – West, USA – Central, and USA – East conquests. Completing each conquest will give you two cards.
Do Diamond Quest
So some seem to really like the new Diamond Quest. I’m not one of those people as I find it to be extremely boring and tedious. And the only way to guarantee yourself the best exclusive rewards that Diamond Quest has to offer is by playing on the all-new G.O.A.T. difficulty. Yeah, not fun.
That said, if you can handle the harder difficulties and want the rewards (which, in all fairness, are very good and necessary to complete the Collection), then Diamond Quest is a must-play.
To access Diamond Quest, do the following:
- Open Diamond Dynasty
- Tab over to Play
- Select Single Player Modes
- Choose Diamond Quest
Modeled after a roguelike, Diamond Quest is played on a game board and requires you to roll dice that will either grant you a perk or a penalty if you roll a 6 or a 1, respectively. The goal is to make it to the stadiums at the far corners of each game board where you’ll have an opportunity to get a Rare or Epic reward.
As of now, there are three game boards to choose from, each with different rewards. The first is a tutorial board, with the Rare reward being a 79-rated Juan Soto and the Epic reward being an 81-rated Aaron Judge. The second board is based on the Pipeline series, with the Rare reward being either Matt Shaw or Chase Burns, and the Epic reward being either Noah Schulz or Travis Bazzana. The third and final board offers a Ballin’ is a Habit pack for either tear as the Rare reward, and either Garrett Crochet or Bryson Stott as the Epic reward.
When playing, you’ll have to make your way across the board, participating in random moments and mini-Showdowns as you go along. You will also be pursued by a fiery baseball called the Zone Sweeper. If caught by it, you will have to play a 3-inning game on Legend difficulty. Losing won’t fail the Quest, but it will give you a negative perk and take half of your Peanuts. Winning will give you a five-pack bundle and a perk.
What are Peanuts you ask? Well, they’re the Diamond Quest currency used to acquire perks. To use them, you will have to discover the Shop on the board. From there, you’ll have three options for the following prices:
- Tier 1: 150 Peanuts
- Tier 2: 450 Peanuts
- Tier 3: 1000 Peanuts
Each time you win a moment or mini-Showdown, you increase your odds of both rewards by a minimum of 3%, with a chance of 6%. At any time, you can hover over the Stadium icons on the board to see what your current odds are for each difficulty
The only way to fail Diamond Quest is to lose the Stadium game. Other than that, losing will just result in temporary penalties. Winning, however, gives you permanent boosts.
Do Some Quick Team Affinity Moments
Team Affinity has received a facelift this year. Instead of years past where it’s been focused on divisions, each team has its own XP path in Team Affinity in MLB The Show 25. And many of them have some decent rewards worth grinding for. Personally, I prefer to just grab the cards I want and complete Team Affinity organically and passively through gameplay. That said, even some of the early Silver cards that you get at the beginning are worth doing due to them being meta.
For example, by doing the one Moment available for the Houston Astros in Team Affinity: My Journey, you will be given a 78-rated Yordan Alvarez. At first glance, this might not seem to be eye-opening. However, don’t sleep on this card! Though he’s slow as molasses and not of much use in the outfield, Yordan has one of the stronger swings in the game and has respectable hitting stats for a card released this early into the game cycle. With 74+ contact and 88+ power against both righties and lefties — as well as 83 clutch — this card is by far one of the best free options at DH and will give you a strong-hitting lefty.
Another Team Affinity Silver worth nabbing is 79-rated Joe Kelly who is the first unlockable in the Boston Red Sox path. His 57 pitching clutch is pretty rough, but his outlier sinker and 100 H/9 make him a viable reliever — a position that’s in high demand at this stage right now.
Here are some other viable Silver cards that can be unlocked in Team Affinity: My Journey by completing one moment:
- Randy Johnson (Seattle Mariners): He doesn’t have an outlier fastball or a 2-seam to go with it, but the Big Unit’s wonky delivery will still confuse plenty of opposing hitters.
- Andy Pettitte (New York Yankees): His per-9s aren’t exactly world-beating, but Pettitte possesses a good pitch mix and another unique pitching motion that could prove useful if you’re not feeling most of the Spring Breakout or Pipeline offerings.
- Ketel Marte (Arizona Diamondbacks): As it stands, a majority of the viable hitters in Diamond Dynasty are lefties. Ketel Marte is a switch hitter, allowing you some lineup flexibility. He doesn’t have great hitting stats on paper, but his sweet swing, decent fielding, and strong speed mean he’ll play above his attributes.
