No one can rightfully accuse Sony San Diego of ignoring feedback from fans of MLB The Show 25. As we move toward the release of the newest version of the game, most likely in the third week of March 2025, we’re beginning to see some meaningful details.
Every year, the studio circulates a survey to its users, and if you’re paying attention, the data that the studio pulls from these questionnaires is affecting upcoming versions of the series.
The annual surveys have gone out, and this year’s version gives some pretty clear previews into some of the features that are being considered for MLB The Show 25.
It’s unclear if we’re in a “yay or nay” stage with these features for MLB The Show 25, or if the studio is planning to add some things to the future roadmap. However, it is clear Sony wants to know what its users think about their experience in all modes from MLB The Show 24, and the latest survey asked some serious questions about 21 potential new features in Diamond Dynasty.
Here’s a breakdown of the 21 features SSD wants to know if you’ll like if they were added to Diamond Dynasty. I’ll give you my take on each of them.
MLB The Show 25: 21 Potential New Features
ONE DIMENSIONAL
“A new card series where the player has very high attributes in one area of play, while having poor attributes in all other areas (e.g., great hitter, terrible speed and fielding).”
I don’t hate this concept, although I’ll argue this dynamic already exists. Many of Rickey Henderson’s cards have poor hitting numbers, but almost every one of them has 99 speed and 99 stealing. You might also see a Joc Pederson card with huge hitting numbers against right-handed pitchers, but little else in the way of useful attributes.
I’m not sure how much this card type will impact users.
VISUAL UNLOCKABLE
“New unlockables that can alter visual aspects of gameplay (e.g., a pumpkin baseball unlockable that turns the ball in-game into a pumpkin, a golden cleat unlockable that turns your cleats into solid gold).”
I hate any idea that messes with the bat, ball, gloves, dirt, or grass. I don’t have an issue with the team-themed bats or any of the options currently in the game. However, changing the ball into a pumpkin would negatively impact my experience. Unlocking gold cleats and accessories would be pretty sweet, but let’s not mess with gameplay-related stuff.
DUO DIAMOND
“A new card series where two players are on the card art, with each having their own player item. When both player items are in your starting lineup, they get a slight attribute boost.”
I like this a lot. It would add to the chemistry system that was introduced last year and push it to another level. I love tools in collector modes that encourage strategy in team building. It makes roster and lineup construction deeper than filling your batting order and rotation with as many high-rated cards as possible.
ICON CHALLENGES
“New gameplay challenges with unconventional requirements (e.g., hit 100 triples, tally 10 home runs with players with less than 40 power, etc.) that you can complete to earn vanity items such as profile badges, icons, uniforms, bat skins, or socks.”
There is an aspect of this idea that I like, but ideally, it would work differently. I like specific challenges like x-number of triples, home runs, stolen bases, etc. However, I believe the rewards for completing these challenges should be cards and stubs rather than cosmetics.
Establishing specific collection sets that offer rewards for the different stages of completion would make completing the requirements all the more intriguing.
RETRO DRAFT
“A new card series that features players on Draft Day or at their first Spring Training. Attributes are affected by their original scouting grades on the 20-80 scale, and art is a mix of old logos and new logos, depending on when the player was drafted (e.g., Expos vs. Nationals).”
This could be cool, but how much different would these cards be compared to rookie versions of those players? I get the idea from a cosmetic standpoint, as the cards could look really cool, but how will I use it in Diamond Dynasty in a way that justifies its existence?
TEAM AFFINITY BOOSTS
“A new attribute boost that activates if a player is showing affinity towards their favorite team (e.g., equipped with their favorite team’s bat skin, playing at their favorite team’s stadium, etc.). These boosts may apply to all attributes or be designated to a specific attribute.”
This concept is one of my favorites. I love theme teams based on your favorite squads. I’m a huge Chicago Cubs fan. If I were incentivized to use Cubs bat skins, playing in Wrigley Field, and other things that show my fandom, it would help me build a DD lineup that I had a deeper attachment to across the board.
HR BELT
“A new WWE-style belt that is added around a player who hit a home run in their last at-bat, lasting until they record an at-bat without one.”
This cosmetic is decent from a conceptual standpoint, but I’d rather slap a championship belt icon on the card preview or batter’s info box to represent the player leading my DD squad in categories like HR, AVG., RBI, SB, K, WHIP, etc. I don’t want gameplay to begin to look like a circus.
The MLB The Show community is different than NBA 2K’s PARK players. What flies and is celebrated at the PARK won’t necessarily work as well in Diamond Dynasty.
ROGUE CARD SERIES
“A new card series where the card starts at a low overall and slowly upgrades by completing missions with the player. Once all of the missions are completed, the card increases by 1 overall, and then a new set of missions become available to complete and do the process over again.”
This concept is another one of my favorites. These cards sound like great options for grinding in Play Now, Mini-Seasons, and other non-competitive modes.
RIVAL DIAMOND
“A new card series where a player is highlighted on card art with a rival team or player. When you have the player in your lineup, they get an attribute boost when facing a player of the rival team.”
This could get a little goofy. Who are the Miami Marlins’ rivals? It feels like a connection that would be easy to forget over the course of the year.
DIAMOND DYNASTY STAT TRACKER
“A new feature where cards from packs will have a chance to have one of their stats be tracked for the lifetime of the card and displayed on the front of the card (e.g., a card could have a home run stat tracker displayed on it, which could increment each time the player hits a home run).”
I’m struggling to understand the purpose of this feature. I’ve thought about it for a while since I saw it originally, and I cannot pinpoint any value.
COLLEGE CARD SERIES
“A new card series that celebrates existing, current-day MLB players by having college versions of said players (e.g., Paul Skenes could have both Pirates cards and LSU cards).”
I like this concept, and it sounds like the rumors of MLB The Show including some aspect of College Baseball could be true.
MASTERY BADGES
“New visual items such as profile badges, icons, uniforms, bat skins, or socks that you can earn and display based on your usage/skill with a player (e.g., hitting 50 home runs for Bronze, 100 home runs for Silver, etc.).”
This option feels similar to the Visual Unlockables concept. If your player unlocked gold spikes for reaching a certain amount of stolen bases, a gold bat for X-number of home runs, gold batting gloves for RBIs, etc., that would create some excellent goals to strive toward.
DOUBLE XP TOKENS
“New tokens that allow you to temporarily earn double XP. They can be acquired throughout Diamond Dynasty and can be used at the time of your choosing.”
I’d have no issues with this concept.
ONLINE MINI SEASONS
“A new way to play the Mini Seasons mode that allows you to join your friends or a random league to compete in an online mini season. Teams are created via fantasy draft, and trades are allowed.”
Mini Seasons have been a solid addition to the mode. Adding trades, fantasy drafts, and the ability to compete against others would take things to the next level.
PROP BETS
“A new feature where you can make predictions on real life baseball events for rewards (e.g., Home Run Derby Prop Bets, where users select who they think will win, and if they are correct they can earn stubs or a really good version of the player they ‘bet’ on).”
EA UFC has a similar feature, and it’s a nice little addition. However, picking the winners of a fight is very straightforward and flows better than it would in baseball.
DOUBLE PXP
“New tokens that allow you to temporarily earn double PXP (Parallel XP). They can be acquired throughout Diamond Dynasty and can be used at the time of your choosing.”
I don’t like speeding up the parallel XP process. It cheapens the payoff of pushing a player to Parallel V.
PURCHASABLE PERKS
“New Perks that have gameplay effects throughout Diamond Dynasty, similar to the current Perks in Showdown (e.g., contact boost on the first pitch of the at-bat). Each Diamond Dynasty card would have a set of perks that a user can choose to purchase and equip.”
If we’re talking about allowing these perks to be in effect for head-to-head games, I hate this with every fiber of my being. This is great in Showdown, but it would be a bad idea to put this in play for use in any competitive mode.
It creates unnatural advantages.
PSA GRADING
“Rare new versions of player cards that have similar attributes to the base card, but have special card art (e.g., a signature or embedded piece of the player’s jersey, similar to real life baseball cards) and serialized limited quantities. These items will be scarce and in high demand for collectors in Diamond Dynasty.”
I’m struggling to find the value in this one as well. For an annual series that has no carryover from one version to the next, why would I care about a “limited quantities” version of a card that has “similar attributes to the base card?”
CLUBS
“A social group within Diamond Dynasty where you can collaborate with club members on missions and compete against other clubs for rewards.”
This concept is another one that feels shallow and marginally impacting.
CARD COSMETICS
“New alternative card skins that you can unlock to change the look of existing cards in the game (e.g., if you acquire a Milestone Kenley Jansen card, you can also acquire a special alternative skin that would look different than the base version of the card).”
See everything I wrote for PSA Grading and add an exponent next to the reasons I gave for being underwhelmed.
DIAMOND DYNASTY COMMISSIONER
“A new feature where the ‘commissioner’ changes the core baseball and team building rules for all players in Diamond Dynasty every two weeks (e.g., the DH is no longer available and pitchers must hit). As a user, you have influence/voting power to help determine which changes get implemented.”
I really like this if it’s confined to one mode.
It’s not a good idea to make anyone’s cards obsolete across Diamond Dynasty for any length of time.
Let’s wait to see how many of these concepts make it into MLB The Show 25.
