Diamond Dynasty - New Event and Signature Series Bruce Sutter

Coming off the second Moonshot Event, we now get the This Isn’t Moonshot Event with two more new rewards and just three days to get there. Those player rewards are All-Star Juan Marichal and Postseason Dante Bichette (complete with hilariously iconic card art). On top of that, we get Headliners Set 14 Signature Series Bruce Sutter. So basically we get two rare card series today, which in the long run may be more important than the players themselves.

This Isn’t Moonshot Event

• Any players
• Max 92 team overall
• 3-inning games
• Difficulty: Hall of Fame
• Free entries (as always)

This event will run until May 20, presumably to coincide with the start of the next Featured Program. The obvious element at play here is whether you can hit at all on HOF, or if you even want to deal with that level of difficulty in the first place. Based on the difficulty level and shortened length of the event, I suspect these two cards will be a little rarer than usual.

Rewards

• 1 win – The Show pack
• 3 wins – 500 stubs
• 5 wins – 2,500 XP, Headliners Set 13 pack
• 7 wins – Rewind Events choice pack
• 8 wins – 2,500 XP, All-Star Juan Marichal

Juan Marichal has had some great cards during his Show run, but I’m not sure this one will end up qualifying. He has amazing stamina as usual, but I don’t know if you’ll want to keep him in all that long. The biggest perks for his cards are that he has great control, a unique delivery, and a somewhat unique pitch mix. The issue is the stuff isn’t dominating, and he doesn’t have great secondary attributes. That said, I think people who really think through their pitch selections/sequencing can have success with him.

• 10 wins – 2,000 stubs, Headliners Set 14 pack
• 12 wins – 1,500 XP, Postseason Dante Bichette

Look, I want this Postseason Dante Bichette purely for the card art. I don’t know how anyone thought this was a great idea for a a “cool” looking picture in the dugout, but I’m here for it. It’s so early ’90s in all the best/worst ways, and quite frankly the stats on this card are irrelevant for that reason. However, yes, this card can mash. Bichette can’t field at all, but he’s not insanely slow, and you’re getting very good stats against LHP and RHP. I don’t really have much desire to grind out 12 wins on HOF over three days, but I will probably bite the bullet to get my guy here.

• 15 wins – 1,500 XP, Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x2)
• 18 wins – 2,000 stubs
• 20 wins – 2,500 XP, Rewind Events choice pack
• 23 wins – The Show pack (x5)
• 25 wins – 2,500 XP, Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x3)
• 27 wins – The Show pack (x5)
• 30 wins – 5,000 XP, Rewind Events choice pack

Headliners Set 14 – Signature Series Bruce Sutter

Again, the first thing to note here should be that he’s a Signature Series player, which is potentially big for any collections coming up. Beyond that, with 103 H/9 and 116 K/9, he’s bringing solid peripherals to the table. Sutter cards have been very hittable most years, but you’re getting a wide range of speeds on the splitter/fastball/slider trio. He has 99 control of the splitter and that will be your main pitch, but you will also be able to dot the fastball. The best success to have with him will probably come from relentlessly working the bottom of the zone. That said, I think this card ends up retaining value only because it’s a Signature Series player.

The odds on Headliners packs to pull a diamond are 1:10 (as always), albeit that diamond might not be Signature Series Bruce Sutter. In addition, this year you can buy one pack of the Headliners choice pack, which gives you 1:3 odds of pulling a 90+ overall diamond (and of course costs more stubs).