MLB The Show 22
Diamond Dynasty - Topps Now April Program Adds Lightning Anthony Rizzo
In another change from last year, SDS is tweaking the format for the Topps Now cards and putting them into one extended program that will play out over weeks. On top of that, they are introducing other Lightning cards, starting with the reveal of a Lightning Andre Dawson that will be available once enough cards have been released. So Topps Now April will still play out over weeks, but there’s no choice packs anymore. Instead, you will earn every card on the program track (and they are still sellable). In addition, there are no missions tied to the cards for now, so you just unlock them like you did last year, which is through moments.
Leading off Week 1 are a bunch of gold cards (sadly there are no silvers). We get Topps Now Jeremy Pena, Topps Now Joey Bart, Topps Now Hunter Greene, Topps Now Steven Kwan, and Topps Now Seth Beer.
Topps Now April (Week 1)
At a glance, Steven Kwan looks like the most fun card with the 100+ contact from both sides of the plate to go with 88 vision. It’s also nice to have an early gold Hunter Greene card in the game. Overall, a good first week just for the young player catnip of Greene, Kwan, Pena, and Bart.
Moments
- April 7: Welcome To The Show, Witt
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 1 XBH
- April 7: National Beer Day
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- April 8: Baez With A Walk-Off Homer
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 1 hit
- Tally 1 RBI
- April 8: Bart Blast
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- April 8: He’s An All-Star, Dave
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 4 total bases
- April 9: Rodon Racks Up Strikeouts
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Strike out 6 batters
- Do not give up 1 run
- April 10: Greene Throws Gas
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Strike out 5 batters
- Do not give up 1 home run
- April 10: Learn The Name
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 5 total bases
Topps Now April (Week 2)
In Week 2, it’s a smaller group of Topps Now players as we get just three: Topps Now C.J. Abrams, Topps Now Nestor Cortes Jr., and Topps Now Brandon Marsh. However, the big news is we get our first Seiya Suzki card, and it’s a Topps Now Seiya Suzuki diamond. In order to get it, you need to collect all eight Topps Now players released to this point.
If Suzuki continues his pace, we’ll get even better cards than this, but this is impressive flexibility out of the gates. He can play All of the outfield, plus SS and 3B. The vision at 54 stings, but otherwise this is a perfectly solid card to trout out to multiple positions. I’ll be interested to see how he feels at the plate.
Moments
- April 11: Cowboy Marsh
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- April 12: Back To Busch Stadium, Albert
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- April 13: Clayton Cruises Past Twins
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Strike out 6 batters
- Do not walk 1 batter
- Do not give up 1 run
- Do not hit 1 batter
- April 13: Vladdy Smacks Trio Of Roundtrippers
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- April 14: Petco Welcomes Abrams
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 4 total bases
- April 17: Immaculate Nestor
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Strike out 3 batters
- Do not walk 1 batter
- Do not give up 1 hit
- Do not hit 1 batter
Topps Now April (Week 3)
Another batch of three players this week, and it’s all pitchers this time around. It’s hard to top the first Seiya Suzuki card last week, but Mackenzie Gore getting a card is another nice look for a young player. The other two pitchers included are Eric Lauer and reliever Michael King.
Moments
- April 20: Padres Prospects Producing
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Pitch 5 innings
- Do not give up 1 run
- Strike out 7 batters
- April 22: New King In New York
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Strike out 3 batters
- Do not give up 1 hit
- April 23: Ty Tacks On More Runs
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 2 hits
- Tally 1 XBH
- April 23: Miggy Makes History
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 1 hit
- April 24: Southpaw Shines On Sunday
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Strike out 6 batters
- Do not give up 1 run
- April 24: Buxton Ends It!
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
Topps Now April (Week 4)
Wrapping up April Topps Now, we get three final Topps Now players: Travis Demeritte, Tylor Megill, and Willy Adames. Out of the three, the Willy Adames card looks intriguing but has high boom-bust potential at the plate.
Moments
- April 26: Willy’s Way
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 2 XBH
- April 26: Rizzo’s Career Night
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- April 29: Run Travis Run
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 4 total bases
- April 29: Mets Combined No-Hitter!
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Pitch 3 innings
- Do not give up 1 hit
- April 30: Kershaw Sets Dodgers K Record
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Strike out 4 batters
- May 1: JRod’s 1st Big League Homer
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 4 total bases
Rewards
- 4 points – The Show pack
- 6 points – 500 stubs
- 8 points – Topps Now Jeremy Pena
- 10 points – Topps Now Joey Bart
- 12 points – Topps Now Hunter Greene
- 14 points – Topps Now Steven Kwan
- 16 points – Topps Now Seth Beer
- 18 points – Show Pack
- 20 points – 500 stubs
- 24 points – Topps Now C.J. Abrams
- 26 points – Topps Now Nestor Cortes Jr.
- 28 points – Topps Now Brandon Marsh
- 30 points – The Show pack
- 32 points – 500 stubs
- 36 points – Topps Now Mackenzie Gore
- 38 points – Topps Now Eric Lauer
- 40 points – Topps Now Michael King
- 42 points – The Show pack (x2)
- 44 points – 1,000 stubs
- 48 points – Topps Now Travis Demeritte
- 50 points – Topps Now Tylor Megill
- 52 points – Topps Now Willy Adames
- 54 points – The Show pack (x2)
- 56 points – 1,000 stubs
- 60 points – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x2)
- 65 points – Diamond bat skin
- 70 points – April Monthly Awards choice pack
A slight tweak here now to the Monthly Awards player pool. They now come in a choice pack, and you’ll get a no-sell version of the choice pack at the end of the program (as well as the ones that are sellable earlier on still).
- 75 points – The Show pack
- 80 points – April Monthly Awards choice pack
- 90 points – 1,500 stubs
- 95 points – April Monthly Awards choice pack
- 105 points – The Show pack (x2)
- 110 points – April Monthly Awards choice pack
- 120 points – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack
- 125 points – April Monthly Awards choice pack
- 135 points – Headliners Set 9 pack
- 145 points – Headliners Set 10 pack
- 150 points – Headliners Set 11 pack
- 155 points – The Show pack (x5)
- 160 points – The Show pack (x10)
- 165 points – 2,500 stubs
- 170 points – Lightning Andre Dawson
Lightning Andre Dawson will not be the only Lightning player we get, which makes this more fun for sure. Dawson is a “new” legend but not a new legend since we did have him in Diamond Dynasty in some prior seasons. That said, if you haven’t used him before, he generally plays above his ratings. So while the stats on this 91 are not eye popping, my guess is this card will still end up being quite good.
- 175 points – April Lightning Anthony Rizzo
Rizzo will ultimately end up as a somewhat disappointing card based on the other candidates out there. This is not totally out of the blue for the Topps Now program to have a somewhat deflating conclusion, and it generally wraps back into SDS not wanting to go full power creep too early in the process. This is for sure still a good card to snag for free, but there are a lot of good options people will already feel comfortable with and thus probably not use Rizzo.
- 185 points – April Monthly Awards choice pack (no sell)
- 195 points – April Monthly Awards choice pack (no sell)
- 205 points – April Monthly Awards choice pack (no sell)
- 215 points – April Monthly Awards choice pack (no sell)
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