News Tag: Mlb 25 Players

As the game gradually settles into its current state, MLB 25 has been known to introduce new rewards to various modes through update programs to encourage continued participation. Some of these rewards are independent, while others are closely tied to the main modes.

Take Team Affinity Neon, which launched on August 30th, as an example. This program ties into Team Affinity gameplay in Diamond Dynasty mode and aims to provide new captain cards to balance the strengths of different teams.

So what rewards can you get from this program? And how can you get them? We'll explain.

Team Affinity Neon Overview

This program gives each team in the game an OVR 99 captain card. The bonus granted by the card is determined by the overall strength of the team - stronger teams receive smaller bonuses to balance the strengths of teams at different levels.

These cards cover a wide range of player types, from young rookies to rising stars to established veterans. However, no matter which MLB 25 player you want to obtain from Neon series, you must complete the corresponding team's TA mission.

The following are the players available in Team Affinity Neon and their teams:

AL East:

• Toronto Blue Jays: RF Shawn Green
• Baltimore Orioles: C Adley Rutschman
• Tampa Bay Rays: CF Chandler Simpson
• Boston Red Sox: 3B Marcelo Mayer
• New York Yankees: SS Derek Jeter

AL Central:

• Cleveland Guardians: 2B Travis Bazzana
• Kansas City Royals: RF Jac Cagliaone
• Detroit Tigers: SS Kyle McGonigle
• Minnesota Twins: CF Walker Jenkins
• Chicago White Sox: C Kyle Teel

AL West

• Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: C Logan O'Hoppe
• Houston Astros: 1B Lance Berkman
• Oakland Athletics: LF Tyler Soderstrom
• Seattle Mariners: SS Colt Emerson
• Texas Rangers: 1B Rafael Palmeiro

NL East:

• Atlanta Braves: 2B Ozzie Albies
• Miami Marlins: SP Eury Peréz
• New York Mets: RF Curtis Granderson
• Washington Nationals: SP Jordan Zimmermann
• Philadelphia Phillies: RF Bobby Abreu

NL Central:

• Milwaukee Brewers: SS Jesús Made
• St. Louis Cardinals: SS JJ Wetherholt
• Chicago Cubs: 1B Anthony Rizzo
• Pittsburgh Pirates: SS Konnor Griffin
• Cincinnati Reds: SP Hunter Greene

NL West:

• Arizona Diamondbacks: SS Geraldo Perdomo
• Los Angeles Dodgers: 3B Adrián Beltré
• San Francisco Giants: CF Willie Mays
• San Diego Padres: CF Jackson Merrill
• Colorado Rockies: 1B Charlie Condon

Which Missions Earn You Program Rewards?

To obtain a Neon player, you need to earn 50,000 Team Affinity Points for their team during the program. While this is a staggering number, thankfully MLB 25 offers plenty of ways to farm.

Start Here Moment

Each team has a onetime opportunity to earn 10,000 points, which provides an initial boost to their progress toward completing subsequent missions.

Team Stat Missions

You'll be given several specific missions to complete, each rewarding an average of 5,000 points. However, some teams may offer special, more difficult missions that reward even more points.

• 20 Hits: 5,000 TA Points
• 15 Strikeouts: 5,000 TA Points
• 50 Total Bases: 5,000 TA Points
• 9 Pitched Innings: 10,000 TA Points
• 5 RBI with hitters / 1 Win with SP (with Milestone Jordan Zimmerman): 10,000 TA Points

PXP Missions

This mission will earn you different amounts of TA Points depending on PXP earned by different types of players, as follows:

• 1,000 PXP with pitchers from each team: 10,000 TA Points
• 1,000 PXP with hitters from each team: 5,000 TA Points
• 1,000 PXP with Jolt, Color Storm, 2025 All-Star: 25,000 TA Points

What Are The Rewards?

In addition to the 30 captain cards listed above, Team Affinity Neon also offers the following rewards for completing a specific team's quest:

• Team-specific icon
• Team-specific uniform items
• 3x Show Packs
• 1x Ballin Pack
• 4,500 XP

These rewards not only enrich your collection and help your character or team grow, but also allow you to unlock additional players by opening packs. If you don't need these players, you can trade them for stubs on the trade market.

Which Neon Cards Are Worth Focusing On?

Honestly, completing Team Affinity quests for all 30 teams is difficult, almost impossible, so it's important to understand which captain cards are most valuable and prioritize them.

If you enjoy well-known legends, the following players are worth acquiring:

• Willie Mays
• Derek Jeter
• Lance Berkman
• Bobby Abreu
• Adley Rutschman
• Adrian Beltre
• Ozzie Albies
• Hunter Greene

What Is Neon Collection?

When you reach a certain threshold in your collection of captain cards during this program, you'll unlock new collection cards as bonus rewards. These cards often feature enhanced stats and are highly effective in improving your team's performance.

For example, after collecting 15 Neon cards, you'll receive Al Leiter as a reward. One of the best starting pitchers in Diamond Dynasty, this player possesses exceptional pitching skills and elite attributes, making him ideal for competitive content.

And if you collect all Team Affinity and collection cards, you'll receive Bryan Reynolds as the ultimate reward. As an outfielder with exceptional stats, he excels at every position.

Other collection reward cards include:

• Lou Gehrig
• Lance Berkman
• Adrian Beltre
• Konnor Griffin

Given the recent or upcoming releases of many new sports games, MLB The Show 25 is undoubtedly under considerable pressure. Hopefully, Team Affinity Neon will enhance the game's competitive appeal with these new captain cards.

It's been nearly six months since the launch of MLB The Show 25. If you've been playing consistently, you've likely already explored its basic mechanics and associated challenges. The constant updates to the programs are likely what's kept you going.

While programs offer new MLB 25 players and other unique rewards, each program operates largely the same, leading to gameplay fatigue. Fortunately, Double Agent program seems poised to break this mold!

With this in mind, we'll provide details about the program and its key rewards.

Double Agent Program Overview

The program launched on August 26th. Beyond the basic rewards, you'll also have the opportunity to earn multiple, higher-level versions of three different players' cards from different teams.

When building special themed teams in MLB 25, you often find yourself missing cards for a particular player. Double Agent's approach to providing bonus cards clearly addresses this issue.

While players won't improve on any particular team they've played for, different versions of the card do offer the opportunity to play with a wider variety of teams. For you, this means more ways to play.

This is what makes Double Agent different from any other program in the game to date. With its all-new player card concept, Double Agent disrupts the traditional model, giving you the opportunity to obtain multiple cards with unique attributes for the same player.

All Available Rewards

The program's rewards are simple, including special player cards, card packs, and XP:

• 10 Points: 98 OVR Topps Now Danny Jansen (Blue Jays)
• 20 Points: 98 OVR Topps Now Danny Jansen (Red Sox)
• 30 Points: 99 OVR Awards Jim Edmonds (Angels)
• 40 Points: 7,000 XP
• 50 Points: 99 OVR Awards Jim Edmonds (Cardinals)
• 60 Points: 7,000 XP
• 70 Points: 99 OVR Awards Gaylord Perry (Guardians)
• 80 Points: 7,000 XP
• 90 Points: Deluxe Choice pack (includes New Threads 2.0)
• 100 Points: 99 OVR Awards Gaylord Perry (Padres) and 7,000 XP

All available XP points total 28,000, which will help you progress further through the season path. Additionally, if there are cards in Deluxe Choice pack that you don't want, you can trade them for more stubs.

In addition, the attributes of the three player-related cards will vary depending on the team. For example, Gaylord Perry's Padres version has a lower H/9 but a higher K/9.

How To Complete Double Agent Program?

Each program has different point-earning requirements. To earn all rewards, you need to earn 100 points, which means you need to earn 100 stars in Double Agent program. Below, we'll explain the four main ways to earn points.

1. Complete 5 Moments

In MLB 25, Moments are essentially challenges within the storylines of various programs. Completing specific tasks will earn you the rewards. Once you select a program, you can view the available moments.

Double Agent program requires you to select five moments to complete, each rewarding 5 points. Therefore, completing all of them will earn you 25 points.

2. Program PXP Missions

This section requires you to use either version of each player from the program, and each completed mission will reward you with 5 points. The specific requirements are as follows:

• Tally 350 PXP with either 98 OVR Topps Now Danny Jansen
• Tally 750 PXP with either 98 OVR Topps Now Danny Jansen
• Tally 350 PXP with either 99 OVR Awards Jim Edmonds
• Tally 750 PXP with either 99 OVR Awards Jim Edmonds
• Tally 500 PXP with 99 OVR Guardians Awards Gaylord Perry

3. Stat Missions

In this section, you must complete six specific missions, each of which will reward you with 10 stars.

• Tally 20 hits with Topps Now players
• Tally 35 strikeouts with Award Series pitchers
• Tally seven extra-base hits with Topps Now players
• Tally 20 hits with Awards Series players
• Tally 20 innings pitched with Awards Series pitchers
• Tally seven extra-base hits with Awards Series players

4. Optional Extreme Crack The Code Moments

Theoretically, completing the three tasks above is enough to earn all the points. However, if you'd like a more challenging and interesting challenge to earn more points per task and complete the program quickly, you can also choose the following Mystery Moments:

• Level 1: In an inning with a veteran, pitch two walks and allow one hit without allowing a run - 10 points
• Level 2: Strike out four batters in an inning without allowing the veteran to score - 10 points
• Level 3: Make the veteran hit two sacrifice flies in four at-bats - 20 points
• Level 4: Hit a double, a triple, and a home run in one inning, and fail two stolen base attempts against a veteran without scoring a single run - 30 points
• Level 5: Steal six bases in one inning without scoring against a veteran - 30 points

Note that all Extreme Moments are unlocked only after completing the previous level. Not only are they challenging, but most also require a good deal of luck.

So, if you are not completely confident in your skills and luck and don't want to waste extra time, we don't recommend completing optional moments to earn Double Agent program points - other methods are more than sufficient.

That's all we have got for you. Since MLB The Show 25 will feature more programs later, we recommend completing Double Agent as soon as possible to avoid missing out on earning rewards from other programs. Have fun!

Over five months have passed since the initial release of MLB The Show 25. While not everyone who owns it has fully experienced all the changes in all modes, you should at least be able to appreciate whether the more prominent updates are meaningful.

Take Diamond Dynasty, for example. As one of the most popular modes in MLB The Show series, it already offers a rich gameplay experience, so it likely received the most changes in MLB 25.

Aside from the numerous new additions, one particularly notable change in Diamond Dynasty is the removal of Sets & Seasons. This feature was introduced in MLB 23 but had always received mediocre reviews from players.

The development team could have chosen to upgrade this feature, but ultimately opted to remove it, avoiding the possibility that you continuing to invest stubs in meaningless MLB 25 players.

Based on actual gameplay experience over the past few months, has this decision been effective? We will provide you with relevant analysis.

What Does Sets & Seasons Do?

Initially, in MLB 23, you could earn Diamond Dynasty card sets through your hard work. However, each set was only valid for one in-game season, which typically lasted six to eight weeks. This meant that every month, a part of your hard-earned cards would immediately become obsolete!

Although MLB The Show 24 extended the length of seasons after its release, this was merely a temporary fix and didn't fundamentally address the flaws of Sets & Seasons.

This rigid timeliness inevitably forced you to constantly update your player cards, resulting you to consume more stubs or play longer to earn new sets, and ultimately, you grew tired of it.

MLB 25 After This Feature Was Removed

Based on this, MLB The Show 25 didn't extend the seasons or otherwise modify them. Instead, it simply removed Sets & Seasons. More importantly, the development team didn't leave this "slot" vacant, instead introducing Yearlong Progression as a replacement.

This mechanic ensures that players acquired in Diamond Dynasty remain permanently available, regardless of season. This allows you to build a team based on your existing cards and personal preferences at any time, and continuously upgrade your players throughout the year.

This not only completely solves the problem of Sets & Seasons, which required constant updates to your roster and game strategy as the seasons changed, but also provides a more consistent experience in building your Diamond Dynasty team and a genuine sense of accomplishment as your players progress.

Different Perspectives

While Yearlong Progression replaces Sets & Seasons with benefits overall, some players believe it may lead to excessive power inflation in the later stages of the game.

Based on current performance trends, this speculation is certainly plausible. But honestly, compared to the issues with Sets & Seasons, this power inflation doesn't appear to have a significant negative impact and, in fact, reinforces the value of playing Diamond Dynasty.

Furthermore, while MLB Legends in previous games didn't rotate, MLB 25 changes this mechanic. You'll even have the opportunity to acquire baseball stars from different eras and use them to build your own dream team in Diamond Dynasty.

This also means that in addition to building your team, MLB 25 provides a virtual platform for you to initiate or witness many star-studded matchups that wouldn't be possible in the real world, given the significant age gaps between some of these players.

How Are The Other Diamond Dynasty Gameplays Performing?

Besides replacing Sets & Seasons with Yearlong Progression, Diamond Dynasty has received a number of new gameplay features in MLB 25, most of which have been well-received.

Diamond Quest

This is a truly new gameplay feature, requiring you to complete specific tasks to earn currency that can be redeemed for additional rewards. It's a bit like an upgraded and improved version of the previous Conquest mode, with a slight roguelike twist.

In Diamond Quest, the higher the difficulty of the mission you choose, the better the cards and other rewards you might receive.

Diamond Quest has received excellent reviews so far, but you might find it a bit difficult and complex. After all, the rewards at a lower difficulty level aren't worth the time investment.

Weekend Classic

This mode takes place at the end of each season, allowing you to directly compete against players of similar skill, with rewards awarded based on your account level. To progress continuously, you'll need to maintain a winning streak.

This mode is great for MLB The Show 25 players who enjoy authentic competition and challenging themselves, and they might even wish it were held more frequently! However, if you prefer more relax gameplay, it might not be for you.

Team Affinity

Team Affinity, a long-standing core component of Diamond Dynasty mode, has been further refined in MLB The Show 25. Not only can you unlock more rewards for each team, but you can also build your own team based on your favorite team or captain.

The advantage of this feature is that if you're a fan of a particular team, completing Team Affinity objectives allows you to interact more frequently with your favorite team members in-game, while also earning cards and MLB 25 Stubs.

Overall, most of Diamond Dynasty's feature changes have performed well, and the success of Yearlong Progression justifies canceling Sets & Seasons - with better new mechanics, canceling the old feature might be a better outcome than changing it.

While there are many player cards in MLB The Show 25, not every one of them is essential. Especially as your game becomes more advanced, only truly powerful players will work best with you to complete matches.

The typical way to obtain MLB 25 players is to consume coins in the store or complete new programs to earn card packs. When playing Franchise mode, however, the primary way to acquire players is through free agents.

So, if you want to use this system to get more reliable players for your Franchise mode team, besides selecting from existing free agents, you can also make rarer players become free agents! For example, superstars!

With this in mind, this article will explain how to obtain superstar players once they become free agents, in addition to explaining the basic mechanics.

What Are Free Agents?

In MLB 25, free agents are essentially a sub-concept of free agency, which is a key element of Franchise mode, allowing you to sign players who haven't signed yet for the next season.

To determine whether a player in MLB The Show 25 is a free agent, you can look at the following characteristics:

• The player has played in the major leagues for six or more years and remains unsigned.
• A player becomes a free agent when their contract with their current team expires.

As long as a player meets any of these criteria, you can invite them to sign with your team as a free agent. These mechanics are similar to real-world MLB: players enter the market upon contract expiration, and managers from other teams can sign them.

Based on this, the advantage of the free agency system in MLB 25 lies in allowing you to more specifically target specific players that meet your needs when playing in franchise mode, strategically building a stronger team.

However, it's important to note that the game does not offer online Franchise mode, so free agency signings are limited to local matches. If you prefer not to play this way, there's no need to invest extra effort in free agents.

What Is A Superstar Player?

Superstars in MLB The Show 25 primarily refer to players with high overall ratings and attributes, and these players are also true stars in the real world: popular stars, up-and-coming young prospects, and even retired or deceased legends.

Whether based on their real-life popularity or high in-game card attributes, these superstar players are highly desirable in almost any MLB 25 game mode.

For example, in Diamond Dynasty mode, superstar players often appear as Diamond cards, providing benefits, and sometimes even special card versions like 2025 All-Star cards or Retro Lightning cards.

In Franchise mode, if you want superstar players to play for you, one of the best ways is to make them free agents.

How To Make Superstar Players Free Agents?

First, we've already explained the criteria for free agents. To recruit superstar players as free agents, simply make them meet the relevant criteria. In addition, the game occasionally adds new free agents, some of whom may also be superstars.

How To Sign Free Agents?

When you find a player you like in Franchise mode free agency system and want to recruit them to your team, you can't simply issue an invitation. You must carefully consider several factors to ensure success.

Understanding The Market

The free agency system isn't a static system. Just like the real-world player market, the value and contract status of even strong superstar players can fluctuate rapidly. Therefore, before recruiting them, you must first understand the current state of the free agency landscape.

To this end, we recommend considering the following as key factors in determining your free agent recruitment plan:

• The market is sometimes dominated by top teams, and you need to adjust your plan based on their strategies.
• Maintain your team's reputation, market size, and competitive outlook. These are all important factors, as superstar players consider more than just salary.
• Focus on identifying players with development potential, especially catchers.
• The decisions of some top free agents can also impact other players.

As the latest game in the series, MLB The Show 25 has also made some adjustments to the free agency system itself. For example, free agent selection now prioritizes time, so taking too long could result in your target player being signed by another team.

Increasing Your Signing Success Rate

Based on the above and the current game changes, if you want to improve your chances of recruiting your ideal free agent in MLB 25, here are some tips:

• Optimize signing times to avoid missing out on players while offering the most reasonable salary possible.
• Interfere with opposing teams' recruiting plans when appropriate.
• Cook your plans based on player needs. For example, some players may want to sign sooner, while others may prefer to wait.
• Don't offer a low salary initially to save coins, as this will discourage players from signing.
• Sign players who meet your team's positional needs to increase their motivation and improve your recruitment success rate.
• Offering contracts early in the process can increase your chances of signing a player.

That's all for this article. While following our guide won't guarantee you'll land your ideal superstar player through free agency 100%, it will definitely increase your chances! Good luck!

As the latest game in MLB The Show series, MLB 25 launched in March of this year, initially available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.

However, just over three months later, the much-anticipated second-generation Switch finally launched. This has led owners of MLB The Show 25 to lament why the game wasn't released after Switch 2, allowing it to be directly compatible with the latest version of Switch.

But this isn't an irreconcilable conflict. First, since MLB 25 is available on Switch 1, a more optimized version for Switch 2 was only a matter of time. Second, the current version of MLB The Show 25 is also playable on Switch 2.

So, as a platform that hasn't yet received a fully native version of the game, what are the differences between Switch 2 and the other devices MLB 25 is available on? We'll analyze them for you.

About Switch 2

As the latest addition to Nintendo Switch lineup, Switch 2 officially launched on June 5th of this year. While maintaining the key features of the original, it offers a larger display, more storage, and updated graphics, controllers, and social features.

Note that GameCube gaming feature is currently exclusive to Switch 2, allowing you and your friends to chat remotely and share your screen and webcam while playing.

More importantly, to facilitate players with many games already available on Switch 1, some games will be able to directly benefit from the improved performance of Switch 2 through related updates, allowing you to continue accessing your library of existing Nintendo Classics.

With these features, not only can you still enjoy virtual baseball games on Switch 2 without exclusive Switch 2 version of MLB 25, but you can also enjoy an upgraded gaming experience while still having the portability of Switch.

MLB 25 On Switch 2 (Compared To Switch 1)

In fact, in the months leading up to Switch 2's release, Switch 1 users frequently complained about missing out on rewards earned after completing MLB 25 games and delaying character development due to device lag.

But now, thanks to Switch 2's more powerful processor and graphics card, the game runs much smoother on Switch 2. Issues like slowdowns and long loading times have been effectively addressed, significantly reducing the chance of bugs during games.

In addition, the upgraded hardware has improved graphics clarity, providing a more refined visual experience when customizing jerseys and other items for MLB 25 players through certain features, and allowing for clearer observation of player movements and direction during games.

To be honest, a lot of news about Switch 2 had already been released before its release. So if you're a Switch fan, you should already be planning to upgrade, even if you're unsure whether your old games will run on the new Switch.

However, it's important to note that while MLB The Show 25 for Nintendo Switch includes all the same game modes and features as PS5 and Series X versions, neither 1 nor 2 features a custom stadium creator.

What Are The Differences Compared To PS5 & Xbox Series X/S?

The two series are often compared because they have similar mechanics and both have playable limitations, such as requiring a compatible monitor and requiring console proficiency.

If we're just comparing devices, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S each have their own strengths beyond their similarities, but this discussion will focus on how MLB 25 performs differently on these two platforms compared to the game on Switch 2.

First, while Switch 2 is undoubtedly superior in every way to the original, its limited size means it can't offer the same immersive graphics and music of MLB 25 as you'd get on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S.

As virtual sports games, the main selling point of MLB 25 and similar titles is that you can enjoy the fun of sports without leaving home, so the more realistic the better. In this regard, Switch 2 clearly falls short.

Second, as we've already mentioned, Switch 1/2 doesn't offer the same comprehensive gaming features as PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

But sometimes advantages can also lead to problems. The superior gameplay is backed by a complex, large form factor, meaning neither PlayStation 5 nor Xbox Series X/S can offer the same feature that starts a virtual baseball game anytime, anywhere as Switch 2.

Taking all the above into account, the platform you choose to play MLB The Show 25 on depends largely on your type of gamer. If you're looking for extreme gaming, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are both excellent. If you prefer a more relaxed style, Switch 2 will satisfy.

As for MLB 25 experience on Switch 2 itself, the current game performance is already very good given the platform's hardware capabilities. At least compared to the original, Switch 2 has a clear advantage.

So if you're a complete beginner who hasn't yet acquired MLB 25 and is looking to get started, you have a wide range of platform options. You can choose the best gaming experience based on our recommendations and your current device budget. Have fun!