SDS Reveals 1st Inning Bosses, New Program Structure, More
SDS continued its fan-service content announcements for MLB The Show 25, setting the stage for an epic early access launch night.
SDS wrapped its final live stream of the pre-launch cycle for MLB The Show 25 on Thursday, and this last live stream primarily covered the way the Inning Programs will be structured in this year's game, while also going over the Live Series collection rewards, additional programs that will be available at launch and the returning single player game modes (Mini Seasons, Conquest and Showdown).
INNINGS PROGRAMS
Earlier in the week, SDS confirmed that Inning Programs in MLB The Show 25 would not operate as they used to in previous iterations of the game — the most recent being in MLB The Show 22 — but instead will operate similarly to the Season XP Reward Path we have seen the last two game cycles. The old Inning Program system required users to earn "Program Stars" for program progress, which were never consistent with how much effort it took to earn them.
One of the first things SDS mentioned was the daily XP cap, which is always a popular topic of discussion within the community. At launch, 160,000 XP will be available through gameplay. This year, XP will be a rolling cap, adding 30,000 XP each day if you out on playing a given day. This cap only applies to XP earned through gameplay and does not include additional XP that is earned from completing missions, bonuses from any programs, etc.
There will be three boss cards in each Inning Program, with all three residing in sellable choice packs. There are only two of these choice packs available in the XP Path, so if you want to get all three cards, then you have to buy the third off of the market. The three boss cards for the 1st Inning Program are Adrian Beltre, Manny Ramirez and Mark McGwire, and all three will be 88 overall.
SDS also confirmed that the end of each Inning XP Path will have the extra XP loop at the end, which will give you a random additional reward (usually packs or stubs) every time you complete it.
RELATED: Carlos Beltran is the Live Series Collection Reward
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS
As SDS moved on to discuss the other Programs available in the game, CBrev came on stream (via a pre-recorded video) to show that the Programs screen has been broken into four tabs: Themed, Player, Spotlight and My Legacy.
Themed Programs: This is the home of the extra Programs that are added throughout the year. During the live stream, CBrev made it a point to note that any Themed Programs with a themed pack (i.e. Pipeline Series content) will have an earnable — and sellable — pack included in the program every time. There will be three Themed Programs available at launch.
The first is the standard Starter Program . An accompanying Showdown will help you earn progress, but the other missions are based on playing at a base level to help get your feet wet. SDS had already shown there is an 83 Roger Clemens as the final reward, and there are also 20th Anniversary Series cards of each of the cover athletes — Gunnar Henderson, Elly De La Cruz and Paul Skenes — as well.
The second is the Spring Breakout Program, featuring Spring Breakout Series cards. The final reward is an 87 JJ Wetherholt, and we will be able to earn Ethan Salas, Max Clark and others along the way. The Spring Breakout Program also has a Showdown with Chase Dollander as the final boss. Every time you complete this Showdown, you can earn a choice pack of four additional Spring Breakout gold players, so in order to get all four, you have to complete the Showdown four times.
The final Themed Program available at launch is the Pipeline Program which features — you guessed it — Pipeline Series cards. It contains Jaison Chourio and Dalton Rushing and culminates in an 87 Walker Jenkins. This does not have a Showdown and instead runs entirely on moments, PXP and stat missions, plus optional collections.
Player Programs: This tab will include any Program based on one specific player (as opposed to the Themed Programs that give you a number of players you can earn). MLB The Show 25 will begin with three Player Programs, all being Cornerstone Evolution Programs.
These require you to unlock the lowest version of each player — in this case, all silvers — and complete different statistical and PXP missions to work your way through and evolve the cards into diamonds. The silvers are included in a choice pack within the Inning XP Path, and you will get three packs along the way to earn all three players. It was also confirmed that there will be three Cornerstone Evolution Programs per Inning Program, and SDS left open the possibility of putting other Player Programs in during the year as well.
The three Cornerstone Evolution Programs to kick off this year's game will be new legends Dick Allen (who was revealed during Thursday's stream), Ubaldo Jimenez and Bobby Abreu.
Spotlight Programs: SDS described Spotlight Programs as "reactionary programs" for things that happen during the year, and they will be released weekly and monthly. For people that have played in prior years, this is where we will find the Topps Now and Lightning cards — among other goodies.
My Legacy Programs: This is where you will find stat tracking missions during the life of your MLB The Show 25 Diamond Dynasty experience. Each individual stat that gets tracked has a cosmetic item as the final reward — jerseys, bat skins, etc. — and there is an overall collection for these items that can give you more cosmetic items, like the popular pencil bat skin. Player rewards were not in play here because the devs know not everyone will be able to finish these at the same pace, and they did not want to break the game's balance during the power creep.
SINGLE-PLAYER MODES
SDS also spent a portion of the stream going trough single-player modes — Showdown, Mini Seasons and Conquest — and what will be available for each when the game goes live. We have already touched on both of the Showdowns, so we will instead focus on the other two modes.
Mini Seasons: There will be two Mini Seasons available immediately, with one being the traditional Classic Mode. The Classic Mini Season typically only has stubs, XP and packs as rewards, and SDS did not show any player cards that can be earned.
The other Mini Season is the "New Year New Series," which features 87 CC Sabathia. There will also be three players earned through PXP missions, like 83 Lee Smith, 84 Barry Larkin and 85 Ryan Braun. Instead of each card being earned by their own mission in the Mini Season, it now operates like an Evolution Program. You have to complete a PXP mission to unlock Smith, then complete missions with Smith to unlock Larkin, and so on.
Conquest: The major change with Conquest is that the USA Map as we know it is gone. Instead of doing one big map, there are now three maps divided by region (West, Central, East) as a way to alleviate how daunting the full map can be.
In addition to the three starter maps, there is also the "Cactus" map that includes every team in the Cactus League for Spring Training.
Nick is an IBWAA member who has spent time writing for various sports websites over the last 12 years, primarily focusing on baseball. He is also an avid MLB The Show player and is believed to have been the first person in the world to get live series Kyle Hendricks to Parallel 5 every year since the iteration of the parallel system.