TheMLB The Show 22Monthly Awards and Lightning Player program in Diamond Dynasty has arrived, bringing new elite cards for August 2022. Many Major League Baseball players had a great month in August, but none were better than Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he was rewarded with the Lightning Player card.
MLB The Show 22’s Monthly Awards celebrates the real-life accomplishments that occur on the field. Each week, new players get added in the form of Topps Now cards with challenges tied to each. Since players want to fill their lineup with the best Diamond Dynasty cards available, the Monthly Awards program is a chance to get some high-rated players without spending any money.
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Earning the MLB The Show 22 Monthly Awards Players
After completing all of this month’s challenges, players will have new Topps Now cards and 65 program stars, advancing them to Stage 2 of the program. In Stages 2 and 3 they can start earning the Monthly Awards player cards, with a total of six 96 overall players and three at 98 overall:
Highlighting the 96 Overall group are closers Peter Fairbanks and Alexis Diaz, who have the 7th and 8th best meta ratings at their position according to Showzone, making them each among thebest pitchers inMLB The Show 22. Bullpen arms are at a premium in Diamond Dynasty online play, so having a lot of strong relievers with good velocity and high H/9 attributes will serve players well.
Jeff McNeil had a tremendous August with a .385 average and 11 RBI, and his Monthly Awards card places him in thetop-10 second basemen inMLB The Show 22. With the abundance of elite outfielders and first basemen in Diamond Dynasty this year, players like Lars Nootbaar and Christian Walker will be less helpful to many lineups, but they are still useful to earn for future collections.
Each of the 98 Overall cards suffers a similar fate with Arizona’s Zac Gallen, only having the 19th-best meta rating among starting pitchers despite having a nice pitch mix to utilize. Alex Bregman hit .362 with 22 RBI, but his lack of power vs right-handed pitching makes him more of a collection item than astarting third baseman in Diamond Dynasty. Unfortunately the same can be said for Randy Arozarena, who doesn’t crack the game’s top-10 outfielders despite being rated 98 Overall.
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Getting MLB The Show 22’s Lightning Mookie Betts Card
After completing more challenges and earning some XP, players will eventually get to 150 program stars, which iswhere the Diamond Dynasty awards really get good. Every Monthly Awards program has two Lightning Players to earn: one legend and one current player. The legend will be a player that had a memorable August in the past, and the current will be player of the month for whichever time period, in this case August 2022.
Attributes versus right-handed pitching are the most important for any position player, and the Lightning Jim Thome legend card is maxed out in both with 125 ratings due to his amazing August in 1996. The Thome card has a meta rating of 84.47, making him the6th-best third baseman inMLB The Show 22and a hitting machine. His defensive ratings and lack of speed aren’t great, but players certainly won’t go wrong adding him to their lineups.
Mookie Betts is the ultimate goal in the August Monthly Awards Program, as his card has very strong attributes that will help almost anyMLB The ShowDiamond Dynastyclub. In fact, the Mookie Betts Lightning card is the 4th-highest rated card in the entire game, and the second-highest rated position player card behind only Andrew McCutchen. Incredibly balanced at the plate with strong attributes versus right and left-handed pitching, Betts is also the best player at second base despite this being a secondary position. The strength and balance of his attributes make Mookie Betts a must-have card in any player’s Diamond Dynasty lineup.
MLB The Show 22is available now for PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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