Why Diamond Dynasty is Great, but not for Everyone

Whenever a new sports game drops in the Roffel household, I can guarantee you that one mode always gets played more than others. In NHL, it will be Hockey Ultimate Team, and in FIFA (now EA FC) it will always be Football Ultimate Team. So, when PlayStation Canada sent over a copy of MLB The Show 22, I figured Diamond Dynasty would be my go-to mode. And it was, for a bit.

See, while heavily invested in soccer and hockey as sports – let’s go Leafs and Toronto FC! – my interest in baseball is purely recreational. I enjoy playing on the field with a few friends at a group picnic or something, but I’m never watching it on TV, never playing house league, and never going to a game. But because I enjoy the idea of baseball, a video game is probably the perfect idea. And for the record, I’m having a blast with MLB The Show 22 – it’s just not in Diamond Dynasty.

I loaded up the mode as soon as the game downloaded, opened the few packs I was awarded, and headed to the field. Here’s the issue. While I obviously have a good handle on who Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid are, and probably 95% of the players in the NHL, outside of the Toronto Blue Jays, I’m not sure I could name a dozen major leaguers. Sad, perhaps, but the truth. So when I open packs and find great players, my reaction is pretty tepid – it really is a borderline “who cares” sort of situation. I have no favourite players, and really don’t care who’s on my team. The higher their overall stat number, the more likely I would use them in my team.

But when I took a step back, I realized that unlike FUT and HUT, I wasn’t really having a good time. If I didn’t care about the players themselves, why not just play a different mode that I might actually find more enjoyment in. And that’s essentially what I did. I walked away from Diamond Dynasty about 2 weeks after receiving the game, and honestly haven’t gone back. I’ve dumped my energy into Road to the Show, which has proven to be the best – in my opinion – be a pro mode in all of sports games. And that’s enough for me.

So while I do believe that ultimate team modes are the most popular in all games, it doesn’t mean it will be for you. Diamond Dynasty in MLB The Show 22 definitely wasn’t. But don’t let that spoil your enjoyment of other modes, because this baseball title is packed with things to do!