Lightning Rafael Devers wrapped up the May Monthly Awards Program, and we roll now into June Topps Now/June Monthly Awards and the reveal of Lightning Chris Sale. Of course, Sale will not be available until the whole program comes out early next month, but we now know one of the main cards we’ll be working towards. On top of that, Edward Cabrera returns to our lives along with four other players in the first week of June Topps Now.
June Topps Now (Week 1)
- Topps Now Christopher Morel
- Topps Now Lane Thomas
- Topps Now Jameson Taillon
- Topps Now Brendan Rodgers
- Topps Now Edward Cabrera
Future Stars Edward Cabrera reached meme status last year, so it’s probably worth at least pointing out that he’s returned. He has basically the same arsenal as last year, but he does not lead with the sinker this time around. The sinker is not nearly as dominant velocity-wise, and the control is only 82 on the pitch. Beyond that, he has relatively suspect control overall and a lower H/9 than last year’s card. That being said, we’re probably all going to try him and see if he still has some magic left in that right arm of his.
Beyond Cabrera, you might have tried out Thomas or Rodgers while they were Supercharged last week. I personally enjoyed Rodgers but Thomas did not do anything for me swing-wise. Taillon has incredibly low K/9 numbers but a decent arsenal, and then Morel is another super utility player to maybe throw on your bench.
Moments
- May 30:Â Ain’t No One Hitting Ashby
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Pitch 1 inning
- Strike out 2 batters
- Do not give up 1 run
- May 31: More Hits For Morel
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Get on base 2 times
- June 1: More Hits For Morel
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Get on base 2 times
- June 1: He’s Baaaack
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Strike out 6 batters
- June 1: Good Week To Be A Rodgers
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- June 2: The Jameson Is Nearly Perfect
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Pitch 2 innings
- Do not give up 1 hit
- Do not walk 1 batter
- Do not hit 1 batter
- June 3: All Aboard The Lane Train
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 2 XBH
- June 4: Sweet, Sweet Revenge
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Strike out 4 batters
- Do not give up 1 hit
- June 5: Bryce Ties Game With One Swing
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
June Topps Now (Week 2)
- Topps Now Jose Trevino
- Topps Now Taylor Walls
- Topps Now Dylan Moore
Moments
- June 6: Get On Your Horse
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 2 XBH
- June 7: Lean Into It
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- June 10: He’s Done It Again
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Win 1 game
- Tally 1 RBI
- June 11: What Moore Could You Want
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Win 1 game
- Tally 1 RBI
- June 11: Finish It The Hard Way
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 6 total bases
- June 11: Not Tired Of All Rising
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
Collection
- Topps Now Eduardo Escobar (Collect 8 Topps Now June players)
June Topps Now (Week 3)
- Topps Now Spencer Strider
- Topps Now Jerar Encarnacion
- Topps Now Miles Mikolas
- Topps Now Riley Greene
Moments
- June 14: The Heartbreaker
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Pitch 1 inning
- Do not give up 1 hit
- June 15: Spencer Is Hitting His Stride-r
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Strike out 6 batters
- Do not give up 1 run
- June 18: The Grass Is Greener With Riley
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Get on base 2 times
- June 19: Grand Debut For Jerar
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 4 total bases
- June 19: Jack’s Jacks
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- June 19: Trout Called Game
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
Collection
- Topps Now Jack Suwinski (Collect 12 Topps Now June players)
June Topps Now (Week 4)
- Topps Now Aaron Hicks
- Topps Now Michael Chavis
- Topps Now Isaac Paredes
- Topps Now Cristian Javier
Moments
- June 21: Paredes Puts The Rays On His Back
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- June 22: Wjay Can’t Shoehei Do?
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Strike out 6 batters
- Do not give up 1 run
- June 23: Chav Is Clutch
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 1 hit
- Tally 1 RBI
- June 23: They Come In Threes
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- June 24: Freeman’s Return To Atlanta
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Get on base 2 times
- June 25: Javier Leads The Way
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Pitch 2 innings
- Do not give up 1 hit
- Strike out 4 batters
Rewards
- 4 points – The Show pack
- 6 points – 500 stubs
- 8 points – Topps Now Christopher Morel
- 10 points – Topps Now Lane Thomas
- 12 points – Topps Now Jameson Taillon
- 14 points – Topps Now Brendan Rodgers
- 16 points – Topps Now Edward Cabrera
- 18 points – The Show pack
- 20 points – 500 stubs
- 24 points – Topps Now Jose Trevino
- 26 points – Topps Now Taylor Walls
- 28 points – Topps Now Dylan Moore
- 30 points – The Show pack
- 32 points – 500 stubs
- 34 points – Topps Now Spencer Strider
- 36 points – Topps Now Jerar Encarnacion
- 38 points – Topps Now Miles Mikolas
- 40 points – Topps Now Riley Greene
- 42 points – The Show pack (x2)
- 44 points – 1,000 stubs
- 46 points – Topps Now Aaron Hicks
- 48 points – Topps Now Michael Chavis
- 50 points – Topps Now Isaac Paredes
- 52 points – Topps Now Cristian Javier
- 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 – Monthly Awards choice pack (93 overall)
- Monthly Awards Brandon Drury
- Monthly Awards Daniel Hudson
- Monthly Awards Jon Berti
- Monthly Awards Jorge Lopez
- Monthly Awards Taijuan Walker
- Monthly Awards Teoscar Hernandez
- 75 points – The Show pack (x2)
- 80 points – Monthly Awards choice pack (93 overall)
- 85 points – 1,500 stubs
- 90 points – Headliners Set 25 pack
- 95 points – Monthly Awards choice pack (93 overall)
- 100 points – Always Intense 1 choice pack
- 105 points – The Show pack (x2)
- 110 points – Monthly Awards choice pack (95 overall)
- June Monthly Awards Bryan Reynolds
- Monthly Awards Jon Gray
- Monthly Awards Kyle Schwarber
- 115 points – 1,500 stubs
- 120 points – Headliners Set 26 pack
- 125 points – Monthly Awards choice pack (95 overall)
- 130 points – Always Intense 2 choice pack
- 135 points – Headliners Set 27 pack
- 140 points – The Show pack (x5)
- 145 points – Chicago White Sox Alternate 1999 home uniform
- 150 points – Lightning Chris Sale
Chris Sale might be one of the most “depends who you play” pitchers of all-time in Diamond Dynasty. It really comes down to how well your opponent sees the release of the pitch from Sale. I have personally always had plenty of success against Sale — even in lefty-lefty matchups — but he is an absolute nightmare if you can’t read the release point.
Whether you hit him or not, this should be a viable pitcher going strictly by ratings, and a pitcher as the retro Lightning reward is usually going to age better than the hitters like Dawson or Rice the prior two months. Sale also has 100 H/9, which is good but reasonable. I’m hopeful we don’t see many 120 H/9 pitchers until very, very late in the year.
- 155 points – The Show pack (x5)
- 160 points – Takashi Okazaki Legends choice pack
- 165 points – Headliners Set 28 pack
- 170 points – 2,500 stubs
- 175 points – Lightning Yordan Alvarez
- 185 points – Monthly Awards choice pack (93 overall)
- 195 points – Monthly Awards choice pack (93 overall)
- 205 points – Monthly Awards choice pack (93 overall)
- 215 points – Monthly Awards choice pack (95 overall)
Published: Jul 6, 2022 04:35 pm